The purpose of the free Personal Pages service is to give SMIG licensees the ability to create a home on the World Wide Web that reflects their interests, hobbies and background.

Within the guidelines stated below, we are committed to provide a web space for most points of view. If you disagree with some of the opinions expressed by certain Personal Pages, we encourage you to create your own free Personal Page and make your own views known. We appreciate your interest and support of SMIG and pledge to you our continued support.

The Directors of SMIG
Last modified March 15, 2002

SMIG is not responsible for the content of any Personal Pages, and the opinions and views expressed in the Personal Pages do not necessarily reflect those of SMIG. The contents of the Personal Pages are not reviewed in any way before they appear in SMIG Personal Pages.

SMIG is not responsible for the preservation of any Personal Pages. Users of SMIG Personal Pages must maintain their own backup of their pages. SMIG is not responsible for any loss of pages. While it is our intent to provide this service, SMIG does not guarentee the Personal pages web server will be operating at any given time.

SMIG is not responsible for nor will SMIG assist licensees with the preparation or posting of Personal Web Pages. The Internet contains ample help for individuals to learn and prepare their own pages. SMIG is not responsible for making your pages work properly on the Web. Any and all inquiries requesting assistance with preparing or posting Personal Web Pages will be ignored.

We reserve the right to remove any page from the system which is brought to our attention and which we find, in our sole discretion, violates these page content guidelines, or otherwise is in violation of the law. SMIG does not actively monitor the content of Personal Pages, but will investigate complaints of violation of these guidelines. Please submit any such complaints using our Content Violation Reporting Form. SMIG is also not responsible for any loss of data resulting from our deletion of Personal Pages, network or system outages, file corruption, or any other reasons.

Page Content Guidelines

SMIG has carefully developed the following page content guidelines to promote the free flowing exchange of ideas about your interests, activities, and hobbies, and at the same time maintain standards consistent with the Internet community and the societies of the world at large.

Each page must include a link back to SMIG. This can be a reference to the main SMIG Personal Page, or to the SMIG Home Page.

Adding a Reference to SMIG

IMPORTANT: The only requirement we have for a reference is that you include the following HTML code on your page in a prominent location:

This will appear on your page as follows:

This page hosted by SMIG. Get your own SMIG Personal Page

Refrain from using your free Personal Pages for the following activities:

• Providing material that is grossly offensive to the Web community including blatant expressions of bigotry, racism, hatred, or profanity
• Promoting or providing instructional information about illegal activities, or promoting physical harm or injury against any group or individual
• Using your free Personal Pages for commercial purposes, including but not limited to the following:
  • Offering for sale or trade any products or services, including hobby items.
  • Soliciting for advertisers or sponsors
  • Displaying a sponsorship banner of any kind, including those that are generated by banner or link exchange services
  • Displaying banners for services that provide cash or cash-equivalent prizes to users in exchange for hyperlinks to their web site
  • Promoting or soliciting for participation in multi-level marketing or pyramid schemes
  • Conducting raffles or contests that require any type of entry fee
• Displaying material containing nudity or pornographic material of any kind
• Displaying material that exploits children under 18 years of age
• Developing restricted or Password-only access pages, or hidden pages or images (those not linked to from another accessible page)
• Using your page (or directory) as storage for remote loading or as a door or signpost to another server
• Using your page for acts of copyright infringement including offering pirated computer programs or links to such programs, information used to circumvent manufacturer-installed copy-protect devices, including serial or registration numbers for software programs, or any type of cracker utilities
• Violating Internet standards for the purpose of promoting your home page
• Developing pages that consist of hyperlinks to content not allowed in SMIG

For copyright information, please read the Copyright FAQ Page.

SMIG Licensee Terms of Service

Licensees are solely responsible for everything contained in their own Personal Pages. SMIG does not verify, endorse, or otherwise vouch for the contents of any Personal Page. Licensees can be held legally liable for the contents of their Personal Pages, and may be held legally accountable if their Personal Pages include, for example, material protected by copyright, trademark, patent, or trade secret law without the permission of the author or owner or defamatory comments.

The Licensee agrees to indemnify and hold harmless SMIG for any loss, liability, claim, damage, and expenses (including reasonable attorney fees) arising from or in connection with the contents of the licensee's Personal Pages.

In the event that SMIG receives a complaint that the contents of a personal page infringe intellectual property rights or otherwise is unlawful, SMIG shall request written substantiation of the complaint from the complaining party, for example, substantiation of proof of ownership in the form of a trademark, service mark, or copyright registration and will take such steps that it believes to be appropriate under the circumstances, including, for example:

1. Suspend the site immediately until the dispute is resolved
2. Provide the Licensee with contact information for the complaining party
3. Instruct the Licensee to contact the complaining party to resolve the dispute
4. Inform the complaining party of our actions and ask them to work directly with the Licensee
   Note: All correspondence between the parties must also be sent to SMIG (address provided)
5. Take the following action based on the progress of the dispute:
   • If the Licensee has not pursued resolution within 14 days of notification, the site is deleted
   • If complaining party has not pursued resolution within 14 days of Licensee's response, the site is re-activated
   • If legal action is pending or the dispute is not settled, the site may remain suspended until resolution is reached and SMIG is notified by both parties as to the outcome
   • If a resolution is reached between the parties, site is reactivated with any mutually agreed upon modifications

SMIG reserves the following rights:

• To release current or past Licensee information in the event SMIG believes that accounts are in violation of the terms of service or content guidelines, used to commit unlawful acts, if the information is subpoenaed, or when SMIG deems it necessary and/or appropriate.
• To deny SMIG Licenseing to repeat offenders of these guidelines or terms of service
• To amend or change these guidelines at any time and without notice
• To use images of SMIG Personal Pages for promotional and other purposes

For copyright information, please read the Copyright FAQ Page.

Licensees who are in violation of these policies may be suspended and their pages removed without warning.