Terms & Conditions

This agreement represents the complete agreement and understanding between Rhino Communications, (hereinafter called Rhino) and the account holder (also referred to as customer/user) and supersedes any other written or oral agreement. Upon notice published online at www.rhinocommunications.net. Rhino may modify these terms and conditions, amplify them, and/or modify the prices, as well as discontinue or change the services offered.

1.0 Provision of Services

1.1 Rhino will provide services on its computing and network systems to individual account holders in exchange for payment of fees and compliance with the terms and conditions of this document.

1.2 Services are defined as computing, telecommunications, software, and other information services provided to account holders by Rhino. These services also include the provision of access to computing, telecommunications, software and information services provided by others via the Global Internet.

1.3 Rhino provides access to USENET discussion groups (newsgroups). Some of the discussions contain language or pictures about subjects intended for Adult audiences. Account holders less than 18 years old must have a parent or legal guardian agree to these conditions to indicate acceptance and knowledge of this.

1.4 Rhino will publish a notice of fee increases online via their home page at www.rhinocommunications.net before such increases will take effect.

2.0 Use of Material

2.1 Public Domain materials (e.g., images, text and programs) may be downloaded or uploaded using Rhino services. Account holders may also re-distribute materials in the public domain. The account holder assumes all risks regarding the determination of whether the material is in the public domain.

2.2 As provided by United States federal law and by International treaties, copyrighted materials (e.g., images, text, and programs) may not be uploaded using Rhino services without the permission of the copyright holder. Except as expressly permitted, materials under copyright may not be distributed to others. Copyrighted material may not be changed nor can the author attribution notices nor the copyright notices be modified.

2.3 Note that some materials available on the Global Internet are called "SHAREWARE." These materials may be downloaded and used, but they are copyrighted materials. The copyright holder usually gives permission to use the material for examination. If you choose to continue using the materials, the copyright holder requests that you register your usage and may ask that you pay a license fee.

3.0 Use of Services

3.1 Rhino user accounts are for individual users and the account holder therefore agrees not to share the password of the account. The account holder acknowledges that Rhino will terminate the account after appropriate notification if the account holder does not comply.

3.2 The account holder agrees to maintain a secure password to the account. Secure passwords are those that are between 6 and 8 characters long, contain upper and lower case letters and numbers, and can not be found in direct or reverse order in a dictionary, without regard to the language of the dictionary.

3.3 The account holder agrees not to use any process, program, or tool via Rhino services for guessing the passwords of account holders on Rhino or other systems. The account holder agrees not to use Rhino services to make unauthorized attempts to access the systems and networks of others.

3.4 The account holder agrees to use the services provided by Rhino as permitted by applicable local, state and federal laws. The account holder agrees, therefore, not to use these services to conduct any business or activity or solicit the performance of any activity that is prohibited by law.

3.5 Rhino services should not be used to send unsolicited advertising or promotional materials (i.e. spam) to other network users. Electronic mail and appropriate USENET newsgroups may be used in the conduct of legitimate businesses.

3.6 Rhino is not responsible for Long Distance or Service Charges incurred with account holder’s phone company for using our service. It is the account holder’s responsibility to make sure they have the correct calling plan in place.

4.0 Indemnification

4.1 The account holder acknowledges that Rhino makes an honest effort to keep the information available on Rhino's systems accurate. However, Rhino can make no warranty of any kind, either expressed or implied, regarding the quality, accuracy or validity for the data and/or information available. Use of information obtained from or through Rhino is at the risk of the account holder.

4.2 The account holder also acknowledges that the information available through the interconnecting networks may not be accurate. Rhino has no ability or authority over the material. Rhino can make no warranty of any kind, either expressed or implied, regarding the quality, accuracy or validity of the data and/or information residing on or passing through these networks. Use of information obtained from or through Rhino services is at the risk of the account holder.

4.3 The account holder agrees to indemnify and hold Rhino harmless from any claims, including attorney's fees resulting from the account holder receiving Rhino services, which cause direct or indirect damage to another party.

5.0 Payment of fees and penalties

5.1 The Rhino billing cycle is in thirty 12 month periods, starting for each user from the day their account is activated. The first partial month of activation will be pro-rated based on a 30 day month.

5.2 Rhino user accounts paid by cash, check, or money order are billed monthly in advance, with a 15-day billing period. New accounts paying by cash or check will be activated until payment is received. Rhino user accounts paid by credit/debit card will billed monthly in advance, with a fifteen (15) day billing period. New accounts paying by credit/debit card are activated immediately upon receipt of credit/debit card authorization. These funds are non-refundable in the event of account cancellation.

5.3 Delinquent accounts are those that are unpaid after the due date, or those whose charges are refused by the account holder's credit/debit card company.

5.4 Accounts that are delinquent are put on “accounting lock” and may not be used. Rhino accounts continue to accrue charges while they are locked.

5.5 Accounts that are on accounting lock will only be “unlocked” after the Rhino Internet Services accounting department has cleared the account and the account is paid in full. Accounts will only be unlocked during the hours of 9am-6pm, Monday-Friday, Central Time

5.6 The account holder acknowledges full responsibility for the account until payment is made in full.

5.7 Administrative fees for 800 services, username changes and password changes will be assess automatically upon completion of one or more of the above mentioned administrative service request.

6.0 Account Cancellations

6.1 Cancellation requests for Rhino accounts must be received in writing via fax, postal service in Rhino's main office or via email at cancellations@rhinocommunications.net. Such requests must be received thirty (30) days before the billing recycle day at which the customer's account would normally cycle in order to be processed so that the customer is not billed for the next usage period.

6.2 All Rhino accounts must be paid in full before the transaction will be considered complete.

7.0 Acceptable Use Policy (Abuse of Services)

7.1 Any use of Rhino system resources that disrupts the normal use of the system for other Rhino users is considered to be abuse of system resources and is grounds for administrative intervention.

7.2 Modification, alteration, reverse engineering, decompilation, disassembly or creation of derived work based on Rhino proprietary installation software or associated setup utilities is an abuse of Rhino services.

7.3 Depending on the nature and the severity of the abuse, the user may receive an email warning, or, is severe enough, have their account suspended by Rhino Technical Support without prior notice. If the misuse is unintentional, the suspension may be rescinded following discussion with Rhino Technical support. It the misuse is intentional, the suspension may be rescinded at the discretion of the Customer Service Manager. Occasionally, unintentional misuse is misclassified as intentional misuse. Customers who believe their activity has been misclassified may appeal to the Customer Service Manager. Examples of system misuse can include, but are not limited to, the following:


7.3.a Personal dialup unlimited accounts are for unlimited usage of ONE person only, with reasonable unlimited use. Reasonable unlimited use is defined as one person sitting at a computer using the service, and does NOT include leaving systems idle for excessive periods of time, leaving systems online for others’ use as file servers, etc. (Also See Section 3 under 3.6).

7.3.b Rhino Personal WWW pages are for personal use only. They may not be used for the advertising or promotion of a product, goods, service, company or person(s).

7.3.c Running IRC automation programs (commonly called “bots”) on Rhino’s server system and or other IRC server systems through Rhino’s dialup access links.

7.3.d Sending unwanted or large amounts of unwanted email messages, posting commercial advertisements in USENET newsgroups, or making large numbers of article posts to inappropriate newsgroups (behavior commonly referred to as “spamming”) through Rhino electronic email or USENET news servers.

7.3.e Use of profanity, racial slurs, sexually explicit language, or sexually explicit material on World Wide Web homepages stored in an Rhino user account, or in electronic mail stored or transmitted through the Rhino Internet Services, Inc. computer systems.

7.3.f Use of copyrighted materials without permission of the copyright holder on World Wide Web Homepages stored in a Rhino user account.

7.4 Violations of any of the Rhino conditions of use are unethical and may be criminal offenses. You are expected to report to Rhino any information you may have concerning instances in which the conditions of use have been or are being violated. When Rhino becomes aware of possible violations, we will initiate and investigation. At the same time, in order to prevent further unauthorized activity, Rhino may suspend access to services to the individual account in question. Confirmation of violations may result in cancellation of the individual account and/or criminal prosecution. The account suspension may be rescinded at Rhino’s discretion.