The Gatwood.NET network will not tolerate ANY unsolicited advertisement of any products, goods, or services via electronic mail unless said advertisement has previously been explicitly approved for distribution in writing using our solicited commercial mail agreement.
We consider the following to be acceptable forms of email:
Legitimate email lists are defined as mailing lists to which the recipient has explicitly subscribed by direct actions via a web site or email message, and to which the recipient has explicitly confirmed the desire to subscribe by replying to a clearly worded email message that indicates that replying to the message will add them to that mailing list.
Legitimate email lists are in violation of this policy if they violate any of the conditions above. They may include discussion lists or announcement lists. The agreement to receive messages from such a list may not be sold, transferred, or in any other way assigned to any company, person, or entity except in a buyout of the sponsoring company or a complete unit thereof without explicity written permission of the recipient.
Any deviation from this design (in which the recipient must take explicit actions with full knowledge of the consequences of those actions in order to join the list) will result in your list failing to qualify under the definition of a legitimate email list. Subscribing any person whose account is protected by this agreement to such a list requires explicit prior approval in writing. Failure to obtain such approval will result in your list's email messages being classified as unsolicited commercial email, subject to the remedies described herein.
This machine is located in the State of California. Under California law, the California Business and Professions Code, Section 17538.45, as ammended in Assembly Bill 1629 in 1998, any use in violation of this acceptable use policy is subject to civil action of $50 per email message up to a maximum of twenty-five thousand dollars ($25,000) per day, or the actual damages, whichever is greater.
We consider that the actual damages, measured both in lost time and in emotional trauma from receiving such messages, is no less than $100 per email message. If you are found to be sending such messages, you will be billed for the complete amount. Failure to remit payment will result in civil and possibly criminal prosecution.
Any attempt to circumvent any software or system designed to protect our users from unsolicited mail that is found to be in violation of this policy will result in additional penalties of no less than one million ($1,000,000) U.S. dollars per email message and may also result in criminal prosecution for trespass, harassment, and violations of the Computer Fraud and Abuse Act, the Digital Millenium Copyright Act, and the Patriot Act.
Because this policy is prominently displayed on the front page of this web site, it is considered a legally binding contract. We can and will prosecute anyone found in violation.
Sincerely,
The Gatwood.NET Task Force on Information Security