Date: 01 Dec 92 10:33:25 EST
>From: Lance Rose <72230.2044@COMPUSERVE.COM>
Subject: File 6--Model BBS/User Contract (from SYSLAW)
 
 
Appendix A
 
Sample Caller Contract (from SysLaw)
 
The following sample contract provides some guidelines for a sysop's
contract with his or her callers. Everyone's BBS and services are a
little different, so it is not recommended that readers use this
sample in "plain vanilla" form as their own contract. If possible, ask
a lawyer comfortable with online activities to review the form and
recommend any changes necessary for your particular BBS.
 
BULLETIN BOARD SERVICES AGREEMENT
 
 
A.  Introduction
 
We start every new caller relationship with a contract.  It spells out
what you can expect from us, and what we expect from you.  We do not
know each caller personally, so it is important to set out the ground
rules clearly in advance.
 
If you agree to what you read below, welcome to our system!  An
instruction screen at the end of the contract will show you how to
sign up.
 
If you have any questions about any part of the contract, please send
 us an e-mail about it!  We will be glad to explain why these contract
 provisions are important for our system. We are willing to work with
 you on making changes if you can show us you have a better approach.
 
Please remember - until you and we have an agreement in place, you
will not receive full access to our system.
 
B.  Access and Services.
 
(1)  Access - We will give you full access to all file and message
areas on our system. Currently, these include:
 
Public message areas - reading and posting messages.  We are also a
member of Fidonet, which means you can join in public discussions with
callers of other bulletin boards around the world.
 
File transfer areas - uploading, downloading files and browsing files
 
E-mail - sending and receiving messages (please see the section on
privacy, below)
 
Chat areas - real-time discussions with other callers who are online
at the same time as you
 
Gateways - permitting you to send e-mail to systems on other computer
networks. Currently, we have an Internet gateway in place, and we
operate as a Fidonet node.
 
(2)  Services - We offer a variety of services to our callers, and are
adding more all the time. Our current services include:
 
Daily electronic news from nationally syndicated news services. Free
classified advertising for our callers, in an area subdivided into
different product categories.
 
Virus hotline - an area with frequently updated news on computer virus
outbreaks, new forms of virus detected, new ways to protect your
computer, and other matters of interest.
 
QMail (TM) services, allowing you to upload and download all messages
you are interested in batch form.
 
If you would like to set up a private discussion area on our system
for a group, we will be glad to do so for fees and terms to be
discussed.
 
(3)  We may change or discontinue certain access or services on our
system for time to time. We will try to let you know about such
changes a month or more in advance.
 
C. Price and Payment
 
(1)  We will charge you a monthly fee for using our system.  For $15
per month, you can use our system each month for up to 40 hours of
connect time, and you can send up to 200 electronic mail messages. For
additional use, you will be required to pay additional charges of 50
cents an hour, and 10 cents per electronic mail message.
 
(2)  Certain services on our system require additional fees.  Please
review the complete price list in the Caller Information area before
signing up for any such services. The price list will tell you which
services are included in the standard monthly fee, and which are
extra.
 
(3)  You may pay by check or by credit card.  You will be given the
opportunity to choose the payment method when you sign up.
 
If you choose to pay by credit card, we will automatically bill the
amount due to your credit card account at the end of every month.
 
If you choose to pay by check, we will send you an invoice at the end
of every month. Payment is due within twenty days after we send your
invoice.
 
(4)  We can change the prices and fees at any time, except that our
existing customers will receive two months notice of any change.  All
price changes will be announced in opening screen bulletins.
 
D.     System Rules
 
Besides payment, the only thing we ask from you is that you follow the
rules we set for use of the system.  You will find our rules in two
places:  in the following list here in the contract, and in the
bulletins posted at various points in the system.
 
Here are some of the basic rules for our system:
 
Respect other callers of the system.  Feel free to express yourself,
but do not do anything to injure or harm others. In particular, if you
dislike someone else's ideas, you can attack the ideas, but not the
person.
 
We want people to speak freely on our system.  But if you misuse that
freedom to abuse others, we will take the liberty of cutting that
discussion short.
 
Do not use our system for anything that might be illegal.  This system
may not be used to encourage anything to do with illegal drugs,
gambling, pornography, prostitution, child pornography, robbery,
spreading computer viruses, cracking into private computer systems,
software infringement, trafficking in credit card codes, or other
crimes.
 
People sometimes have trouble figuring out whether certain activities
are illegal. It's usually not that hard. If it's illegal out there,
it's illegal in here! Using a bulletin board system to commit a crime
does not make it less of a crime. In fact, if you use a bulletin board
system to commit a crime, you're exposing the operators of the system,
and its other callers, to legal risks that should be yours alone.
 
If you genuinely do not know whether something you'd like to do is
legal or illegal, please discuss it with us before you proceed.  And
if we tell you we do not want you to pursue your plans on our system,
please respect our decision.
 
Respect the security of our system.  Do not try to gain access to
system areas private to ourselves, or to other callers. Some callers
try to crack system security just to show it can be done. Don't try to
demonstrate this on our system.
 
E. Privacy
 
We offer private electronic mail on our system as a service to our
callers.  We will endeavor to keep all of your e-mail private,
viewable only by you and the person to whom you address it, except:
 
We, as system operators, may need to look at your electronic mail if
we believe it is necessary to protect ourselves or other callers from
injury or damage.  For example, if we have reason to believe a caller
is involved in illegal activities, which creates a risk that our
system could be seized by the authorities, we will review his or her
electronic mail for our own protection.  We will not, however, monitor
electronic mail unless we believe it is being misused.
 
We will not deliberately disclose electronic mail to other callers.
If we believe certain electronic mail is connected with illegal
activities, we may disclose it to the authorities to protect our
system, ourselves and other callers.
 
Remember that the person to whom you send electronic mail does not
need to keep it secret. The sender or receiver of electronic mail has
the right to make it public.
 
If the authorities ever search or seize our system, they may gain
access to your private electronic mail. In that case, we cannot assure
they will not review it. Remember that you have personal rights of
privacy that even the government cannot legally violate, though you
may have to go to court to enforce those rights.
 
F. Editorial Control
 
We want our system to be a worthwhile place for all of our callers.
This does not mean everyone can do whatever they choose on this
system, regardless of its effect on others. It is our job to
accommodate the common needs of all callers while striving to meet our
own goals for the system.
 
We will not monitor all messages and file transfers.  We want to keep
the message and file traffic moving quickly and smoothly - this goal
would be defeated if we monitored everything on the system. However,
if we see (or hear about) messages or other activities that violate
the rules, threaten the order or security of the system, or use the
system in ways we do not agree with, we will take appropriate action.
 
Our editorial control includes normal housekeeping activities like
changing subject headers and deleting profanities in public messages
and selecting among uploaded files for those we wish to make available
for download. It also goes beyond that.
 
If a caller persists in posting messages or transferring files that we
previously warned him should not be on the system, those messages will
be deleted, and he or she may be locked out. If we discover any caller
violating the rules, especially the prohibition against illegal
activities, we will act firmly and swiftly. Depending on the
circumstances, the caller involved will be warned, or simply locked
out. If the caller has done anything to put us or other callers in
jeopardy, we may contact the authorities.
 
We do not plan on doing any of these things.  If all callers act with
respect and regard for us and for other callers, there will never be
any problems.  But if problems arise, we will assert control over our
system against any caller who threatens it. And in this Agreement, you
acknowledge that control.
 
G. Ownership of Materials
 
You shall retain all rights to all original messages you post and all
original files you upload. Likewise, you must respect the ownership
rights of others in their own messages and files. You may not post or
upload any messages or files unless you own them, or you have full
authority to transmit them to this system.
 
We own certain things you will find on this system, including the
"look and feel" of the system, the name of our system, and the
collective work copyright in sequences of public messages on our
system. You cannot reproduce any message thread from our system,
either electronically or in print, without our permission and the
permission of all participants in the thread.  This is not a complete
list - other things on the system are also our property.  Before you
copy anything from our system with plans of reproducing it or
distributing it, contact us about it.
 
H. Limitation of Liability and Indemnity.
 
The great danger for us, and for all operators of bulletin board
systems, is that we might be held accountable for the wrongful actions
of our callers.  If one caller libels another caller, the injured
caller might blame us, even though the first caller was really at
fault. If a caller uploads a program with a computer virus, and other
callers' computers are damaged, we might be blamed even though the
virus was left on our board by a caller.  If a caller transfers
illegal credit card information to another caller through private
electronic mail, we might be blamed even though we did nothing more
than unknowingly carry the message from one caller to another.
 
We did not start this system to take the blame for others' actions,
and we cannot afford to operate it if we must take that blame.
Accordingly, we need all callers to accept responsibility for their
own acts, and to accept that an act by another caller that damages
them must not be blamed on us, but on the other caller.  These needs
are accomplished by the following paragraph:
 
You agree that we will not be responsible to you for any indirect,
consequential, special or punitive damages or losses you may incur in
connection with our system or any of the data or other materials
transmitted through or residing on our system, even if we have been
advised of the possibility of such damage or loss. In addition, you
agree to defend and indemnify us and hold us harmless from and against
any and all claims, proceedings, damages, injuries, liabilities,
losses, costs and expenses (including reasonable attorneys fees)
relating to any acts by you or materials or information transmitted by
you in connection with our system leading wholly or partially to
claims against us or our system by other callers or third parties.
 
I.  Choice of Law
 
Our bulletin board system can be reached by callers from all fifty
states, and around the world. Each of these places has a different set
of laws.  Since we cannot keep track of all these laws and their
requirements, you agree that the law of our own state, ________, will
apply to all matters relating to this Agreement and to our bulletin
board system. In addition, you agree and consent that if you ever take
legal action against us, the courts of our own state, _______, will
have exclusive jurisdiction over any such legal actions.
 
J.  General
 
This agreement is the entire understanding between you and us
regarding your relationship to our bulletin board system.  If either
you or we fail to notify the other of any violations of this
agreement, this will not mean that you or we cannot notify the other
of future violations of any part of this agreement.
 
 
[Contract sign-up process]
 
 
 
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