Member Agreement

The America Online Member Agreement is a legal document that details your rights and obligations as an AOL member. You cannot become an AOL Member until you have accepted the terms of the Member Agreement. The Member Agreement provides very important information about your AOL membership, so you should take the time to read and understand it. If you have questions about the Member Agreement, or about your rights and responsibilities as an AOL member, please contact us by e-mail by clicking here. You should also take the time to review the AOL Privacy Policy and the AOL Community Guidelines which reflect AOL’s current policies. The Internet and online world is changing rapidly and as technology and AOL’s business continue to evolve, these policies may have to be updated or revised. Since these Privacy Policies and Community Guidelines may change, you should check "Keyword: TOS" for the most current versions.

For the same reasons, it may be necessary for AOL to update or revise certain provisions of the Member Agreement. By joining AOL and accepting the Member Agreement you agree that AOL may change the terms of this Member Agreement. If AOL makes material changes or revisions to the Member Agreement, we will provide notice to you thirty days in advance. If you don’t agree to the changes proposed by AOL, or to any of the terms in this Member Agreement, your only remedy is to cancel your AOL membership.

1. THE BASICS OF YOUR AOL MEMBERSHIP

This Agreement is your entire agreement with AOL and governs your use of the AOL Internet online service. There may be additional terms and conditions if you use affiliate services like our international areas, other AOL services or products such as AOL Instant Messenger(TM) service or third-party software and/or services. To access the AOL service you must accept the terms of this Agreement and comply with the AOL Community Guidelines. To be an AOL member, you must be at least 18 years old. If you are not yet eighteen years old, you may still use AOL, but only if the account was created and registered by your parent or guardian. Because we give out free trial offers, we reserve the right to limit you to just one free trial.

When you accept this Agreement and complete the AOL registration process, you become the "master account" holder, and AOL provides you with a limited, non-exclusive license for no more than the term of your membership to use the screen name you select for your "master account." AOL also allows you to have up to four additional "sub-accounts" or screen names of your choice. Your screen name is your online identity. You may not use a screen name that is used by someone else, and your screen name cannot be vulgar, or be used in any way that violates the other parts of the Member Agreement or the Community Guidelines.

As the master account holder, you are responsible for all activity on your account and on any of the sub-accounts, and violations or warning accrued by the sub-account can lead to termination of the master account. If warnings or violations are received by sub-accounts, the master account will also receive notification. You may also receive important notices about your membership from time to time that may not be provided to the sub-accounts, so it is important for you to regularly check your master account mailbox. Because you are responsible for all use of your account, you should supervise the use of your account by others. This is especially important when children are using the service; children are safer online and get more out of the experience with adult supervision. It is important that you not reveal your password to other users and AOL will never ask you for your password. You agree not to reveal your password to other users and you agree to indemnify and hold AOL harmless for any improper or illegal use of your account. This includes illegal or improper use by someone to whom you have given permission to use your account. Your account is at risk if you let someone use it inappropriately. If your membership is terminated for violating this Agreement or the Community Guidelines, AOL’s express permission will be necessary before you are allowed to use AOL again.

2. CHARGES, BILLING AND THE FREE TRIAL

AOL reserves the right to change our fees or billing methods at any time and AOL will provide notice of any such change at least thirty days in advance in the same manner described above for changes to the Member Agreement. AOL also has the right to collect applicable taxes and impose premium surcharges for some areas of the service and these surcharges may apply even during your free trial. The answers to many common billing questions can be found by going to Keyword:  Help, then selecting Accounts & Billing, going to Keyword: Billing, or by contacting an AOL customer service representative at 1-800-827-6364. If you don’t like the changes in fees or billing methods, you may cancel your membership at any time, but AOL will not refund any remaining portion of the monthly fee when you cancel your membership. If you have joined AOL as a trial member, you should understand that your free trial time must be used within one month of your initial sign-on and to avoid being charged a membership fee, you must cancel your account before the end of that first month.

As the master account holder, you are responsible for all charges incurred, including applicable taxes and purchases made by you or anyone you allow to use your account or sub-accounts, including your children, other members of your family or friends. This means that, unless your account or credit card information is obtained unlawfully or fraudulently by someone other than those authorized to use your account or sub-account, you will be responsible for all usage and purchases under your account or sub-accounts.

There may be extra charges to access certain premium content on AOL. AOL will provide notice of any extra charge before you enter the premium area. You are responsible for any charges for premium content incurred using your account (including sub-accounts) and these charges apply even during the free trial. AOL’s Parental Controls allow you to prevent sub-accounts from accessing premium or surcharged content. For more information go to "Keyword: Parental Controls." Some web sites charge separate fees, which are not included in the cost of your AOL membership. AOL provides access to a large number of third-party vendors, who provide content, goods and or services on the AOL service or the Internet. Any separate charges or obligations you incur in your dealings with these third-parties are your responsibility and are not part of the fee charged for your AOL membership.

Most members pay by credit card. For most billing plans we will be charging your designated card every month, but some charges may accumulate on your account before they are charged to your card. If you don’t have a credit card, you can authorize AOL to make electronic fund transfers from your checking account. There is an additional surcharge for this payment option and you should go to Keyword: Billing and read about AOL's Billing Methods for more information.  By selecting this billing option and providing AOL with your debit/checking account information, you authorize AOL to debit your checking account for charges incurred using AOL. Every time you use AOL, you re-affirm that AOL is authorized to charge your credit card or withdraw funds via electronic transfer from your checking account, depending on which payment method you have selected. You also agree to authorize AOL to charge purchases you make online to the credit card you supplied to AOL when you joined or to debit your checking account if you selected that option during the registration process.

We expect you to pay your account balance on time. We will give you 30 days from the date on your account statement to pay your bill. AOL will assess an additional 1.5% (or the highest amount allowed by law, whichever is lower) per month late charge if your payment is more than 30 days past due. That amount is also due immediately. You are responsible and liable for any fees, including attorney and collection fees, that AOL may incur in its efforts to collect any remaining balances from you. You also agree that you will be billed for and will pay any outstanding balances if you cancel your membership or are terminated. You should let us know about any billing problems or discrepancies within 90 days after they first appear on your account statement. If you do not bring them to AOL’s attention within 90 days, you agree that you waive your right to dispute such problems or discrepancies.

AOL has an extensive network of access numbers throughout the country, but it is still possible that the nearest AOL access number might be a long distance or toll call from your location. Any telephone charges incurred connecting to AOL are your responsibility. Since these charges are your responsibility, you should contact your local telephone company if you have a question about whether an AOL access number is a long distance or toll call from your location. AOL also provides several surcharged 800 or 888 access phone numbers (for the current surcharge rate go to Keyword: Access). If you choose to use these surcharged numbers to access AOL, you agree to pay the currently applicable surcharge to AOL. If you have other questions about access phone numbers, you should consult "Keyword: Access." It is important to note that you can incur long distance or toll charges or surcharges for 800 or 888 access even during your free trial.

Content

By content, we mean the text, software, communications, images, sounds other information provided online. Most content on the AOL service is provided by AOL, our members, our affiliates, or independent content providers under license. In general, AOL does not pre-screen content available on the AOL service. AOL does not assume any responsibility or liability for content that is provided by others. AOL does reserve the right to remove content that, in AOL’s judgment, does not meet its standards or does not comply with AOL’s current Community Guidelines, but AOL is not responsible for any failure or delay in removing such material. Keep in mind that AOL is not responsible for content available on the Internet, although we reserve the right to block access to any Internet area containing illegal or other harmful content or otherwise being used for purposes that are unlawful or injurious to AOL or its members.  

One of the most exciting aspects of this medium is that individual members have the ability to create their own content and voice their own opinions. AOL encourages Members to participate and express their views—after all, that is what makes your experience interactive. But it is important to remember that there are rules and standards that you must abide by as an AOL Member. These rules and standards are described in the AOL Community Guidelines. As an AOL Member, you agree to follow the AOL Community Guidelines and you acknowledge that AOL has the right to enforce them in its sole discretion. This means that if you, or anyone using your account, violate the AOL Community Guidelines, AOL may take action against your account. This can range from the issuance of a warning about a violation to the termination of your account. You understand AOL is not required to provide notice prior to terminating your account for violating these rules and standard, but it may choose to do so. Additionally, as an AOL member, you may have access to other AOL branded services, such as AOL Instant Messenger(TM) service, that are available to both AOL members and to other Internet users. When using these AOL branded services, your conduct remains subject to this Member Agreement; however, non-AOL members who use these services are not be subject to this Member Agreement and as a result you understand that these other users may not be governed by the same rules or standards. Because of the changing nature of the Internet and Online Services, the Community Guidelines may change at any time. You can always find the most current version of the AOL Community Guidelines at "Keyword: TOS."

Unsolicited Bulk E-mail

Your AOL membership allows you to send and receive e-mail to and from other AOL members and users of the Internet. This does not mean that you may use AOL to send unsolicited bulk e-mail or junk e-mail. Information about unsolicited bulk e-mail can be found at "Keyword: Junk Mail." Your AOL membership and your authorization to use the AOL e-mail service do not allow you to send unsolicited bulk e-mail or to cause unsolicited bulk e-mail to be sent by someone else. You may not use the Member Directory or any other area of AOL to harvest or collect information, including screen names, about AOL members, and the use of such information for the purpose of sending unsolicited bulk e-mail is strictly prohibited. Any violation of these provisions can subject your AOL account to immediate termination and further legal action. If you have received junk e-mail and want to report it, simply use the "Forward" button on the e-mail screen and send the e-mail to screen name TOS SPAM.  AOL also reserves the right to take any and all legal and technical remedies to prevent unsolicited bulk e-mail from entering, utilizing or remaining within the AOL Network.

Proprietary Rights

Much of the content available on our service is owned by others, and is protected by copyrights, trademarks, and other intellectual property rights. It is very easy to copy things in cyberspace, but just because it is easy doesn’t mean it is acceptable or legal. Any content that you upload or download while using the service must be authorized; this means you must have the legal right to upload or download the content. You must not copy, transmit, modify, distribute, show in public or in private or create any derivative works from any of the content you find on AOL, unless you have the legal right to. Making unauthorized copies of any content found on AOL can lead to the termination of your AOL account and may even subject you to further legal action beyond the termination of your membership. Similarly, other content owners may take criminal or civil action against you. In that event, you agree to hold harmless AOL and its subsidiaries, affiliates, related companies, employees, officers, directors and agents.

Bear in mind that some areas of AOL are "public," like message boards, forums, or the Member Directory, and other members will have access to your posted material and might copy, modify or distribute it. By submitting or posting content there, you are representing that you are the owner of such material, or have authorization to distribute it. Once you post content on AOL, you expressly grant AOL and its members the complete right to use, reproduce, modify, distribute, etc. the content in any form, anywhere.

4. AOL SOFTWARE LICENSES

AOL provides you with a limited license to use our software, which you agree to use in accordance with these rules. You may not sub-license, or charge others to use or access, our software without first obtaining written permission from us. We will occasionally provide automatic upgrades to improve your online experience, and we employ virus-screening technology to assist in the protection of our network and our members. We reserve the right to log off accounts that are inactive for an extended period of time and we prohibit the use of tools that defeat AOL’s automatic log-off feature.

AOL grants to you a non-exclusive, limited license to use AOL software to connect to AOL from authorized locations in accordance with this agreement. This license is subject to the restriction that, except where expressly permitted by law, you may not translate, reverse-engineer or reverse-compile or decompile, disassemble or make derivative works from, AOL software. You may not modify AOL software or use it in any way not expressly authorized by this Agreement. You understand that AOL’s introduction of various technologies may not be consistent across all platforms and that the performance and some features offered by AOL may vary depending on your computer and other equipment.

5. WARRANTY

MEMBER EXPRESSLY AGREES THAT THE USE OF AOL, AOL SOFTWARE, AND THE INTERNET IS AT MEMBER’S SOLE RISK. AOL, AOL SOFTWARE, AOL PRODUCTS, THIRD-PARTY VIRUS CHECKING TECHNOLOGY AND THE INTERNET ARE PROVIDED "AS IS" AND "AS AVAILABLE" FOR YOUR USE, WITHOUT WARRANTIES OF ANY KIND, EITHER EXPRESS OR IMPLIED, UNLESS SUCH WARRANTIES ARE LEGALLY INCAPABLE OF EXCLUSION. AOL PROVIDES THE AOL SERVICE ON A COMMERCIALLY REASONABLE BASIS AND DOES NOT GUARANTEE THAT MEMBERS WILL BE ABLE TO ACCESS OR USE THE SERVICE AT TIMES OR LOCATIONS OF THEIR CHOOSING, OR THAT AOL WILL HAVE ADEQUATE CAPACITY FOR THE SERVICE AS A WHOLE OR IN ANY SPECIFIC GEOGRAPHIC AREA. AOL’S ENTIRE LIABILITY AND YOUR EXCLUSIVE REMEDY WITH RESPECT TO THE USE OF ANY SOFTWARE PROVIDED OR USED BY AOL SHALL BE THE REPLACEMENT OF ANY AOL SOFTWARE FOUND TO BE DEFECTIVE. YOUR SOLE AND EXCUSIVE REMEDY FOR ANY OTHER DISPUTE WITH AOL IS THE CANCELATION OF YOUR ACCOUNT AS DETAILED BELOW IN SECTION 7. IN NO CASE SHALL AOL BE LIABLE FOR CONSEQUENTIAL DAMAGES ARISING FROM YOUR USE OF AOL, THE INTERNET OR FOR ANY OTHER CLAIM RELATED IN ANY WAY TO YOUR MEMBERSHIP WITH AOL. BECAUSE SOME STATES OR JURISDICTIONS DO NOT ALLOW THE EXCLUSION OR THE LIMITATION OF LIABILITY FOR CONSEQUENTIAL OR INCIDENTAL DAMAGES, IN SUCH STATES OR JURISDICTIONS, AOL’S LIABILITY SHALL BE LIMITED TO THE EXTENT PERMITTED BY LAW. AOL DOES NOT ENDORSE, WARRANT OR GUARANTEE ANY PRODUCT OR SERVICE OFFERED THROUGH AOL AND WILL NOT BE A PARTY TO OR IN ANY WAY BE RESPONSIBLE FOR MONITORING ANY TRANSACTION BETWEEN YOU AND THIRD-PARTY PROVIDERS OF PRODUCTS OR SERVICES.

6. INDEMNIFICATION

Upon a request by AOL, you agree to defend, indemnify and hold harmless AOL and its affiliated subsidiaries, employees, contractors, officers, directors, telecommunications providers and content providers from all liabilities, claims and expenses, including attorneys fees, that arise from a breach of this Member Agreement for which you are responsible or from the use of AOL or the Internet, or in connection with your transmission of any Content on AOL. AOL reserves the right, at its own expense, to assume the exclusive defense and control of any matter otherwise subject to indemnification by a Member. In that event, the member shall have no further obligation to provide indemnification for AOL in that matter.

7. TERMINATION AND CANCELLATION

Either you or AOL may terminate or cancel your membership at any time. You understand and agree that the cancellation of your account is your sole right and remedy with respect to any dispute with AOL. This includes, but is not limited to, any dispute related to, or arising out of: (1) any term of this Agreement or AOL’s enforcement or application of this Agreement; (2) any policy or practice of AOL, including AOL’s Community Guidelines and the AOL Privacy Policy, or AOL’s enforcement or application of these policies; (3) the content available through AOL or the Internet or any change in content provided through AOL; (4) your ability to access and/or use AOL; or (5) the amount or type of fees, surcharges, applicable taxes, billing methods, or any change to the fees, applicable taxes, surcharges or billing methods.

You can cancel your membership by delivering notice to AOL’s Customer Service Department at 1-888-265-8008, by sending your cancellation request via US Mail to: America Online, Inc., PO Box 17100, Jacksonville, FL 32245-7100, or by fax at (904) 232-4879. Cancellation will take effect within 72 hours of receipt of your request, and AOL will send you written confirmation. If you cancel near the end of your billing period and are inadvertently charged for the next month’s fee contact AOL at the toll free number above to have the charges reversed. AOL reserves the right to collect fees, surcharges or costs incurred before you cancel your AOL membership. In addition, you are responsible for any charges incurred to third-party vendors or content providers prior to your cancellation.

In the event that your account is terminated or canceled, no refund, including any membership fees, will be granted; no online time or other credits (e.g., points in an online game) will be credited to you or can be converted to cash or other form of reimbursement. Active AOL Members may not allow former Members or other agents whose memberships have been terminated to use their accounts. Any delinquent or unpaid accounts or accounts with unresolved issues with the Community Action department or other AOL departments must be concluded before you may re-register with AOL Inc.

8. LAW AND LEGAL NOTICES

The Member Agreement represents your entire agreement with AOL. You agree that this Member Agreement is not intended to confer and does not confer any rights or remedies upon any person other than the parties to this Agreement. You also understand and agree that the AOL Community Guidelines and the AOL Privacy Policy, including AOL’s enforcement of those policies, are not intended to confer, and do not confer, any rights or remedies upon any person. If any part of this Agreement is held invalid or unenforceable, that portion shall be construed in a manner consistent with applicable law to reflect, as nearly as possible, the original intentions of the parties, and the remaining portions shall remain in full force and effect. The laws of the Commonwealth of Virginia, excluding its conflicts-of-law rules, govern this Agreement and your membership. As noted above, member conduct may be subject to other local, state, national, and international laws. You expressly agree that exclusive jurisdiction for any claim or dispute with AOL or relating in any way to your membership or your use of AOL resides in the courts of Virginia and you further agree and expressly consent to the exercise of personal jurisdiction in the courts of Virginia in connection with any such dispute including any claim involving AOL or its affiliates, subsidiaries, employees, contractors, officers, directors, telecommunication providers and content providers.

You agree to abide by U.S. and other applicable export control laws and not to transfer, by electronic transmission or otherwise, any content or software subject to restrictions under such laws to a national destination prohibited under such laws, without first obtaining, and then complying with, any requisite government authorization. You further agree not to upload to AOL any data or software that cannot be exported without prior written government authorization, including, but not limited to, certain types of encryption software. This assurance and commitment shall survive termination of this agreement. Control laws currently prohibit the export of any browser with 128-bit encryption, including Internet Explorer, available through AOL. Control laws also prohibit nationals of Cuba, Iran, Iraq, Libya, North Korea, Sudan and Syria from gaining access to certain content on AOL.

Information for California Residents:

Under California Civil Code Section 1789.3, California Members are entitled to the following specific consumer rights information:

Pricing Information. Current rates for using AOL may be obtained by calling 1-800-827-6364. AOL, Inc. reserves the right to change fees, surcharges, monthly membership fees or to institute new fees at any time upon thirty (30) days prior notice, as provided for in the Member Agreement at Section 2.

Complaints. The Complaint Assistance Unit of the Division of Consumer Services of the California Department of Consumer Affairs may be contacted in writing at 1020 N. Street, #501, Sacramento, CA 95814, or by telephone at 1-916-445-1254.

Information for Minnesota Residents:

Minnesota Statute Chapter 325M requires Internet service providers to obtain consent from their subscribers who are Minnesota residents in connection with certain disclosures of personal information.  Please read the following carefully if you are an AOL member who resides in Minnesota.

When you register for and use the AOL service, the AOL Privacy Policy explains how AOL collects, uses, and discloses personal information in connection with your AOL membership, as well as the choices AOL gives you about such uses and disclosures.  You can review the current version of this policy by clicking Privacy Policy or visiting Keyword:  "Privacy."  By your affirmative act of either registering for AOL as a new member, or continuing to use the AOL service following your registration, you authorize the collection, use, and disclosure of personal information by AOL as provided for under AOL's then-current Privacy Policy.

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