AN IMPORTANT MESSAGE FROM SYSTEM ADMINISTRATOR

26th March 2006

All Service Users: Critical Notification

 

Recently several issue’s have arisen that have impacted on our perceived ability to deliver vital services, it is important to remember that these issue’s have impacted on ALL service users, after several technicians have spent 7 days a week working on these issue’s for the last two months, many of these issue’s have been identified as a very few service users behaving in an unacceptable manner to the point where those users have been in direct violation of their service user contracts

 1. Anti-Virus:

(a)     It is the service users responsibility to maintain up to date anti-virus, there will never come such a time that virus are not a problem, any service user that contracts a virus problem that impacts on other users ability to use their services is legally responsible for the results. Antivirus updates should be run at a minimum of once a week if not more often, new viruses are released almost daily at certain times of the year and each new virus is more devastating than the previous. As an internet user, each customer is as responsible to protect other users’ abilities to utilize services as much as their own ability, the internet is a large common community and we all have responsibilities to protect others in that community.

(b)     If you receive an email from an unknown user, especially if it has an attachment, under no circumstances should you open that email

(c)     If you suspect you may have contracted a Virus or Trojan do not connect to the internet, contact support services for advice on the possibility of having a virus and a resolve to eradicate it  

 2. Passwords:

(a)     Under no circumstance will we contact you via email in regards to personal information such as user names and passwords. Recently there has been an email circulating through many ISP’s around Australia in respects to users’ accounts or passwords, such emails are fraudulent and should be deleted immediately, under no circumstances should such an email be opened as in doing so you may be transferring secure data from your computer to an unknown recipient for the intentions of fraud

(b)     It should also be remember that at no time will your bank perform such an act, any such email must be immediately view as a personal security risk and immediately deleted  

 3. Email:

(a)     It has come to light that some users are operating ‘Mail Washer’, this program must not be set to ‘bounce’ suspected SPAM, in doing so you may appear as a SPAM source yourself and your service will be terminated without notice

(b)     Some customers are in the process of being identified as SPAM sources. SPAM in Australia is legally regarded as any email sent to a recipient that is unsolicited and is of an advertising or fraudulent nature (not requested by recipient), this is not only illegal but also carries severe penalties and we are currently monitoring to identify any service user who is committing such an offence, some service users have already been identified. Identification will result in immediate legal action being initiated and immediate permanent suspension of service. The new systems are able to identify such offenders and we are currently monitoring 24 hours a day with the intention of clearly identifying such offenders and we will take all legal action available to prosecute for such offences to the fullest extent of the law. To operate bulk emailing to persons that have not requested you do so is legally and ethically wrong and will not be tolerated

(c)     Unless a customer has contracted a commercial grade service it is in direct violation of contract to operate through your internet connection any type of server for the purposes of web, email, or otherwise. Identification of such instances will be dealt with immediately and severely

(d)     We operate a complex system that identifies sources of SPAM and viruses, if you believe you are not receiving legitimate email please contact support and identify this, often adjustments can be made when such instances are identified. It may be that the service provider that the person or organization that you want to receive email from can not be permitted to communicate with our systems due to the likelihood that their other customers will also send email that the MAJORITY of our customers do not want. We do have a totally unfiltered option available for those that want to choose this, the implications will be that in selecting that option you will be responsible for processing all email you receive and any unwanted email you receive will be your sole responsibility

(e)     Do not put your email address on a list or notification service, most of the time you will start to receive bulk unsolicited email from many other sources which can not be stopped

(f)       It you receive an unwanted email with an ‘unsubscribe’ option contained, to do unsubscribe or reply to the email in any manner, most of the time doing this will obtain the opposite and you will simply validate your email address and receive more unwanted email from many other sources

3. S 4. Service Configuration:

All service users with the exception of static IP dsl service users must at all times have their service settings on automatic IP assignment and automatic DNS assignment. It has been identified that at least one service user has not conformed to their service contract in this respect, we are currently tracking such offences and can give total assurance that such behavior will be identified and services suspended permanently. Additionally, if you are a commercial service user that does operate your own email system you must not use any external DNS systems unless you have prior written approval

  5. Domain Name Hosting:

A number of customers have been identified for non-compliance with domain name hosting. Domain name hosting is governed internationally by ‘RFC’s” that our customers must comply with. If you initiate a new domain name that utilizes our domain name servers, move, or alter a domain name we host for you, you are legally responsible for immediately informing us of these events. Some customers have not done so, not only does this cost SpeedNet in resources required to resolve these issues but you also may impact on other service users. This will no longer be tolerated in any manner, offenders will be charge the full financial amount that results from resolving such events and a formal complaint will be lodged with the TIO whom governs such conformance to regulations

Domain name hosting is governed by a service contract that will be fully enforced. If you have or are considering obtaining your own domain name and are not sure about how something should be done please call our support services who will be glad to assist you in determining what you should do and also ensure it works correctly for you

 

We sincerely apologize to the majority of our customers whom have treated their service and other service users with respect. It is always a matter of a few individuals that behave in a manner that impacts on innocent people, we assure our valued customers that we are in progress of clearly identifying these people and ensuring they no longer impact on your experience with us as a valued service user, in fact we have already held some of these people accountable for their actions and will continue to do so

If you believe that a service user is committing such an offence we urge you to contact us immediately, such calls will be held in strictest confidence

 

We thank our valued customers and give assurance we are and will continue to provide better services and a better service use experience