Suspension Terms


This document is intended to clarify Lawyers Online's Acceptable Use Policy and Terms & Conditions. This document does not define anything which is not already covered in the two previously mentioned documents.

You will notice that almost always our procedures are designed to prevent any one of our users from affecting our other users. As such these procedures protect your account more than they limit it.

We understand that having your account suspended can be irritating. If at any point your account is suspended you will be contacted by Lawyers Online. However we reserve the right to suspend your account without notice and contact you after the fact.

Suspension of your account will occur under any of the following conditions.

  1. Non Payment

    1. Lawyers Online's standard procedure is to not suspend accounts when payment is due. However, if service is used for an extended period of time after payment is due your account will be suspended pending payment.
    2. Payment of all Lawyers Online's fees and debt collector's fees is required before your account can be reactivated or cancelled.

  2. Usage Allocation

    1. All ISP accounts have an upper usage limit; this is required as no computer can handle an infinite amount of information. The limits are set high enough that they are not noticed in general usage.
    2. If you do approach the limit of your account Lawyers Online will contact you and offer advice for more efficient usage of your account or suggest a different account type.
    3. If you are not contactable or your usage of your account stays above the limit for more than 7 days your account will automatically be partially suspended by our automated systems.

  3. Complaints

    1. If at any point Lawyers Online receives a complaint about your account/IP address we shall investigate and suspend your account if it is necessary for the issue complained about to be resolved.
    2. The majority of complaints received are due to viruses, hacking or server misconfiguration, all of which are explained in other parts of this document.

  4. Computer Viruses or Trojans

    1. Your account may be suspended if Lawyers Online is made aware that your account is being used by a computer virus.
    2. Your account will be suspended due to the risks involved with computer viruses. By suspending the account Lawyers Online hopes to prevent the following:
    3. 4.1Your computer from sending confidential information over the Internet
    4. 4.2Your computer from infecting other computers or networks
    5. A lot of viruses will attach themselves to confidential word documents, excel spreadsheets, etc and then send these documents via email to everyone in your address book. Providing these people with the virus and your confidential information.
    6. Some viruses have the ability to record everything you type on your keyboard, including web addresses, usernames and passwords. Lawyers Online has seen viruses use this ability to distribute your online banking information via email (an example of a virus that has this ability is W32/BugBear-B)
    7. Please note that Lawyers Online do not guarantee that emails you receive through our service are virus free. It is left up to you (the end user) to check your computer system for viruses. You are recommended to install and maintain Sophos Anti-Virus on your computer.

  5. Misconfiguration

    1. Misconfiguration of a computer/server connected to a Lawyers Online account can cause problems for other internet users and yourself. Problems arising from misconfiguration don't tend to show up immediately and tend to cause problems in the long term. As such these problems are often not anticipated and overlooked when your computer/server is installed.
    2. The following are considered as server misconfiguration:
    3. 5.1Open Mail Relay
    4. 5.2Open Proxy Server
    5. 5.3Insufficient or no External Security (eg. public access to files being shared on your computer, administration interface on your router, etc)

  6. SPAM / Unsolicited Commercial Email

    1. The sending of SPAM is considered bad by the internet community as a whole. There are many organisations on the internet which attempt to the limit the ability of "spammers".
    2. Lawyers Online does not wish for its self or any of its customers to become "blacklisted" and as such limited as it which parts of the internet it is allowed to communicate with. As such any account that is used to send unsolicited commercial email or junk email in general will be suspended without notice.
    3. If you run an email list you must ensure that everyone on your list has requested inclusion and that you provide and advertise an easy straight forward unsubscription method.
    4. If you have an email server on your premises you must ensure that it is not misconfigured as an open mail relay or an open proxy as both of these misconfigurations can be used by a third party to send spam via your account.

  7. Hacking

    1. If your account is used for the purpose of penetrating the security of other computers or networks on the internet you will be automatically suspended without notice.
    2. This is most likely to occur if your computer is hacked and then being used by a hacker to hack someone else.
    3. Hacking is defined as any of the following:
    4. 7.1Port Scanning
    5. 7.2Controlling a Trojan
    6. 7.3Brute Force Password Cracking
    7. 7.4Intentionally sending corrupt or invalid data
    8. 7.5Social Engineering through electronic communication
    9. 7.6Exploiting known vulnerabilities in remote systems to gain unauthorized access
    10. Note that Lawyers Online will not suspend your account if any of the above activities is performed against computers that you own. However an explanation of your actions will be required if any complaint is received.

  8. Under Attack

    1. Your account shall be suspended if Lawyers Online is made aware that your computers are under attack (being hacked) and are unable to contact you. This is to prevent compromise of your computer systems.
    2. Your account will be reactivated immediately upon request.

  9. Other

    1. The above is only the most common subset of reasons for suspension. Please read Lawyers Online's Acceptable Use Policy and Terms & Conditions for specific details in a legal narrative.

Lawyers Online Suspension Terms - Last Revised 30/06/2003