The Dizum Usenet F.A.Q. v1.04 (03-February-2002)

[01] Q: Do you censor?

A: No.

[02] Q: What is your policy on cross-posting?

A: We expect customers to be responsible when they cross-post. Cross-posting ability is not to be used by customers for the purpose of "cascading", "flaming", or "trolling". We may disable the cross-posting ability of a customer if we believe they are cross-posting with one or more of these purposes.

[03] Q: What is your policy on unsolicited advertising?

A: We have a strict policy against unsolicited advertising. We will try to weed out unsolicited advertising by applying their heuristics into a blockfile.

[04] Q: Do you consider make money fast (MMF) schemes to be unsolicited advertising?

A: Absolutely.

[05] Q: Why do you allow posting to groups that appear to be focused on illegal activities?

A: It is our belief that a group name in of itself is not illegal and that what is actually in a group does not necessarily correspond to a group name. It is possible for illegal messages to be posted to any group on Usenet and we have no way of monitoring or controlling this. If you believe something illegal is happening, please consider contacting law enforcement so that the posters of such material can be prosecuted appropriately.

[06] Q: What is your policy on child pornography?

A: We rely on users to follow the law which applies to Dizum and/or the user. We rely on readers to report presumed child pornography to the appropriate law enforcement agency so they may then contact us and follow-up as they feel appropriate. We do not review messages that have passed through the server because that action in or of itself can be illegal. Further, we are not in a position to know what is child pornography and what is not. If you do not know which agency to report child pornography to, please visit (when located in Europe) (http://www.inhope.org), for people located in the US call the National Center for Missing & Exploited Children's Cyber Tipline (http://www.cybertipline.com/) at 1-800-843-5678.

[07] Q: What is your policy on copyrighted material?

A: We rely on users to follow the copyright law which applies to Dizum and/or the user. If you believe that a user of Dizum has violated a copyright you should contact the copyright holder directly. We do not review messages that have passed through the server because that action in or of itself can be illegal. Further, we are not in a position to know what is a copyright violation and what is not.

[08] Q: What is your policy on message floods?

A: If a message flood is resulting in a denial of service, we will stop it. If a user on Dizum is causing it, we may disable their posting ability. A denial of service is when news servers are unable to perform their intended function because of the overload caused by a message flood or other harmful activity. Readers inconvenienced by numerous off-topic or inappropriate postings does not constitute a flood or denial of service.

[09] Q: What is your policy on non-advertising excessive multi-postings (EMP)?

A: We consider excessive multi-postings to be a flood and we react to it as described above.

[10] Q: What is your policy on binaries in non-binary groups?

A: We do not have a policy against binaries in non-binary groups and we rely on users to operate in a way that they feel is appropriate for Usenet and/or the groups they are participating in.

[11] Q: What is your policy on off-topic postings?

A: We do not have a policy against off-topic postings and we rely on users to operate in a way that they feel is appropriate for Usenet and/or the groups they are participating in.

[12] Q: What is your policy on a user posting with a bogus return address?

A: We feel users have a right to decide whether to be anonymous or not and so we do not have a problem with a user posting with a bogus return address. The news server software does require that a return address be in Internet standard format, such as foo@bar, but the address does not have to be real. We do require that users verify that the address they choose to use is not actually someone else's valid address or domain. For example, bar@foo.com is actually a valid email address, because foo.com is a registered domain.

[13] Q: What is your policy on forgery?

A: We have a policy against a user of Dizum making posts in a way that uses the email address of another user on Usenet or the Internet, in an attempt to deceive readers of the true identity of the poster, without that email address owner's permission. In addition, if you are the victim or witness to a forgery, you may want to contact the appropriate law enforcement agency so they may then contact us and follow-up as they feel appropriate. If you feel that your email address is being forged and you do not want to make use of the Dizum mail2news gateway nor the Dizum remailer we can add that address to the blockfile. This will disable any postings with that from line.

[14] Q: What if I don't like one of your customers or what they are saying on Usenet? Will you delete them for me if I complain enough?

A: No. Also, if you feel one of our customers is using the service for illegal purposes, please contact law enforcement and not us.

[15] Q: I am going to complain to your bandwidth providers because I disagree with your views. What say you?

A: We work hard to make sure that we do not violate the provisions of any contracts we have with bandwidth providers. If a bandwidth provider decides they do not want our business, we will take it elsewhere as necessary.

[16] Q: One of your users is harassing me. What should I do?

A: You should probably ask them to stop or try to ignore them. If that does not work, you might want to consider contacting an appropriate law enforcement agency. We are unable to control what users say on Usenet, nor are we able to determine whether harassment is taking place.

[17] Q: One of your users is libeling me. What should I do?

A: We do not have a way of knowing whether what is said is true or not and so we rely on you to pursue legal action against a poster if you believe a poster's actions are illegal and/or libelous. We do not review messages that have passed through the server because that action in or of itself can be illegal. Further, we are not in a position to know what is a libeling statement and what is not.

[18] Q: Why do you allow users so much freedom?

A: We believe that the more responsibilities we take away from a user, the more irresponsible they will act. By attempting to maximize freedom, we believe our users will act responsibly and not abuse that freedom. We run these services since 1994 and this has proven to be the case.