THE PROBLEM
In the past several years, the Internet has exploded with commercial activity. The breaking down of barriers between businesses and consumers has been facilitated by the rapid development of new technology, removal of 'middlemen', and tax rates favorable to online entrepreneurship.

We at Ingenux, Inc. are proud to support responsible commerce on the Internet - this is represented in our service offerings and unparalleled support. However, it has become apparent that the same environment that has helped this trend take off has also contributed to numerous cases of fraud and abuse of network resources.

In particular, "SPAM" has proven to be a major problem for many of our customers and the Internet at large. SPAM is a common slang term referring to the sending of unsolicited email, instant messaging, or other communication to a large group of people at once. Variations on this practice include off topic (and usually promotional) messages on bulletin boards, guest-books, Usenet newsgroups, or chat rooms.

SPAM is strictly against our Terms of Service, and will result in the immediate disablement without refund of any customers who are found to have used SPAM in conjunction with their Ingenux, Inc. account.

WHY IS SPAM BAD?

COST SHIFTING
Cost shifting is the practice of taking the cost of your promotion and making others pay for it. Imagine if every envelope you receive in your mail box required you to pay the postage, rather than the sender - even if you didn't ask for it. This is exactly what happens with SPAM. While the SPAMmer may pay for their account, they don't pay for the bandwidth you use to download the message, the disk space it takes up, the time it takes you to delete it, or our time we take to investigate complaints. Network providers (such as us) are forced to factor all of this into our rates. If SPAM did not exist, we could offer lower prices.

FRAUD
Much - if not most - SPAM is fraudulent. Many scams are perpetuated by unsolicited bulk communication. After all, if someone doesn't mind making you pay for each message they send you, why should they care about the law? Keep this in mind before you ever support a SPAMmer who asks for your money.

ILLEGAL
In more and more jurisdictions, SPAM is being made illegal. Many SPAMmers never even bother to comply with the numerous SPAM-related laws in effect (doing so would make SPAMming very uneconomical).

INAPPROPRIATE CONTENT
A large percentage of SPAM contains content that many would consider inappropriate or distasteful. And unlike web sites or chat rooms, you have little choice but to receive SPAM messages whether you want to or not. Unfortunately, this dissuades a lot of parents from allowing their children to enjoy the full benefits of the Internet.

ANNOYING
Face it, most SPAM is just simply annoying. ALL CAPS titles, misspelled words, and more exclamation marks than should ever be in a single email - this is what SPAM usually means. For the SPAMmer, sending a million emails is fine even if it only results in a handful of sales, but this doesn't account for the annoyance and time wasted by those who receive it.

E-MAIL RECEPIANTS

If you receive SPAM, you should report it. Never ever reply to the SPAMmer or a 'remove' address - there is a growing trade in valid and functional email addresses in the SPAM industry, and replying simply makes your address worth more. Never follow links sent in SPAM, either, as this can also be used to confirm that you read the message.

Instead, you should report the SPAM with full headers to the offender's service provider. For email and newsgroups, you can use a free reporting service known as SPAMCop which makes the tracking and reporting process simple and fast. We highly recommend SPAMCop to all of our customers. It's quick, easy, and effective.

You can also investigate the use of filters in your email program to filter anything that looks like SPAM into a separate folder, making it easier to read your legitimate mail. You can then report the SPAM at your leisure.

Last but not least, you may consider taking legal action against SPAMmers, as many of them break various laws in the practice of what they do. This may be somewhat time consuming, but is an option to recover some of the costs that are shifted on to you (and it just feels good!). SueSPAMmers.org is a good resource for information on this SPAM control method.

>E-MAIL SENDERS

For responsible email use with your Ingenux, Inc. account, we require that you heed the following guidelines. These are only guidelines, level3 and our network providers are the ultimate ruling authority on issues relating to SPAM complaints.

Ingenux, Inc. takes a zero tolerance approach to the sending of Unsolicited Commercial E-mail (UCE) or SPAM over our network. Very simply, this This means that customers of Ingenux, Inc. may not use or permit others to use our network to transact in UCE. Customers of Ingenux, Inc. may not host, or permit hosting of, sites or information that is advertised by UCE from other networks. Violations of this policy carry severe penalties, including termination of service.

Sending a message, especially an advertisement, to more than five recipients, is by itself spamming unless the individuals have specifically requested to be added to a mailing list on that topic. This includes both commercial advertisements and informational messages sent to recipients via electronic mail (email) as well as off-topic messages posted in Usenet discussion groups where the recipient has not requested or invited the message. Mailing lists must be true opt-in mailing lists. Before sending any email to a listed user, a confirmation email, with a tracking number, must be sent to the new subscriber, to which they must respond with a confirmation that they wish to be added to the list. You must keep these confirmations on file, so that in the case that a spam complaint is made against you, you have proof that the user did indeed opt-in. In addition, you must provide at least one easy way to opt out; see the MAPS guidelines (http://mail-abuse.org/rbl/manage.html) for details. Opt-out requests must be honored immediately.

E-mail is a person-to-person medium, not a broadcast medium.

Customers of Ingenux, Inc. are strictly prohibited from using or permitting others to use UCE or SPAM over our network. As our Customers are ultimately responsible for the actions of their clients over the Ingenux, Inc. network, it is advisable that Customers develop a similar, or stricter, policy for their clients.

Violation of Ingenux, Inc.'s SPAM policy will result in severe penalties. Upon notification of an alleged violation of our SPAM policy, Ingenux, Inc. will initiate an immediate investigation (within 48 hours of notification). During the investigation, Ingenux, Inc. may restrict customer access to the network to prevent further violations. If a customer is found to be in violation of our SPAM policy, Ingenux, Inc. may, at its sole discretion, restrict, suspend or terminate customer's account. Further, Ingenux, Inc. reserves the right to pursue civil remedies for any costs associated with the investigation of a substantiated policy violation. Ingenux, Inc. will notify law enforcement officials if the violation is believed to be a criminal offense.

USE ONLY YOUR OWN LISTS
Simply put, commercially available "targeted" lists aren't targeted, and "opt-in" lists aren't opt-in. If you have to purchase a list from someone, the people on the list by definition did not ask to be told more about your web site. Only send email to people who specifically asked to hear about your site.

MAKE NO ASSUMPTIONS
Don't assume that just because someone signed your guest-book or purchased something from you that they want to receive regular mailings. Only send bulk email to them if they specifically ask for it. Also note that just because they want to hear about one of your sites doesn't mean they want to hear about all of them. Make it clear what they are signing up for before-hand.

FULL DISCLOSURE
You should be very clear in the content of each message how the user subscribed to it. Remind them that they signed up for your list, and where they did so.

EASY UNSUBSCRIBE
It should be very easy for users to unsubscribe from your mailing list. There should be a link somewhere (usually at the bottom or top of the message) that takes them to an unsubscribe page. Alternatively, replying with the word 'remove' in the subject line is another option.

NO FORGED HEADERS
If you feel the need to hide the origin of your bulk messages, your account will be terminated without further recourse. This is seen as a clear admission of guilt.

NO SPAMWARE
It is against your hosting agreement to sell SPAMware - software that specifically aims to facilitate the SPAMming of others - using your account or web space. We see this as contributory theft of service and network abuse.