Introduction

This document contains important information regarding the TOS which apply to Your account with Sequoia Data. PLEASE READ THIS DOCUMENT CAREFULLY, and retain it for future reference. Please note that Sequoia Data reserves the right to modify these TOS at any time, and any or all of the information contained herein is subject to change without notice. DIRECT, INDIRECT OR ATTEMPTED VIOLATIONS OF THESE TOS, AND ACTUAL OR ATTEMPTED VIOLATIONS BY A THIRD PARTY ON BEHALF OF A SEQUOIA DATA CUSTOMER OR RESELLER, OR A CUSTOMER'S OR RESELLER'S EMPLOYEE, CONTRACTOR, REPRESENTATIVE, RESELLER OR END USER, SHALL BE CONSIDERED VIOLATIONS OF THESE TOS.

Definitions

1. "We" "Us" or "Provider" "Our""Sequoia Data" refer to Sequoia Data, a division of SDS International.
   
2. "You" "Your" "Client" "Customer" or "Member" refer to each person or entity who applies for Internet service, or is a designate of anyone who applies for Internet service.

General Provisions

In consideration for Sequoia Data maintaining one or more accounts (each "Account") for You, You agree to the following TOS:

Disclaimer of Warranty

SEQUOIA DATA MAKES NO EXPRESS OR IMPLIED WARRANTIES (INCLUDING BUT NOT LIMITED TO WARRANTIES OF NON-INFRINGEMENT, MERCHANTABILITY OR FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR USE) WITH RESPECT TO THE SERVICES IT PROVIDES. Sequoia Data makes no warranties of any kind, expressed or implied for services we provide. Sequoia Data disclaims any warranty or merchantability or fitness for a particular purpose. Sequoia Data is not responsible for any interruption in service or downtime that may occur, whether due to external network disruptions or negligence on the part of Sequoia Data. This includes loss of data resulting from delays, non-deliveries, wrong delivery, and any and all service interruptions caused by Sequoia Data and its employees. Sequoia Data reserves the right to revise its policies, including these TOS, at any time and without notice.

Resellers

Resellers and their Clients are bound by the same TOS. By reselling and/or purchasing Sequoia Data services, You hereby agree that Sequoia Data shall not be held liable for any promises or failure of same that resellers extend to their Clients, including but not limited to, quality of service, financial obligations, financial losses or any other claim NOT provided to reseller in writing by Sequoia Data. It is the legal duty and obligation of the reseller to provide these TOS to its Client(s).

Service Overview

Sequoia Data will provide Internet server space rental ("the Service" or "Service") to its Members for the express purpose of allowing Customers to provide http Internet content to the general public. The Service allows Sequoia Data Members to maintain Internet Web sites, receive and maintain e-mail accounts, and access Web space via FTP to upload files for their Web sites. Sequoia Data Members will use the provided services in a manner consistent with any and all applicable laws of the State of Texas, the State of Georgia and the US Federal Government. Sequoia Data provides the Services exclusively, and makes no effort to edit, control, monitor or restrict the content of data other than as necessary to provide such Services. The TOS are intended for all domains residing on Sequoia Data servers, including hosting Clients, resellers, and their Clients. We ask that all Clients reselling or otherwise offering or providing our hosting services in any way, including those providing non-virtual hosting services, implement these same TOS into their own Web sites to ensure they are understood and adhered to by their Clients. If any of the activities referenced below are committed, Sequoia Data can terminate Client's account without notification:

1. Disk Space and Client Content: Sequoia Data provides varying disk quotas in its accounts. If more disk space is needed Client is advised to upgrade to a higher plan. Accounts are to be used by the primary owner only. Account holders are not permitted to resell Web hosting space, features, services, etc. of their Web site to other parties except in Reseller accounts. Client agrees that Web pages and files uploaded to our servers will not violate any state, federal or foreign laws or regulations; infringe on any intellectual property rights of Sequoia Data or any third party; be defamatory, slanderous or trade libelous; be threatening or harassing; be discriminatory based on gender, race, age; promote hate; or contain viruses or other computer programming defects which result in damage to Sequoia Data or any third party. Customers may not run IRC bots or Clients except on accounts specifically for such. Unacceptable uses of our service also include: Bulk e-mailing, unsolicited e-mailings (SEQUOIA DATA MAINTAINS A ZERO SPAM TOLERANCE), newsgroup spamming, copyrighted MP3 files and/or other copyrighted material You do not own or have a verifiable right to use, any other copyright infringement, trademark infringement, illegal content, warez, cracks, hacks designed to subvert security or anti-copying technology, or software keys or serial numbers. Sequoia Data, while reserving the right to seek input, comment, advice and/or opinion from other entities, shall be the sole and final arbiter as to what constitutes a violation of this policy.

2. Bandwidth Usage: Bandwidth is calculated on a recurring monthly basis. Sites that use over 10% of their monthly bandwidth per day risk being suspended. Additional bandwidth can be obtained by upgrading to a higher package or by purchasing additional bandwidth when overages occur. Bandwidth cannot be combined with multiple packages. We reserve the right to not host any Web site that repeatedly exceeds its plan's bandwidth quota.

3. Excessive Resource User Policy: Resources are defined as bandwidth and/or processor (CPU) utilization. A Web site is considered to be using "excessive amounts of resources" when it monopolizes the resources available by using 10% or more of system resources for longer than 60 seconds. There are numerous activities that could cause such problems; these include: CGI scripts, PHP, FTP, HTTP, etc. Any site that consumes over 10% of its monthly allotted bandwidth in one day, or over 100% of its monthly allotted bandwidth in one month, or one billing cycle, whichever is shorter, is also considered using "excessive resources." This policy is only implemented in extreme circumstances and is intended to prevent the misuse of Our servers. We reserve the right to immediately suspend or terminate any hosting account that We feel is jeopardizing Our network, or that impacts, or potentially impacts, any other Sequoia Data server, Reseller or customer account. Sequoia Data, while reserving the right to seek input, comment, advice and/or opinion from other entities, shall be the sole and final arbiter as to what constitutes a violation of this policy.

4. No "Spam". UCE (Unsolicited Commercial E-mail)/UBE (Unsolicited Bulk E-mail), commonly referred to as "Spam", originating from a Sequoia Data account, or associated with a Sequoia Data account, is not tolerated. This includes any e-mail that promotes Web sites hosted on a Sequoia Data account but is sent from an e-mail address not associated with that Sequoia Data account. Client shall not use their Sequoia Data services for spamming (sending unsolicited advertising to those with which the customer has no existing business relationship, posting off-topic advertising in Newsgroups); spoofing (using a return e-mail address which is not the valid reply address of the sender or sending an e-mail message which does not contain enough information to enable the recipient to identify the party who is really sending the message; passive spamming (promoting a Web site hosted by Sequoia Data by spamming from some other source); trolling (posting controversial messages in Newsgroups to generate responses); mail-bombing (inundating a user with e-mail without any serious intent to correspond); generating a higher volume of outgoing e-mail than a normal user (10% or more of available system resources); chain letters; junk mail; bulk e-mail; any use of distribution lists to and/or for any person who has not given specific permission to be included in such a process; subscribing someone else to an electronic mailing list without that person's permission. A message is considered unsolicited if it is posted in violation of a Newsgroup charter, or sent to a recipient who has not requested the message. All recipients on a mailing list must have personally subscribed. Making an e-mail address available to the public does not constitute a request to receive messages. Distribution of mass e-mailing programs is also prohibited. Any Customer repeatedly "mail-bombed" or that attracts such behavior will be asked to leave. Sequoia Data reserves the right to immediately deactivate or terminate any account(s) upon any indication of such activity without notice. If a user opts-out of Your mailing or other contact list, You agree to immediately cease communication with the party. You may, at Your discretion, send one additional message to the party confirming their request to be removed from Your contact list. If You are not sure if Your actions will be in violation, please

5. False Information. Client agrees not to post false, inaccurate or intentionally misleading information to Newsgroups in violation of the Newsgroups' rules and regulations. If any Newsgroups or service providers contact Sequoia Data concerning unethical, false or unlawful activities by You, Sequoia Data reserves the right to terminate Your Service without notice.

6. Abuse of the Legal Rights of Others. Examples of unacceptable activities in this regard include posting private information about a person without their consent, infringing intellectual property rights, defaming a person or business, and knowingly making available code which will have a deleterious effect on third party computers. Sequoia Data supports free speech on the Internet, and will not suspend or cancel a customer’s account simply because it disagrees with the views expressed by the customer. Where there are allegations that a customer’s on-line activity has violated the legal rights of a third party, Sequoia Data will not substitute itself for a court of law in deciding tort claims raised by the third party.

7. Load Average of 3 or less. Sequoia Data guarantees an average (per 24-hour period) load of 3 or less on Web servers, excluding performance issues caused by external service abuses that are beyond Our control, such as denial of service attacks.

8. 99.9% Uptime. Sequoia Data maintains a 99.9% average uptime across Our entire network at large, which includes Web servers, mail servers, and more, as a whole, excluding planned outages and upstream carrier faults. If a single server is temporarily off-line, other Sequoia Data servers remain unaffected and uninterrupted, thus contributing to Our overall uptime.

9. Licensed Software Only. Client agrees to use only properly licensed third-party software in connection with Client's use of the Services.

10. Backups. Customer’s use of the service is at Customer’s sole risk. Sequoia Data is not responsible for files and data residing on Customer’s account. Customer agrees to take full responsibility for files and data transferred, and to maintain an appropriate backup of files and data stored on Sequoia Data's servers. Sequoia Data will make a reasonable attempt to maintain the security and integrity of all data stored on Our servers. Due to the public nature of the Internet, however, Customer understands and agrees Sequoia Data cannot and does not guarantee the security or integrity of any data residing on Our servers, and shall not be held liable in any way for any data loss regardless of reason(s).
    

Age

The Client must be at least 18 years of age to obtain Our service.

Abuse of the Law

Sequoia Data’s Services may be used for lawful purposes only. Illegality includes but is not limited to: drug dealing; attempting, without authorization, to access any computer system; pirating (distributing copyrighted material in violation of copyright law, specifically MP3s, MPEG's, ROMs, and ROM emulators); gambling; schemes to defraud; trafficking in obscene material; sending a message or having content that is obscene, lewd, lascivious, filthy, or indecent with intent to annoy, abuse, threaten, or harass another person; threatening bodily harm or damage to individuals or groups; violating US export restrictions; stalking; or violating other state or federal law such as the Electronic Communications Privacy Act, the Computer Fraud and Abuse Act, or the Economic Espionage Act. Linking to illegal material is also prohibited. Sequoia Data reserves the right to check system files, e-mail, and other data on Our servers for illegal content and materials, if assisting law enforcement agencies with an investigation, or by an order of a court of competent jurisdiction.

Pornography

Pornography and sex-related merchandising, or links to such material, even if legal, is not an acceptable use of Sequoia Data’s servers.

Other Behavior

The following examples of unacceptable behavior are non-exclusive, and are provided for guidance purposes. If You are unsure if Your actions will be a violation of Our policies please Server broadcast messages or any message sent on an intrusive basis to any directly or indirectly attached network. Attempt to circumvent any user authentication or security of host, network, or account. Accessing data not intended for User. Probing the security of any network. Spawning dozens of processes. Port scans, ping floods, packet spoofing, forging router information, Denial of Service attacks, sniffers, flooding, spoofing, ping bombing, smurfs, winnuke, land, teardrop. Designing, creating, uploading, testing or storing viruses or any files with virus-like attributes. IRC bots such as eggdrop or BitchX. Any activity, whether or not the intrusion results in the corruption or loss of data, will be investigated and appropriate action taken. The presence of any of these programs, whether or not run, will result in action against the User, up to and including immediate suspension and/or termination.

Client Responsibility

The Client is responsible for all activity originating from the account unless proven to be a victim of outside hacking or address forgery. The Client is responsible for securing their user name and/or password. Use of Sequoia Data's service requires a certain level of knowledge in the use of Internet languages, protocols, and software. This level of knowledge varies depending on the anticipated use and desired content of the Web space by, or on behalf of, the Client. The following examples are offered: Web Publishing: requires knowledge of HTML, XML, ASP and/or other technologies for properly locating and linking documents, FTPing Web contents, graphics, text, sound, image mapping, etc. FrontPage Web publishing: Knowledge of the FrontPage tools, as well as an understanding of the capabilities and limitations of Telnet and FTP. CGI-Scripts: Requires a knowledge of the UNIX environment, TAR & GUNZIP commands, Perl, CShell scripts, permissions, etc. Mail: Using mail Clients to receive and send e-mail, etc. The Client agrees that he or she has the necessary knowledge to create and maintain their Web space. Client further agrees that it is not the responsibility of Sequoia Data to provide this knowledge or support beyond information specific to Sequoia Data's servers. If Sequoia Data elects to provide such services, Client agrees to pay for such services.

IP Numbers or Addresses

Sequoia Data, and/or its partners, maintain control and ownership of any and all IP numbers and addresses that may be assigned to the Client and reserves, in its sole discretion, the right to change or remove any and all said IP numbers and addresses.

Payment Obligations, Renewals, and Cancellations

1. Payment Obligations: Full payment for the specified term is required in advance, before hosting service is established or a domain name is registered. You grant Sequoia Data, and/or its credit card payment processor, the right to debit Your credit card or bank account You provided during the registration/signup process for services You requested, until such service is cancelled by You in writing, or is cancelled by Sequoia Data according the terms of this Agreement. You warrant and represent that the information You supply during the registration/signup, periodic account review, or as and when requested, is complete, accurate and truthful. All payment due, past due, service change or update, change to policy or other notices will be sent by electronic mail to Your e-mail address of record in Our files. No routine bills or invoices will be sent by postal mail or fax. You agree to maintain a valid and operational e-mail address to receive such communication. We will send such notice(s) or other appropriate correspondence to Your e-mail address of record. We are under no further obligation to contact or notify You, even if We receive notification that the message could not be delivered regardless of reason(s). Failure to receive Our communication does not diminish Your responsibility and/or obligation to pay for valid charges due on Your account. If payment is not received by the due date, Your account is subject to immediate suspension and/or termination. Once Your account is suspended or terminated, You are subject to a $15.00 reconnect fee and the appropriate hosting fees must be paid to reactivate the account. There is a $20.00 fee per returned check, including each time the same check is resubmitted for payment, and a $25.00 processing fee for chargebacks. You specifically agree that any and all domain name registrations ordered, requested, or processed on Your behalf are not refundable regardless of circumstances, including misspelling the domain name, selecting an unintended Top Level Domain (TLD), or specifying a registration period beyond the minimum period required.
   
   If You have more than one business relationship with Us, i.e. hosting and Web design, Web design and reseller, multiple Web hosting, multiple Web design, etc., delinquency on one account may affect one or more of Your other accounts. For example, if You fail to pay for Web design work and We also host Your site, Your hosting account may be suspended and/or terminated because of Your failure to pay other amounts due. Also, if You have registered domain names through Us, or We registered names on Your behalf or at Your request, access to any or all of Your domains may be limited or suspended entirely until such time as all amounts due on all of Your accounts are current. You agree that all Web site or other content, regardless of origin, created or modified at Your request shall remain the property of Sequoia Data until such time as all amounts due on all of Your accounts are current. You agree to notify Us immediately in writing if You believe You have been billed incorrectly, if You dispute any amount due on any of Your accounts, or there is concern on Your part regarding the quality of Our services. Failure to provide such notice may result in suspension and/or termination of Your account(s) due to non-payment. Due to the automated nature of our billing and administrative operations, it is imperative that You notify Us immediately of any situation that prevents all of Your accounts from being paid to a current status.

2. Renewals: Your account(s) and/or service(s) will be automatically renewed under the same time and fee structure unless You agree to provide written notice to Sequoia Data thirty (30) days before the renewal date that You do not wish to renew such account(s) and/or service(s).

3. Cancellation: You may cancel at any time. All service and hosting fees are non-refundable, except as described in Our money-back guarantee. All cancellations must be received in writing as per the deadlines indicated; regular mail and e-mail requests are acceptable. Phone requests will not constitute acceptance of any cancellation. Proper and authenticated cancellation requests will be processed by Our staff in a timely fashion.

Satisfaction Guarantee

Regular Hosting Clients: Should You become dissatisfied with Our services within the first 30 days of Your account activation, Sequoia Data will refund Your hosting fee.

Resellers In the event that You become dissatisfied with Our services within 30 days of Your reseller account activation, only Your initial account fees will be refunded. Once You have added one or more resold accounts to Your reseller plan, You will no longer qualify for the money back guarantee/refund. We cannot be held liable for any fees that You charge Your Clients. Sequoia Data does not refund fees which You have paid directly or indirectly to any entity for domain name registration.

Domain Name Registrations and Transfers: There will be no refunds for domain name registrations or transfers, unless the error or omission is due solely to actions directly within the control of Sequoia Data. ALL DOMAIN NAME REGISTRATION AND TRANSFER SALES ARE FINAL.

Limitation of Liability

Sequoia Data shall not be responsible for any claimed damages, including incidental and consequential damages, which may arise from Sequoia Data’s servers going off-line or being otherwise unavailable for any reason whatsoever. Further, Sequoia Data shall not be responsible for any claimed damages, including incidental or consequential damages, resulting from the corruption or deletion of any Web site from one of Sequoia Data’s servers. All damages shall be limited to the immediate termination of service. In no case shall the total of all damages exceed the price paid by Our Client for Services in dispute.

Sequoia Data shall be the sole arbiter of what is and is not a violation of these terms of service. Sequoia Data reserves the right to terminate any account at any time and for any reason that causes harm to any Sequoia Data server, or to any account or Web site hosted on Our servers; to delete all content and files upon account or service termination regardless of reason(s); to withhold any pre-paid funds for any site removed for violations of these policies; to refuse, cancel, or suspend service at Our sole discretion, and to change these Terms of Service without prior notice or warning. Non-enforcement of any part of these Terms of Service does not constitute consent, nor does it invalidate any portion of the Terms of Service.

Suspected violations of these Policies or Guidelines should be referred to

All complaints will be investigated promptly and confidentially.