ACCEPTABLE USAGE POLICY
Introduction and Purpose
This document sets forth the principles, guidelines and
requirements of the Acceptable Use Policy of Host4u2 Hosting, LLC
("Company") governing the use by the Customer ("Customer") of the
Company's services and products ("Services and Products"). The Purpose
of Company's Acceptable Use Policy, hereinafter referred to as the AUP,
is to comply with all federal, state, and local laws coupled with
protecting the network security, network availability, physical
security, Customer privacy, and other factors affecting the services
provided by Company. Company reserves the right to impose reasonable
rules and regulations regarding the use of its services provided to all
Customers and such rules and regulations are subject to change. Such
rules and regulations are located on the Internet at
http://www.Host4u2.com/legal/aup.html. The AUP is not an all inclusive
exhaustive list and Company reserves the right to modify the AUP at any
time as needed, effective upon either the posting of the modified AUP to
http://www.Host4u2.com/legal/aup.html or notification to the Customer
via email. Acceptance and execution of the Master Services Agreement
binds all parties to Company stated AUP at the time the contract is
executed and as modified from time to time. Any violation of the AUP may
result in the suspension or termination of Customer account(s) or such
other action as Company deems appropriate. No credits will be issued for
any interruption in service resulting from policy violations.
VIOLATION OF ANY SECTION OF THE AUP IS STRICTLY PROHIBITED
AND MAY RESULT IN THE IMMEDIATE TERMINATION OR SUSPENSION OF THE
SERVICES CUSTOMER RECEIVES FROM COMPANY.
Any questions or comments regarding the AUP should be directed to abuse@host4u2.com or cs@host4u2.com.
Compliance with Law
Customer shall not post, transmit, re-transmit or store
material on or through any of Services or Products which, in the sole
judgment of the Company (i) is in violation of any local, state, federal
or non-United States law or regulation, (ii) threatening, obscene,
indecent, defamatory or that otherwise could adversely affect any
individual, group or entity (collectively, "Persons") or (iii) violates
the rights of any person, including rights protected by copyright, trade
secret, patent or other intellectual property or similar laws or
regulations including, but not limited to, the installation or
distribution of "pirated" or other software products that are not
appropriately licensed for use by Customer. Customer shall be
responsible for determining what laws or regulations are applicable to
its use of the Services and Products.
Customer Security Obligation
Each Customer must use reasonable care in keeping each server
or network devices attached to Company infrastructure up-to-date and
patched with the latest security updates. Failure to use reasonable care
to protect a server may result in a security compromise by outside
sources. Company is not responsible for Customer server level security
unless a security administration package, firewall security
administration package or fully managed operating system package is
contracted for and maintained. A compromised server creating network
interference will result in immediate Customer notification and will be
disconnected from the network immediately so as to not directly affect
other Customers. No service credits will be issued for outages resulting
from disconnection due directly to breached server security. The
Customer is solely responsible for any breaches of security affecting
servers under Customer control, including repairing the system,
terminating the account(s) of the abusive user(s), and reporting
occurrence of the issue to abuse@host4u2.com. If a Customer
intentionally creates a security breach, the cost to resolve any damage
to Customer's server or other servers will be charged directly to the
Customer. The labor used to resolve such damage is categorized as
emergency security breach recovery and is currently charged at $100.00
USD per hour.
System and Network Security
Violations of system or network security are strictly
prohibited, and may result in criminal and civil liability. Company
investigates all incidents involving such violations and will cooperate
with law enforcement if a criminal violation is suspected.
Examples of system or network security violations include, without limitation, the following:
- Introduction of malicious programs into the network or
server (example: viruses, worms, Trojan Horses, key loggers, and other
executables intended to inflict harm).
- Effecting security breaches or disruptions of
Internet communication and/or connectivity. Security breaches include,
but are not limited to, accessing data of which the Customer is not an
intended recipient or logging into a server or account that the Customer
is not expressly authorized to access. For purposes of this section,
"disruption" includes, but is not limited to port scans, flood pings,
email-bombing, packet spoofing, IP spoofing and forged routing
information.
- Executing any form of network activity that will intercept data not intended for the Customer's server.
- Circumventing user authentication or security of any host, network or account, including “cracking.”
- Interfering with or denying
service to any user, host, or network other than the Customer's host
(example: denial of service attack or distributed denial of service
attack).
- Conduct designed to avoid
restrictions or access limits to specific services, hosts, or networks,
including but not limited to the forging of packet headers (“spoofing”)
or other identification information.
- Using any program
script/command, or sending messages of any kind, designed to interfere
with or to disable, a user's terminal session, via any means, locally or
via the Internet.
- Failing to comply with the
Company's procedure relating to the activities of Customers on the
Company's premises. Violators of the policy are responsible, without
limitations, for the cost of labor to correct all damage done to the
operation of the network and business operations supported by the
network. Such labor is categorized as emergency security breach recovery
and is currently charged at $100.00 USD per hour required. Network
interference by any Customers that may cause or is currently causing
network interference with another Customer will be disconnected
immediately. No service credits will be issued to Customers disconnected
for network violations.
Internet Etiquette
Each Customer is expected execute reasonable Internet
etiquette (Netiquette), the accepted behavior and expectations of the
Internet community. The Customer will comply with the rules appropriate
to any network to which Company may provide access. The Customer should
not post, transmit, or permit Internet access to information the
Customer desires to keep confidential. The Customer is not permitted to
post any material that is illegal, libelous, and tortuous, indecently
depicts children or is likely to result in retaliation against Company
by offended users. Company reserves the right to refuse or terminate
service at any time for violation of this section. This includes
advertising services or sites via IRC or USENET in clear violation of
the policies of the IRC channel or USENET group.
Child Pornography
Company will cooperate fully with any criminal investigation
into a Customer's violation of the Child Protection Act of 1984
concerning child pornography. Customers are ultimately responsible for
the actions of their clients over Company network, and will be liable
for illegal material posted by their clients.
According to the Child Protection Act, child pornography
includes photographs, films, video or any other type of visual
presentation that shows a person who is or is depicted as being under
the age of eighteen years and is engaged in or is depicted as engaged in
explicit sexual activity, or the dominant characteristic of which is
the depiction, for a sexual purpose, of a sexual organ of a person under
the age of eighteen years or any written material or visual
representation that advocates or counsels sexual activity with a person
under the age of eighteen years.
Violations of the Child Protection Act should be reported to the U.S. Customs Agency at 1-800-BEALERT.
Copyright Infringement
Company datacenter infrastructure including network, leased
hardware, co-location services, and other hardware located in the
facility may only be used for lawful purposes. Transmission,
distribution, or storage of any information, data or material in
violation of United States or state regulation or law, or by the common
law, is prohibited. This includes, but is not limited to, material
protected by copyright, trademark, trade secret, or other intellectual
property rights; including creating, utilizing, distributing
unauthorized copies of software, or the use of BitTorrent or other types
of technologies utilized in the distribution of illegally copied
materials. If Customer copies, distributes or installs software in
defiance of the license agreement, Customer is violating federal
copyright law. Company will cooperate with all law enforcement agencies
in relation to alleged copyright infringement housed in our datacenters. Hosting Policy
Data Unlawful or Against the AUP: Promoting violation of the
law or the AUP by hosting data that facilitates the violation is
prohibited, including but not limited to:
- Hosting web pages that detail the methodology of committing unlawful acts, or acts violating this AUP.
- Hosting software, scripts, or other resources intended to facilitate committing unlawful acts, or acts violating this AUP.
- Advertising, transmitting, storing, or using any software, script, program, product, or service designed to violate this AUP.
- Harvesting. The collection of email addresses,
credit card information, or other personal information for fraudulent
use or sale is prohibited.
- Phishing. Hosting web pages with forwards to,
containing scripts or executables for, or any other component of an
operation designed to fraudulently collect authentication, credit card,
names, addresses, or any other personal data (“phishing”) is not
permitted.
- Spamvertised Sites. Hosting web pages advertised by spam sent from another network (“spamvertised”) is not permitted.
Email Policy
Email Spam. Company has a zero stance policy on SPAM, Junk
E-mail or UCE. Spam, Junk-mail and UCE are defined as: the sending of
the same, or substantially similar, unsolicited electronic mail
messages, whether commercial or not, to more than one recipient. A
message is considered unsolicited if it is posted in violation of a
newsgroup charter or if it is sent to a recipient who has not requested
or invited the message. UCE also includes e-mail with forged headers,
compromised mail server relays, and false contact information. This
prohibition extends to the sending of unsolicited mass mailings from
another service, which in any way implicates the use of Company whether
or not the message actually originated from our network.
Block Removal. If Customer actions have caused Company mail
servers or Company IP address ranges to be placed on black hole lists
and other mail filtering software systems used by companies on the
internet, Customer will be assessed a $100 charge to Customer account
and $100 per hour for administrative charges incurred to remove and
protect mail servers and IP ranges.
- Drop-Box Accounts. Using this network for the receipt of
replies to unsolicited mass email (spam) sent from a third-party network
is prohibited.
- Header Forgery: Forgery of email headers (“spoofing”) is prohibited.
- Proxy Spamming: Spamming via third-party proxy,
aggregation of proxy lists, or installation of proxy mailing software is
prohibited.
- Relaying. Configuration of a mail server to accept
and process third-party messages for sending without user identification
and authentication is prohibited.
Mass Mailings: Sending mass unsolicited email is considered
spam. Unsolicited email is defined as email sent to a recipient who has
not double-opted in to mailings from the Customer. Senders of mass
mailings must maintain complete and accurate records of all opt-ins,
including the email and its headers if applicable, and provide such
records to Company upon request. If positive and verifiable proof of
opt-in cannot be provided, complaints from recipients of the mailing are
considered proof they did not subscribe and the mailing is unsolicited.
Mailing Lists: Company's mass mailing rules also apply to
mailing lists, list servers, or mailing services contracted for by
Customer. The policy is stated as follows: An acceptable mailing list
will be focused at a targeted audience that has voluntarily signed up
for e-mail information using a double opt-in process or that has made
their e-mail address available to Customer for distribution of
information. The list must also allow for automatic removal by all end
Customers with non-distribution in the future.
Fraud Policy
By agreeing to this AUP, Customer affirms that the contact
and payment information provided to Company identifies Customer and that
Customer is authorized to use the payment method. Commitment of fraud,
obtaining services, or attempting to obtain services by any means or
device with intent to avoid payment is prohibited.
IP Allocation
Company administers an Internet network on which multiple
Customer servers reside. Customers shall NOT use IP addresses that were
not assigned to them by the NOC staff or network administrators. Any
server utilizing IP addresses outside of the assigned range will be
suspended from network access until such time as the IP addresses
overlap can be corrected. Use of an unauthorized IP address will result
in a charge of $20 per IP. Use of an unauthorized IP address creating a
third party Customer outage will result in a $100 charge and termination
of service until the IP allocation is resolved.
IRC Policy
Company allows stand alone IRC servers which are not
connected to global IRC networks such as Undernet, EFnet, DALnet and
other IRC networks. IRC servers which establish and maintain connections
to global IRC networks such as Undernet, EFnet, DALnet and others will
be considered to be in violation of the Acceptable Use Policy.
Company does not allow IRC plug-ins, scripts, add-ons, clones
or other software that has the intent or effect of disrupting or
denying service to other users. Harassing, disrupting or denying service
to other users is expressly prohibited, and may result in the immediate
suspension or cancellation of Customer account(s).
If IRC servers attract DoS or DDoS attacks that disrupts or
denies service to other Customers, Company will null-route, ACL or
otherwise suspend service to maintain quality of service for other
Customers on our network.
Company allows the limited use of stand-alone IRC “bots”.
Company prohibits the use of “botnets”. Customer IRC server may run a
“bot”, but Customer may not join a “botnet”. The use of IRC BNC’s or
other proxy and re-direction software is expressly prohibited.
For the purposes of policy enforcement, any malicious activity
observed to originate from a Customer’s server may result in the
immediate suspension of service to the offending Customer’s server
without prior notice. Frequently compromised servers may be reviewed for
account termination on a case-by-case basis. The purpose of this
case-by-case review is to deter AUP prohibited activity from occurring
under the blanket excuse of a “compromised server.”
Harassing, abusive and aggressive IRC activity is prohibited. This
includes ‘flooding’ (rapid transmission of information with the intent
to harass or deny service), ‘hijacking’ (taking improper or unauthorized
control of channel or server operator privileges), sending messages to
users who do not want them, attempting to circumvent a channel or
server ban, impersonating other IRC users and other abusive IRC behavior
as determined by Company.
Company reserves the right to modify or amend the IRC policy at any time. Reseller Policy
Resellers are responsible for the conduct of their Customers and by
agreeing with this AUP, agree that their Customers will adhere to the
AUP. Resellers should make their perspective Customers aware of the AUP
and the consequences for violation.
Usenet Policy
E Usenet posts must conform to standards established by the
Internet community. Prohibited acts include, but are not limited to, the
following:
- Posting of articles and/or URLs for commercial purposes, except
where permissible by the charter or FAQ of that particular group and
adhering to the topic of said group.
- Posting of binary files to groups who do not allow for binary posts in the charter of by the name of the group.
- Excessive cross-posting and/or excessive multi-posting,
considered to be the equivalent of Usenet spamming. Company reserves
sole authority of determining posts constituting excessive cross- or
multi-posted.
- Canceling of posts other than Customers own posts.
- Using auto-responders or cancel-bots.
- Unauthorized creation, cancellation, or removal of newsgroups.
Note: While legitimacy of a posting is generally determined by a
moderator, Company reserves sole authority of determining post
legitimacy.
Suspension and Cancellation
Company will use reasonable care in notifying the Customer and in
resolving a problem in a method resulting in the least amount of service
interference as reasonably possible. Company reserves the sole right to
suspend service to any Customer located in our datacenter for violation
of the AUP without notice. Company reserves the right to terminate
service without notice for any violations of the AUP. Customer is
responsible for keeping Host4u2 updated on server password changes. If
Host4u2 is unable to access a server to correct a violation of the AUP,
it will be necessary to unplug the server to protect our network, rather
than to simply suspend the offending account, resulting in a $50
re-connect fee.
Violations of the AUP will result in the following:
- A warning notification via email, trouble ticket, or telephone, with 48 hours notice for resolution.
48 hours is the standard notification; situations involving law
enforcement, phishing, fraud, password harvesting, network
interference, Denial or Disruption of service, IRC mis-use, or other
malicious activity can reduce the notification time frame.
Failure to resolve the AUP violation within 48 hours will result in the following:
- Removal of the violating content or service
- Removal of DNS for the server
- Temporary shutdown of the server
- Block on outgoing mail
- IP address routing to null
Repeat violation of the above terms will result in the following actions.
- Immediate disconnection of service with no re-activation.
- $100 fee assessed to Customer account for violation.
Cancellation:
Cancellation must be made via the Cancellation Form.
7 days notice, prior to the renewal date is required to avoid further
billing, and there are no refunds. There is no cancellation fee. All
fees paid for service up to the end of the current billing period are
non-refundable. All dedicated server plans are a commitment, and no
refunds are made.
Financial Arrangements: 1.
Client agrees to a minimum one (1) month contract, beginning upon
Host4u2.com's receipt by fax, postal mail or e-mail of client's order.
2. This agreement will automatically renew
and be billed for the same successive periods specified by the client
on the initial order. This agreement will renew every month unless canceled in writing at least 7 days prior to the renewal date.
3. Keeping Contact information, including e-mail address and billing information, up-to-date via the Client Area is the responsibility of the client. Declined or Invalid payments, or payments not received when due, will automatically suspend an account until resolution is made.
4. A dedicated server account, regardless of reason for suspension, requires a $50.00 re-activation fee.
4a. A hosting account, regardless of reason for suspension, requires a $10.00 re-activation fee.
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