Unfortunately, some email is sent or actions are taken which are considered to be unacceptable by the Internet community. This is usually described by the generic term of "abuse" or "spam".

Because of the practical problems caused by "spamming", PCSHOST wants to make it clear that it considers the sending of bulk unsolicited email of any kind, to be in violation of our AUP. PCSHOST will always take the appropriate action when Internet abuse is brought to our attention. Advisement and education, in the form of an email warning and/or phone call, is PCSHOST's response to a first offense, since customers can be unaware of Internet standards. However, it is PCSHOST's policy to terminate the account if we receive further complaints from future mailings.

Below are examples of what type of behavior is considered to be in violation of the PCSHOST Acceptable Use Policy.

Unsolicited Commercial Email (UCE) and Unsolicited Bulk Email (UBE)
Unsolicited email including commercial advertising and informational announcements sent without the recipient either requesting such information or otherwise explicitly expressing an interest in the material is strictly prohibited.

Since many Internet users use a dial-up connection and pay for their online time, it costs them money to receive email. Receipt of unsolicited email costs them money and is often particularly unwelcome.

It should be noted that a user has not expressed an interest by the mere act of posting a news article in any particular newsgroup, or by visiting a web site, unless of course they have made a specific request for information to be emailed to them.

Usenet
Posting the same or similar message to one or more newsgroups, off-topic posting or multiple-posting, that is in violation of the newsgroup charter is considered by PCSHOST as Internet abuse.

Forged Headers and/or Addresses
Forging headers or messages means sending email so that its origin appears to be another user or machine, or a non-existent machine.

It is also forgery to configure the reply to address of the email to be sent to some other user or machine.

A user shall not use another site's mail server to relay mail without the authorization and permission of the site.

Mail Bombing
Mail bombing is the sending of multiple emails, or one large email, with the sole intent to overload a system and / or seeking revenge on a fellow Internet user. It is wasteful of shared Internet resources and are of no value to the recipient. If prior arrangement has not been made, the email may be extremely unwelcome.

Mailing List Subscriptions
List owners are encouraged to confirm all subscription requests from the apparent subscriber before starting to send any list email. They must ensure that unsubscribe requests are handled efficiently.

Many reports of unsolicited bulk email turn out to be from people who were unaware that they had joined a mailing list. It is not acceptable to subscribe people to a list merely because they have visited your web site or used one of your products; the person must make an explicit request to be listed.

However, some reports occur because people have genuinely forgotten that they had made such a request. If you run a mailing list you are strongly advised to keep copies of administrative requests (web logs, or emails including headers) so that you may demonstrate that subscription requests were genuine.