5 Stupid Things ISPs Do to Screw Up Their AUPs

The contract between you and your customers is one of the cornerstones of your business. All too often, ISPs put them together without much thought—or awareness of the possible consequences.

by Rachel Luxemburg [May 26, 1999]

Every ISP has one—whether they call it an 'Acceptable Use Policy,' 'Terms of Service,' a 'User Agreement,' or something else. It's the legal document that serves as the contract between you and your customer. And lots of ISPs undercut themselves by making mistakes with their AUPs and how they implement them. I am not a lawyer, so I'm not qualified to comment of the actual content of an AUP, but there's much more to a good, working AUP than legal correctness. Here are five common pitfalls you should avoid:

1. Legalese
More and more contracts today are being written in plain English. Yours should be too. If your find your AUP hard to read, your customer probably gave up and never even tried. Give your AUP to a non-technical friend and see if s/he can understand it. If s/he can't, rewrite it.

2. Add-On-itis
Some ISPs create separate billing policies, abuse and spam definitions, or break out other sections of their polices into separate documents. While one can make an argument for this, in general I think it's a bad idea. One three-page document is preferable to three one-page documents. The more places people have to go for information the more likely they'll either get confused or not read them all. Perhaps worse, you leave yourself open to creating loopholes or conflicting policies.

3. No Legal Input
A significant number of ISPs put together their original AUP by cutting and pasting sections from other ISP's AUPs, then changing the company name. (Yes, I did too). Then as they grow, expand their service offerings, and add new sections, they either write their own or again 'borrow' from others. How many of those ISPs had a lawyer review their AUP to make sure it's legally accurate and defensible? It usually costs just a few hundred dollars to get a lawyer to review your AUP for holes and flaws. This is not a place to cut corners. As the commercial says, "Just do it". It's worth it.

4. Hard to Find
This is a very common failing with ISPs. While preparing for this article, I went to about 20 different ISPs and web host's sites to look at their AUPs. It took me, typically, 3 to 6 clicks to get to the AUP on these web sites, not including the extra clicks spent following blind alleys or going in circles. Your AUP is too important to hide in a corner of your "Support" section, or worse, only be displayed when someone goes to sign up for an account online. Also, consider making a PDF or text-only version that customers can easily download.

5. No Follow Through
I know of one company that stipulated in its AUP that no account would be cancelled until 2 days after a certified letter was sent to the customer informing notifying them of the impending cancellation. Then they went ahead and cancelled some spammer's accounts without sending the notice. One of the spammers got his lawyer to complain that the AUP had been violated, and after checking with their lawyers in turn, the ISP had to turn the account back on until the cancellation was done the 'right' way. The moral of the story: the AUP binds you as much as it does your customers. If you set out a policy, you have to follow it. If a policy isn't working, don't ignore it—change the AUP instead.

Final Thoughts
All too often, AUPs are treated as an afterthought or a necessary evil. If you're lucky, you'll never get into a situation where you need to fall back on your AUP in a customer problem (or worse, a lawsuit), but don't make the mistake of thinking it won't happen to you. It doesn't take all that much time or money to do your AUP right. If you have any doubts about your AUP, make the time to re-read it and see whether it needs work.

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