1. Section 2.4 basically states you agree to not do anything other than use the game as it was intended. You agree to not try to alter, decode, resell, give away, or distribute or use any non-liscensed 3rd party software involved with the game, which also includes you account which you do not own, you merely pay for the service to play the game. However, decoding game mechanics through trial and error does not violate this because you are not data-mining or hacking game code to discover how it works.

2. Desipte the fact that there are some programs that do modify the game without giving the player an unfair advantage, it still is considered against the ToS. While they might not let you cheat they still violate 2.4 because they either alter, data-mine, or somehow interact with POL and FFXI through unofficial 3rd party software.

3. Unless it's being sold or distributed through an official SE liscensed seller, it is against the ToS. Additionally if you buy or download these patches that are not distributed through a liscensed SE seller you open yourself up to loads of potential hacks, keyloggers, trojans, and who the hell knows what else. If your really desperate for faster updates, get a faster internet service thats all I can say.

4. Yup, your not supposed to release or document any communications between you or SE. I know it's common for people to post pictures of their conversations with GM's and stuff, but your not supposed too. They do it to both watch their backs and help protect customers privacy, which is why they resolve incidents in jail half the time rather than in public with lots of people around.

5. True, it does seem to undermine the entire policy, it's extremely rare that they would ban you just for nothing though. Alot of times the people you hear cry wolf when they get banned are hardly innocent, and most of the time feign ignorance that they did anything wrong. The policy was probably put in place to deal with these kind's of people.

6. Yup, pretty much just another catch all policy. You get all those sue-happy people nowadays looking for any excuse or loophole to get some free cash, you don't want to take chances.

7. No, 7.1 referrs to banning your account for using it for anything that would lawfully be considered illegal. An example would be file sharing illegaly downloaded mp3's, hacked DVD's, or sharing account info through Private messages or your SE mail account.