THE ROLE OF TELECOM SERVICES KIRIBATI LTD AS AN INTERNET SERVICES PROVIDER

THE ROLE OF TELECOM SERVICES KIRIBATI LTD AS AN INTERNET SERVICES PROVIDER A BRIEFING PAPER PREPARED FOR THE MINISTRY OF NATURAL RESOURCES DEVELOPMENT PO BOX 64, BAIRIKI, REPUBLIC OF KIRIBATI 19 October 1999 Leslie Allinson Information Technology Manager South Pacific Applied Geoscience Commission (SOPAC) Private Mail Bag, Suva, Fiji Islands Tel: +679 381377 Fax: +679 370040 Email: les@sopac.org.fj Web: www@sopac.org.fj SOPAC Miscellaneous Report 369

1. EXECUTIVE SUMMARY The purpose of this document is to serve as a background paper on the activities of Internet Services Providers in general and Telecom Services Kiribati Ltd (TSKL) in particular and to address some the issues that are inhibiting the development of Internet in this country. The two main issues addressed are ownership and management of an Internet domain and availability of and charges for Internet services by an Internet Service Provider (ISP). The main recommendations are: Recommendation 1 The authority for the Kiribati Country Code Top Level Domain (cctld) be transferred from the Ministry of Natural Resources Development (MNRD) to the more appropriate authority: the Ministry of Information, Communications and Transport (MICT). The Government of the Republic of Kiribati as the owner of the cctld should appoint MICT as the authorising authority for the cctld. MICT appoints an appropriate technical operator to maintain the cctld where a logical choice would be TSKL. Recommendation 2 MICT, as the majority shareholder in TSKL, defines the policy that TSKL as an Internet Service Provider has no authority over the content or what is connected to a service whether the service is dial-up or dedicated provided that any equipment connected meets telecommunications type approval. Furthermore, the policy should state that TSKL is not responsible for the content accessed or created by customers. Recommendation 3 MICT should ensure that government ministries are not penalised by any additional charges levied by TSKL where those ministries connect to the Internet through a single dial-up connection. Affordable dedicated Internet connections are made available by TSKL within the next six months to allow ministries to access those connections and develop web sites hosted within those ministries. Recommendation 4 MICT should review current fixed monthly and hourly charges and consider reducing those charges to encourage more affordable access to the Internet 2. WHAT IS THE INTERNET? The Internet is a network of networks and allows users to interconnect and communicate with each other independent of location. It has only arrived recently in the Pacific and offers tremendous potential for small and relatively isolated countries to participate in the global knowledge economy. The Internet is a critical tool in promoting tourism, trade and investment and providing information to all sectors. Governments are encouraged to promote the introduction and penetration of Internet by ensuring that the Internet Service Provider provides adequate bandwidth at an affordable cost by reducing or removing tariffs and/or reducing charges to make Internet Services sustainable rather than a high profit earner. 3. WHAT ARE DOMAIN NAMES? Every device connected to the Internet requires a unique Internet Protocol (IP) address where this address is a 32 bit or 4 byte number usually expressed in dotted decimal format such as 203.41.41.194. These numbers are difficult to remember and domain names were introduced where an example is TSKL.NET.KI. Read from right to left, KI is the two character ISO code for Kiribati, NET is the generic domain usually associated with an Internet Service Provider while TSKL is the company. TSKL has advised that it was been allocated a single Class C range of IP addresses presumably by Asia Pacific Network Information Centre (APNIC) www.apnic.org. A Class C range is 256 addresses and the range allocated to TSKL is 203.41.41.0 to 203.41.41.255. 1

In 1995, MNRD as the first Internet user in Kiribati applied for and was granted the authority for the Kiribati Country Code Top Level Domain (cctld) where CONNECT.COM handled the application. See Attachment A for a full explanation over Domain Name Authority where the Internet Assigned Numbers Authority (IANA), www.iana.org is the head international organisation. CONNECT.COM www.connect.com.au was appointed as the technical operator for maintaining the Domain Name System (DNS) table for Kiribati. See Attachment B. It is not practical or feasible to continue with CONNECT.COM as the technical operator and it is recommended that: Recommendation 1 The authority for the Kiribati Country Code Top Level Domain (cctld) be transferred from the Ministry of Natural Resources Development (MNRD) to the more appropriate authority: the Ministry of Information, Communications and Transport (MICT). The Government of the Republic of Kiribati as the owner of the cctld should appoint MICT as the authorising authority for the cctld. MICT appoints an appropriate technical operator to maintain the cctld where a logical choice would be TSKL. The procedure would be for MICT to send this request to IANA and advise both CONNECT.COM and the operator it appoints and ensure that the DNS tables are updated in a manner that does not disrupt the operations of the users and in particular MNRD. It should be noted that in Samoa the authorising authority is the Ministry of Foreign Affairs while the technical operator is Samoa Communications Services Limited, one of the two commercial ISPs in Apia. See www.samoa.net.ws 4. THE ROLE OF AN INTERNET SERVICE PROVIDER An ISP s business is selling Internet access and services where this access is via dial-up connection or via leased line, The access medium may be copper, fibre, microwave or any other such medium. The ISP will charge a fee for this access that will be related to: Type of connection: Dedicated (full time) Dial-up (on demand) Charging method Bandwidth (size of pipe and therefore maximum volume per unit of time) Duration (connection time) Volume (amount of traffic) Some combination of above. The permutations on the above are large but common charging practices are as follows with some indicative costs in AUD for the region. Dedicated (full time) connection Bandwidth AUD 13,000 (Fiji) to AUD 1,500 (FSM, Samoa, Solomon Islands) Dial-up connection (28K 33.6K) Unlimited access AUD 292 (WST 550) per month (Samoa) Time charged AUD 117 for 30 hours, additional hours AUD 2.90 (Samoa) AUD 140 for 40 hours, additional hours AUD 5.20 (Fiji) AUD 17.60 per month, AUD 6.16 per hour (Fiji) AUD 32 per month, AUD 8 per hour (Kiribati) 2

In addition an ISP will sell services that include single or multiple mailboxes, web site hosting and global roaming services such as IPASS. As can be seen, charges for dedicated Internet access vary widely where Fiji has the highest charges in the region while dial-up access are usually around $5.50 per hour with TSKL being in the higher charge bracket. TSKL has advised that it will charge higher for the case of a dial-up user who has more than one user connected to a computer (communications server) that handles the connection. This is an impediment to development within the government ministries where MICT has directed that there be only one connection per ministry. In addition, a ministry that requires a single Exchange Server to handle store and forward of e-mail requires a single unique IP number that TSKL can readily provide from its spare pool of addresses that can be assumed to be in the order of 100. It should also be noted that ministries with Exchange Server for store and forward of e-mail have a far greater security of their messages than if they were to use single or shared mailboxes at TSKL. An ISP has no authority or business to question what a customer is using a dial-up or dedicated Internet connection for unless that use contravenes the laws of the country. An ISP is selling the pipe and optionally services such as a mailbox or web site hosting and has no authority or business to control content unless that content is in contravention to the laws of the country. To control Internet content is a similar analogy to the Post Office opening all mail. To set charges on a dial-up or dedicated Internet connection related to the number of users sharing that connection is a similar analogy to the water authority charging water consumption rates based on the number of taps in a house. Basic physics shows that if a pipe carries water to a consumer at a fixed rate that is analogous to the rate of a dial-up or dedicated connection then a single user will consume all the water. If however there are two or more people in the house then they will only receive a portion of the water related to the number of users. Therefore if there are 5 users accessing the service then they will each receive only one fifth of that water and for each to receive a set amount they will have to use the service for 5 times longer. It should be clear that the ISP sells the pipe and not the content. What the customer uses the pipe for (the content) is irrelevant to the ISP s business. If the customer connects the pipe to a single desktop computer or multiple desktop computers connected via a communications server this again is irrelevant to the ISP s business. In both of these cases it is assumed that the content and the type of equipment that is connected is not in breach of any national laws and the equipment is telecommunications type approved. Recommendation 2 MICT, as the majority shareholder in TSKL, defines the policy that TSKL as an Internet Service Provider has no authority over the content or what is connected to a service whether the service is dial-up or dedicated provided that any equipment connected meets telecommunications type approval. Furthermore, the policy should state that TSKL is not responsible for the content accessed or created by customers. It may be useful to note the Terms and Conditions applied by Tuvalu s ISP that was installed and commenced service last week where these are included in Attachment C. Recommendation 3 MICT should ensure that government ministries are not penalised by any additional charges levied by TSKL where those ministries connect to the Internet through a single dial-up connection. Affordable dedicated Internet connections are made available by TSKL within the next six months to allow ministries to access those connections and develop web sites hosted within those ministries. 3

5. TSKL COSTS AND CHARGES It is assumed that TSKL purchases a dedicated 128K satellite link to Australia and the total monthly cost to connect to an Internet gateway in Australia is approximately AUD 10,000. The capital cost of setting up a 16 port dial-up Internet Service is approximately AUD 40,000 total. It should be noted that the cost of equipment to set up a 32 port dial-up Internet Service in Tuvalu where the equipment was purchased during September 1999 was USD 23,000 or AUD 32,000. Staff are required to operate an ISP and a small business unit such as in Kiribati would require two full time professionals at an estimated annual cost of AUD 15,000 total per professional. Finally, if its is assumed that there are 250 Internet dial-up users who each average 12 hours per month connect time where the fixed monthly charge is AUD 32 and the hourly rate is AUD 8.00. Table 1 shows that the annual profit from the above figures is AUD 264,000 while Table 2 shows that the annual profit would be AUD 120,000 if the fixed monthly charge was reduced by 30% to AUD 20 and the hourly rate by 50% to AUD 5.00. However, with reduced rates more users would subscribe and users would connect for a longer period so while there would be a temporary drop in monthly profit the additional users and connect time would restore those profits. Table 1 Estimated annual profit from TSKL Internet Services TSKL COSTS Connect cost per month $10,000 Salary cost per month - 2 professionals $2,500 Capital depreciation per month - $40,000 over 3 years $1,111 TOTAL COST PER MONTH $13,611 TSKL REVENUE Fixed charge per month $32 Connect charge per hour $8 No. users 250 Average connect time hours per month 12 Revenue from fixed charge per month $8,000 Revenue from connect charge per month $24,000 Total revenue per month $32,000 TOTAL COST PER MONTH $64,000 TSKL PROFIT Profit per month $22,000 Profit per year $264,000 4

Table 2 Estimated annual profit from TSKL Internet Services with reduced rates. TSKL COSTS Connect cost per month $10,000 Salary cost per month - 2 professionals $2,500 Capital depreciation per month - $40,000 over 3 years $1,111 TOTAL COST PER MONTH $13,611 TSKL REVENUE Fixed charge per month $20 Connect charge per hour $5 No. users 250 Average connect time hours per month 12 Revenue from fixed charge per month $5,000 Revenue from connect charge per month $15,000 Total revenue per month $20,000 TOTAL COST PER MONTH $40,000 TSKL PROFIT Profit per month $10,000 Profit per year $120,000 Recommendation 4 MICT should review current fixed monthly and hourly charges and consider reducing those charges to encourage more affordable access to the Internet 6. OTHER RECOMMENATIONS Recommendation 5 TSKL secure additional Class C IP addresses from APNIC to address the future growth of Internet in Kiribati Recommendation 6 TSKL investigate provision of IPASS service to allow global roaming where this would create revenue from technical and professional consultants making short term visits to Kiribati. Recommendation 7 TSKL publish charges for its services on its web site. 7. SUMMARY The Government of the Republic of Kiribati should not relinquish ownership of the domain and the Ministry of Information Communications and Transport (MICT) should be appointed manager of the domain with an appropriate technical organisation to operate the domain. It is valuable to note that an application fee and an annual maintenance fee is charged for a domain such as mnrd.gov.ki where typical charges would be AUD 50 for each. The revenue could be retained by the government or shared with the technical operator as appropriate. Adoption of the recommendations will assist in the development of Internet in Kiribati and provide opportunities for the commercial sector and the government ministries to have increased access to information as well as conducting e-commerce. 5

ATTACHMENT A IANA TLD DELEGATION POLICIES Visit www.iana.org where the contact is www.iana.org/contact Internet Assigned Numbers Authority 4676 Admiralty Way, Suite 330 Marina del Rey, CA 90292 USA +1-310-823-9358 x20 (voice/mail) +1-310-823-8649 (facsimile) iana@iana.org Page http://www.iana.org/tld-deleg-prac.html provides the following: IMPORTANT NOTICE. The following document is being posted for the information of the Internet community. It contains a statement of the current policies being followed by the Internet Assigned Numbers Authority (IANA) in administering delegations of Top Level Domain Names of the Internet Domain Names System (DNS). At a future date, the ICANN Board may consider changes to these policies and will, at such time, notice proposed changes for public comment in accordance with the ICANN Bylaws. Comments on this document are welcome and should be directed to comments@icann.org. MAY 1999 INTERNET CORPORATION FOR ASSIGNED NAMES AND NUMBERS INTERNET ASSIGNED NUMBERS AUTHORITY Internet Domain Name System Structure and Delegation Abstract This document is a summary of current practices of the Internet Assigned Numbers Authority (IANA) in administering RFC 1591, which includes the guidance contained in cctld News Memo #1 dated October 23, 1997. It DOES NOT reflect any changes in policy affecting the administration of DNS delegations. It is intended to serve as the basis for possible future discussions of policy in this area. Changes in ICANN/IANA policy will be made following public notice and comment in accordance with the ICANN Bylaws. Introduction The IANA is the overall authority for day-to-day administration of the Internet Domain Name System (DNS). IANA staff carry out administrative responsibilities for the assignment of IP Addresses, Autonomous System Numbers, Top Level Domains (TLDs), and other unique parameters of the DNS and its protocols. This document provides general information on IANA policy for administering the DNS. Instructions on procedures to be followed in requesting TLD delegations or changes are available on the website at iana.org. Top Level Structure of the DNS The DNS structure contains a hierarchy of names. The root, or highest level, of the system is unnamed. Top Level Domains (TLDs) are divided into classes based on rules that have evolved over time. Most TLDs have been delegated to individual country managers, whose codes are assigned from a table known as ISO-3166-1, which is maintained by an agency of the United Nations. These are called country-code Top Level Domains, or cctlds. In addition, there are a limited number of "generic" Top Level Domains (gtlds), which do not have a geographic or country designation. Responsibility for adoption of procedures and policies for the assignment of Second Level Domain Names (SLDs), and lower level hierarchies of names, has been delegated to TLD managers, subject to the policy guidance contained in this document. Country code domains are each organized by a manager for that country. These managers are performing a public service on behalf of the Internet community. A list of current TLD assignments and names of the delegated managers can be accessed at http://www.iana.org/cctld.html. The Management of Delegated Domains As part of its responsibility for the overall coordination and management of the DNS, the IANA receives and processes all requests for new TLDs and for changes to existing TLDs. The following policies are applicable to management of TLDs. In general, the principles described here apply recursively to all delegations of the Internet DNS name space. 6

(a) Delegation of a New Top Level Domain. Delegation of a new top level domain requires the completion of a number of procedures, including the identification of a TLD manager with the requisite skills and authority to operate the TLD appropriately. The desires of the government of a country with regard to delegation of a cctld are taken very seriously. The IANA will make them a major consideration in any TLD delegation/transfer discussions. Significantly interested parties in the domain should agree that the proposed TLD manager is the appropriate party. The key requirement is that for each domain there be a designated manager for supervising that domain's name space. In the case of cctlds, this means that there is a manager that supervises the domain names and operates the domain name system in that country. There must be Internet Protocol (IP) connectivity to the nameservers and electronic mail connectivity to the entire management, staff, and contacts of the manager. There must be an administrative contact and a technical contact for each domain. The administrative contact must reside in the country involved for cctlds. The IANA may choose to make partial delegations of a TLD when circumstances, such as those in a developing country, so dictate. It may also authorize a "proxy" DNS service outside of a developing country as a temporary form of assistance to the creation of Internet connectivity in new areas. [N.B. The IANA continues to receive inquiries about delegation of new gtlds. This is a significant policy issue on which ICANN will conduct a careful study and review based on the established decision making procedures. Information about this study will be disseminated on the website at icann.org.] (b) TLD Manager Responsibility. TLD managers are trustees for the delegated domain, and have a duty to serve the community. The designated manager is the trustee of the TLD for both the nation, in the case of cctlds, and the global Internet community. Concerns about "rights" and "ownership" of domains are inappropriate. It is appropriate, however, to be concerned about "responsibilities" and "service" to the community. (c) Fair Treatment. The designated manager must be equitable and fair to all groups in the domain that request domain names. Specifically, the same rules must be applied to all requests and they must be processed in a non-discriminatory fashion. The policies and procedures for the use of each TLD must be available for public inspection. Generally these are posted on web pages or made available for file transfer. While variations in policies and procedures from country to country are expected due to local customs and cultural values, they must be documented and available to interested parties. Requests from for-profit and non-profit companies and organizations are to be treated on an equal basis. No bias shall be shown regarding requests that may come from customers of some other business related to the TLD manager. For example, no preferential service for customers of a particular data network provider. There can be no stipulation that a particular application, protocol, or product be used. (d) Operational Capability. The TLD manager must do a satisfactory job of operating the DNS service for the domain. Duties such as the assignment of domain names, delegation of subdomains and operation of nameservers must be done with technical competence. This includes keeping the IANA or other higher-level domain manager advised of the status of the domain, responding to requests in a timely manner, and operating the database with accuracy, robustness, and resilience. Because of its responsibilities for the DNS, the IANA must be granted access to all TLD zones on a continuing basis. There must be a primary and a secondary nameserver that have IP connectivity to the Internet and can be easily checked via access to zones for operational status and database accuracy by the IANA. (e) Transfers and Disputes over Delegations. For transfer of TLD management from one organization to another, the higher-level domain manager (the IANA in the case of TLDs), must receive communications from both the old organization and the new organization that assure the IANA that the transfer is mutually agreed, and that the proposed new manager understands its responsibilities. It is also very helpful for the IANA to receive communications from other parties that may be concerned or affected by the transfer. In the event of a conflict over designation of a TLD manager, the IANA tries to have conflicting parties reach agreement among themselves and generally takes no action unless all contending parties agree. On a few occasions, the parties involved in proposed delegations or transfers have not been able to reach an agreement and the IANA has been required to resolve the matter. This is usually a long drawn out process, leaving at least one party unhappy, so it is far better when the parties can reach an agreement among themselves. It is appropriate for interested parties to have a voice in the selection of the designated manager. (f) Revocation of TLD Delegation. In cases where there is misconduct, or violation of the policies set forth in this document and RFC 1591, or persistent, recurring problems with the proper operation of a 7

domain, the IANA reserves the right to revoke and to redelegate a Top Level Domain to another manager. (g) Subdelegations of Top Level Domains. There are no requirements for management of subdomains of TLDs, including subdelegations, beyond the requirements for TLDs stated in this document and RFC 1591. In particular, all subdomains shall be allowed to operate their own domain nameservers, providing in them whatever information the subdomain manager sees fit, as long as it is true and correct. (h) Rights to Domain Names. The IANA has no special requirement for policies to be followed by TLD managers in connection with disputes over rights to domain names other than those stated generally in this document and RFC 1591. Please note, however, that use of a particular domain name may be subject to applicable laws, including those concerning trademarks and other types of intellectual property. (i) Uses of ISO 3166-1 Table. The IANA is not in the business of deciding what is and what is not a country. The selection of the ISO-3166-1 list as a basis for country code top-level domain names was made with the knowledge that ISO has a procedure for determining which entities should be and should not be on that list. For more information about the ISO 3166 Maintenance Agency, please see the following webpage: http://www.din.de/gremien/nas/nabd/iso3166ma/. (j) Maintenance Procedure for Root Zone File. The primary root zone file is currently located on the A root server, which is operated by Network Solutions, Inc.(NSI), under a cooperative agreement with the U.S. Government. Changes to the root zone file are made by NSI according to procedures established under Amendment 11 of that cooperative agreement. 8

ATTACHMENT B KIRIBATI COUNTRY CODE TOP LEVEL DOMAIN CONTACTS The following is from the IANA database for Country Code Contact Information for Kiribati, accessed 19 October 1999. See http://www.iana.org/countryg-o.html It can be noted that the database was last updated 14 October 1999 when CONNECT.COM was instructed by MNRD to update the MNRD DNS table to allow mail addressed to anyuser@mnrd.gov.ki to be sent to TSKL for subsequent download by MNRD. Registrant: Kiribati Top Level Domain Ministry of Natural Resource Development PO Box 64 Bairiki Tarawa Kiribati Domain Name: KI Administrative Contact: Tikai, Teekabu tikai@fisheries.gov.ki +686 21099 (FAX) +686 21120 Technical Contact: Chaundy, Chris chris@connect.com.au +61 3 9251 3671 FAX) +61 3 9251 3666 Record last updated on 06-Apr-99. Record created on 19-Apr-95. Database last updated on 14-Oct-99 04:14:14 EDT. Domain servers in listed order: YARRINA.CONNECT.COM.AU 192.189.54.17 TRF.NIC.AD.JP 192.41.192.2 RIP.PSG.COM 147.28.0.39 9

ATTACHMENT C SAMPLE TERMS AND CONDITIONS The following Terms and Conditions have been downloaded 19 October 1999 from Tuvalu ISP that commenced operations last week. It has been included as reference. Definitions "supported computer" means a computer running Win95, Win98 or Win NT with a minimum 14400 modem and a 16550 UART. (We recommend that all computers have at least 8Mb RAM and that Internet access is made via a phone line that is not plugged into any other device or a PABX system). "supported application" means Netscape 2.x,3.x,4.x, Internet Explorer 3.x, 4.x, 5.x, Internet Mail, Internet News, Microsoft Outlook Express. It specifically does NOT include Microsoft Outlook or Microsoft Exchange. "Tuvalu ISP" means Tuvalu Telecommunication Corp. Internet Services "client" means any person or company signing the application form. Service Tuvalu ISP will provide the client with the ability to access the Internet. Access will be available 24 hours a day, 7 days a week subject to regular scheduled maintenance, breakdown of equipment or force majure. Tuvalu ISP will use our best endeavours to ensure continuous delivery of the service but does not warrant that the access will be uninterrupted nor free from errors. To access the WWW you must use our proxy server. The client is responsible for the TTC or any other costs incurred in accessing the Internet and in selecting the most cost-effective mode of doing so. Tuvalu ISP will provide the client with an email address (login name (Account ID)) and procedure to connect to the service and will maintain that email address for the duration of this contract. Support Tuvalu ISP will provide the client with any technical assistance necessary to connect any supported computer to the Internet and the installation and use of any supported application. Free support extends to telephone support only. Free support does not include configuration of an internal network or the installation and use of any non-supported application or any onsite visits or the installation of software, operating systems or hardware other than Internet software and modems. Payment The client agrees to pay the amount calculated at the appropriate rate for all logins to Tuvalu ISP made in their login name (Account ID). In other words if you tell someone your password or they guess it, you are responsible for the time they spend online. We will change your password for you at any time if you think someone else knows it and you don't want to pay for time they use. All invoiced accounts are payable within 14 days of the date upon the invoice or Tuvalu ISP will suspend the service until payment is received for this or any other debt accruing to it. Tuvalu ISP may suspend any prepaid account which has a zero or negative balance and may suspend any invoiced account where the balance has exceeded $100 and prior arrangements have not been made. No notice of suspension is required to be given. No pre-paid accounts will be credited with funds until a cheque has cleared or payment is made by cash. The client will be responsible for any fees incurred in relation to cheques that are not met on presentation. Pre-paid clients are not affected by subsequent price changes. Charges to invoiced clients will not increase without at least one month s notice by email. All pre-paid packages are non-refundable and non-transferable. The client The terms of this agreement with the client are not transferable or assignable. The client will pay for all connections made to Tuvalu ISP using their login name (Account ID) and password. To this end the client will keep their password secret and choose and maintain secure passwords. 10

The client also agrees not to use the service to transmit viruses, worms, trojan horses or other destructive programs, to breach copyright, to publish defamatory or pornographic material, to breach netiquette, to commit any other criminal offence or to attempt to do any of these things whether in Tuvalu or elsewhere. The client will not conduct port scans, or nuke other Internet users or engage in any similar behaviour. Any account that is not in credit and has not been used for a period of 30 days is subject to cancellation and reassignment of the email address. Any e-mail over 30 days old or over 5MB in size and 14 days old may be deleted without any reference to the client. The client will refrain from inappropriate postings to email list-servers or newsgroups especially unsolicited advertising which can result in thousands of "hate" emails sent to them or Tuvalu ISP. Any client with more than 10MB of email on the server may have to pay a surcharge of $10 for each week or part thereof during which this size limit is exceeded. Clients must remove all mail from the server promptly and may not set their email programs to accumulate messages on the server. Spamming Spamming is the Internet term for sending unsolicited commercial email. It is so unpopular that most of those receiving spam will NOT buy your product, they will fill your email box with hate mail and they will also do the same to us for letting you do it. Sometimes 1000's of emails arrive within minutes. This may crash our server or at least slow it down. It is illegal in some US states. Make no mistakes, if you spam on Tuvalu ISP, you won't be on Tuvalu ISP and Tuvalu ISP may seek compensation from you if your actions cause us loss. For these reason as well as for good manners spamming is strictly prohibited The client will be disconnected and charged a fee if any such actions result in excess mail being sent to or through Tuvalu ISP. Risk Tuvalu ISP is not responsible for and does not warrant the delivery of or content of any material available through provision of its service. The client uses the service and the material at their own risk including the risk of attack by virus or hackers or exposure to material including unsolicited email, pornography, offensive or inflammatory material or any other unwanted material. Tuvalu ISP is not liable for any damage arising either directly or indirectly or consequential upon the provision of the service or the failure of the service to operate at any time. We strongly advise all computer owners to backup regularly whether or not they use the Internet. Content Tuvalu ISP forbids the publication on its services of viruses, unsolicited email, harmful code, pornography offensive or inflammatory material or any other unwanted material. Tuvalu ISP is not liable for the actions of its clients regarding the publication of such materials. Tuvalu ISP will remove without notice any unwanted material as soon as it is known. However Tuvalu ISP will not engage in active content filtering due to the cost of such procedures. Records The client accepts that in the ordinary course of business, records will be kept of their activities upon the Internet and that they consent to it. Tuvalu ISP may use these records for security or billing purposes but will not disclose them without lawful compulsion (i.e. a subpoena) without the consent of the client. Duration This agreement shall continue from month to month until terminated by either party or until a pre-paid package run out, which ever is the later. Termination Either party may terminate this agreement by the giving of one month s notice in writing or by email. Tuvalu ISP may terminate any account without notice that is not in credit and has not been used for a period of 30 days. Tuvalu ISP may terminate or suspend the agreement at any time for breach of any of the conditions contained herein and retains the right to sue for monies outstanding. 11