Acceptable Usage Policy

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  2. Acceptable Usage Policy

Guidelines

This policy is subject to change, so please check regularly for updates.
This policy is in addition to our Terms of Service.

Shared Hosting, Reseller Hosting
Virtual Servers, Dedicated Servers, Co-located Services
High Resource Usage Policy
Scripting Languages
Unsolicited Email and Spamming
Prohibited scripts and software
General
Third Party Services
Agreement to Cooperate With Investigations

Shared Hosting, Reseller Hosting

The Hosting Shop reserves the right to suspend or cancel a customer’s access to any or all services provided by The Hosting Shop, where The Hosting Shop decides that the account has been inappropriately used. The Hosting Shop reserves the right to refuse service and/or access to its servers to anyone.

Scripts on the server must be designed to produce web-based content, and not to use the server as an application server. Using the server to generate large volumes of email from a database is an example of activity that is not allowed. Scripts should not attempt to manipulate the time-outs on servers. These are set at the present values to ensure the reliability of the server. Sites that reset these do so because they are resource intensive, and adversely affect server performance and are therefore not allowed. Scripts that are designed to provide proxy services, anonymous or otherwise, are not allowed.

The Hosting Shop will disable any domain that fails to adhere to the following criteria as soon as we are made aware, in line with current working practices:

  1. The primary purpose of any script must be to produce a web page. Scripts that send a single email based upon user entered information, or update a database are acceptable. Scripts that send bulk email or perform processor intensive database processes are not allowed. All outgoing mail is constantly monitored.
  2. Sites must not contain Warez, copyright or other illegal material. It is the customers responsibility to prove that you own the rights to publish material, it is not for The Hosting Shop to prove that you do not.
  3. Sites must not contain ‘hard core’ pornographic or other illegal material.
  4. Sites must not use excessive amounts of server resources. These include bandwidth, processor utilisation, memory and / or disk space. Refer to the ‘High Resource Usage Policy’ section.
  5. Sites must not contain scripts that attempt to access privileged server resources, or other sites on the same server.

If The Hosting Shop identify a mailbox or domain that is causing problems; we will either remove the offending mailboxes or change their settings to resolve the issue. In extreme cases, we will disable email or suspend all services to the domain as appropriate.
Common issues that cause problems are:

p>WEB APPLICATIONS and WEB ACCESSIBLE SCRIPTS - All web applications that are out-of-date and actively being exploited will be shut down immediately without prior notice. YOU are responsible for and should evaluate YOUR web-based applications and scripts on a regular basis to ensure their security and orderliness.

  1. Where a mailbox receives large volumes of undeliverable email.
  2. Where mailboxes have forwarders set to other mailboxes where mail cannot be delivered.
  3. Where mailboxes have forwarders and/or auto-responders that generate circular mail loops.
  4. User installed software or programs that have not been updated or is un-patched.

You may not use The Hosting Shop email services for any of the following

  1. To send messages or communications, which are unsolicited, offensive, abusive, indecent or obscene.
  2. To send messages causing annoyance, inconvenience or anxiety to another user on any network.
  3. To send messages for the purpose of fraud and / or with the intention of committing a criminal offence.

To prevent the sending of bulk unsolicited mail, SMTP traffic to and from a server will be blocked in the following scenarios:

  1. Where we identify a server that has an open mail relay.
  2. Where a significant volume of mail is sent from a domain in a defined time scale.
  3. Where we have received significant volumes of complaints concerning unsolicited mail originating from a The Hosting Shop hosted domain.
  4. To prevent or attempt to prevent The Hosting Shop IP addresses being blacklisted, service may be suspended where we have received ANY complaints concerning unsolicited mail originating from or unsolicited email being sent to promote sites being hosted.

Virtual Servers, Dedicated Servers, Co-located Services

All virtual server, dedicated server and co-location customers are responsible for the activities and security of their server. Servers will be disconnected from the network in the following scenarios:

  1. Any server that attempts network scans or other possible hacking activities.
  2. The Hosting Shop believe a server has been compromised.

High Resource Usage Policy

Resources are defined as bandwidth, processor utilization and memory usage.

When the resources utilised by a customer in using a service are abnormally high, The Hosting Shop reserves the right to suspend that service immediately. This policy is implemented in extreme circumstances and is intended to prevent the misuse of our services and allow us to continue to serve other customers. We will make suggestions on how to curb resource usage. If high resource usage continues, we reserve the right to suspend and/or terminate service.

The Hosting Shop will be the sole arbiter as to what constitutes a violation of this provision. You are responsible for monitoring your disk space usage. If you need extra disk space contact one of our staff and they will be happy to help out. You can also upgrade your hosting plan from inside your The Hosting Shop client account.

The intention of The Hosting Shop is to provide a large bandwidth to transfer web documents, and not an off-site storage area for electronic files. If YOU violate this condition, YOU will be notified and given 48 hours to remedy the problem. Failure to do so will result in YOU being billed for the overages.

Traffic will go unmonitored until YOU reach the amount of quota allocated to YOUR specific PLAN. The Hosting Shop will be the sole arbiter as to what constitutes a violation of this provision.

As a guideline, any account using more than 25% of the system CPU resources for longer then 90 seconds or; 1% of the servers CPU resources for longer than 5 minutes or; any account that is affecting the use of or the stability of the server for other clients may be deemed to be in breach of this section.

We, at our sole discretion will determine when an account is using high resources.

Unsolicited Email and Spamming

Unsolicited commercial advertisements ('SPAM') are not allowed in e-mail, and will likely result in account cancellation. The Hosting Shop takes a zero-tolerance approach to SPAM originating from its servers or for spam advertising of domains hosted within our network. If found, YOUR account may be deleted.

The following activities are not allowed: SPAM, which includes, but is not limited to, bulk mailing of commercial advertising, informational announcements, charity requests, petitions for signatures, and political or religious tracts (such messages may only be sent to those who have explicitly requested it from your domain); Forging, altering or removing electronic mail headers - any domain sending stealth spam will be terminated without warning and without refund. Sending numerous copies of the same or substantially similar message with the intent to disrupt a server or account ('mail bombing'); Spamming Newsgroups: Commercial advertisements are unwelcome in most Usenet discussion groups and on most e-mail mailing lists. Inappropriate posting may result in account cancellation. See the newsgroup or mailing list's charter for whether advertising is allowed or not. Sending a message to many different off-topic newsgroups, is particularly unethical and will be treated as such; Mail may not be used to harass or intimidate others. Harassment, whether through language, frequency of messages, or size of messages, is prohibited. Sending a single unwelcome message may be considered harassment. If a recipient asks to stop receiving e-mail, YOU must not send that person any further messages.

Any emails sent through or using The Hosting Shop services must comply with all relevant laws.

NOTE - If YOU use the services of another provider to promote a website hosted by or through The Hosting Shop ('spamvertising'), then the provisions of the above policy shall apply as if the SPAM were sent through our servers.

Scripting Languages

We may restrict certain functions of scripting languages for stability and security of our shared servers.

Prohibited scripts and software

We maintain secure services and there are certain scripts that are prohibited on our service. This also extends to Virtual Servers, Dedicated Servers and Co-located hardware. We reserve the right to remove prohibited scripts and software on shared servers without notice. Our current list of prohibited scripts is below.

  • Proxy Scripts (nph-proxy and others)
  • IRC Scripts (cgi::irc and others)
  • Anonymizer/TOR
  • Torrent Trackers
  • Chat Rooms
  • Email provisioning Scripts (HiveMail and others)
  • Shell Scripts (phpShell and others)
  • ‘tpg’ showcase scripts

General

The Hosting Shop will suspend access to an account which:

1) Contains invalid or fraudulent details.
2) Initiates a payment card charge back.

If The Hosting Shop disable a site or server, we will:

1) Send an automated mail to the account administrator, informing them of the suspension - please ensure you use an email address that will be unaffected by any suspensions, to ensure that you are immediately made aware of any changes in your account status.
2) Provide follow up correspondence during office hours from our Abuse and Security team, detailing the reasons for the suspension and what actions, if any, the administrator should take to rectify the situation.
3) Work with you to suggest a resolution to the issue at hand and arrange for the restoration of services in the shortest time scale possible once an agreement has been reached.
4) Not re-enable any domain or server that has a history of similar misuse.
5) Pass the account to the appropriate department to resolve any outstanding issues such as account balance or closure.

For less serious cases, such as email problems, the Abuse and Security team will contact you to inform you of any changes made to your account and the reasons for those changes.

If an action is taken against a site or server, you should communicate directly with the Abuse and Security department within office hours. Outside of office hours our Support department will be able to discuss the matter and assist in the resolution of the majority of investigations.

Restoration of any and all services suspended during an Abuse and Security department investigation will be considered on a case-by-case basis.

Where The Hosting Shop intervention is required as a result of any breach of our AUP or other terms or conditions of use, a chargeable Level 4 ticket will be opened and linked to your account using the appropriate hourly charging rate(s) for the levels of interaction needed to resolve any situation arising from breach(es). Depending on the nature of the breach Level Five service charges may be applied to your ticket or account. You are responsible for the debts raised to any ticket invoices raised or associated to or with your account throughout the process, which may continue after an initial event appears to have resolved for example repairs, replacement, renewals, upgrades, updates, legal issues, research time, administration etc. You agree pay The Hosting Shop for invoices applied to your account as a result of this clause, this does not affect you right to dispute invoices in line with our payment process.

Third Party Services

The Hosting Shop utilises the services of third party providers to provide some of it's services, infrastructure, maintenance and support services, for example network connectivity, domain registration, hardware provisioning, advanced security and auditing, etc. Where this is the case you also need to comply with any additional terms and conditions defined by those third party providers, details of third party policies relating to a specific account are available on request.

Agreement to Cooperate With Investigations

You agree that You will provide assistance to The Hosting Shop in connection with any investigation, demand, or notice provided to The Hosting Shop pertaining to any conduct or content made by any governmental agency or third party. Such assistance shall include but not be limited to investigation and necessary communication in connection with legal notices, UCE complaints etc. issued to The Hosting Shop. You agree that You will cooperate with The Hosting Shop in connection with all reasonable requests made by The Hosting Shop for You to preserve all information and content that may be the subject of any investigation or third party claim.

You further agree that The Hosting Shop is entitled to and may claim basic support rate for every instance where we need to communicate with you or interact with your account or related services.