Acceptable Usage Policy and Terms of Service


Don’t confuse pro privacy, pro anonymity, pro free-speech with us offering a “free for all”.

We have some very basic and easy to understand rules that constitute acceptable use of our services and an easy to understand Terms Of Service. IncogNET's hosting services are meant for legal activity only and we comply with the local laws of the countries we do business with.

The first section covers our Acceptable Usage Policy (AUP), which highlights prohibited activities, disallowed content, etc. That is then followed by our Terms Of Service

Search the page with ctrl+f to locate a section of interest. (ex: ctrl+f dmca)

By using our service you accept and agree to the following policies. Please contact us if you have any questions or concerns.

Last updated: 06/26/2023 – Updated information regarding DMCA / Copyrighted content, Added information related to new services (Domain Names, VPN Service) as well as updated payment methods section (Payment gateway, accepted currencies). Some tweaks to grammar / language for general clarity.

Prohibited Use

Below highlights some of the below prohibited uses of our services. We can't possibly list every potential scenario below, so with that in mind: Common sense goes a long way.

AUP > Prohibited Use > Resource Abuse

    This is defined as any activity, intentional or otherwise, that consumes an abundance of shared system resources for a prolonged period that causes a negative impact in the quality of the service for other customers.

    We understand that increases in resource consumption (CPU, memory, disk IO, etc) will occur occasionally and that is okay. We take special care in balancing resources so that resources are available to accommodate normal and expected spikes in service usage which may be caused by things like automated backups, compiling code, cron processes running, increase traffic to your site, etc.

    This clause is for the prolonged, extended consumption of resources that has a negative impact on other customers. If we determine that a customer may be unfairly abusing shared resources we will reach out to them for a resolution, or in severe cases, may either throttle their access to these resources or temporarily suspend service until we are able to reach them. This helps us provide a stable service to all.

AUP > Prohibited Use > Resource Abuse > CPU Consumption

    The number of CPU cores or CPU % advertised with our shared hosting plans is simply the maximum limit that your individual account may utilize to accommodate your website during peak usage. Just like with all other web hosting providers, your allocated CPU resources available to your account are unable to be used fully 100% of the time. These are shared resources among many customers and this is a industry standard practice to provide services at an affordable cost.

    A shared hosting service is not appropriate for websites and projects that require full or dedicated CPU cores. For that, you should seek a Virtual Dedicated Server (VDS) with dedicated, unshared cores or a dedicated server.

    Any Shared Hosting account that utilizes more than 25% of its allocated CPU power for more than 1 hour is prohibited.

    Unless otherwise specified, all of our KVM VPS plans include shared CPU cores. All of our customers are free to utilize 100% of their allocated CPU for short periods of time which will allow you to run backups, compile code, run benchmarks, etc.

    Average CPU use for a VPS customer should settle around 30%. Using more than 30% of your allocated CPU for a period longer than 1 hour is prohibited.

    If you require dedicated CPU cores that you can utilize in-full 100% of the time, please contact us regarding a dedicated server.

AUP > Prohibited Use > Unsolicited Communication / SPAM

    Spamming is defined here: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Spamming

    The use of our services for spamming is strictly prohibited. Any customer discovered to be sending spam, intentional or otherwise, may have their service suspended without notice until we are able to reach you for a solution. If suspected that the spamming is intentional, your service may have common mail ports blocked or your service may be terminated as a last resort. We do not tolerate spam as it damages our network reputation.

    Nobody likes a spammer. Don't be a spammer.

AUP > Prohibited Use > Malicious Code or Use of Service

    This will be defined as any script, code, program or file that performs a harmful action, either to the user(s) affected or as a bulk action triggered by the user. This, for the sake of ease, will be any code, network activity, program or script that would violate the laws of the United States. This includes but is not limited to phishing sites, participating in DDoS or other network related attacks, using our services to attempt to gain unlawful access of networks, devices, or systems, as well as network mapping / bulk port-scanning.

AUP > Prohibited Use > Content Depicting Minors Sexually / CSAM

    Hosting, sharing or making available any images, video, or other media that depicts minors sexually (nude or non-nude) is strictly forbidden. Websites and services hosted on our network that allow the public to upload, share or create content (message forums, image uploading sites, adult websites, etc) should be strictly moderated and responsive to any and all complaints received.

AUP > Prohibited Use > Illegal Marketplaces

    We will not allow our services to be used to host online marketplaces that deal in illegal goods and/or services. An illegal marketplace will be defined as any website allowing users and/or vendors to sign up to advertise or request goods and services that would be determined to be illegal in the countries that we operate in. Additionally, “legal items”, but sold without consideration for the laws and regulations required to lawfully sell and ship such items is prohibited and would be considered an illegal marketplace.

AUP > Prohibited Use > Crypto Mining

    Crypto Mining is strictly prohibited from our network unless otherwise specified, as it puts an unnecessary strain on shared resources and reduces the usable lifespan of physical hardware.

AUP > Prohibited Use > Domain Name Specific Restrictions

    Domain names that are purchased for the purpose of phishing, spamming, impersonation of known brands/trademarks, etc is strictly prohibited. Our upstream domain sources operate independently from us and can / will lock any domain in violation of this without contacting us prior to their decision. Domain name purchases should be for legal / lawful use only. We manually screen all new domain name orders and will not process any order that is created with obvious ill-intent.

AUP > Prohibited Use > DMCA and Copyrighted Material (Updated, June 2023)

    Due to a changing legal landscape in the Netherlands, we prohibit the use of our services to make public any material from an IncogNET IP that you do not have permission to redistribute. This includes (but not limited to) hosting IPTV streams, sharing videos, pictures, music, ebooks or other media that you do not have permission to share, etc. This rule has always applied to our United States service locations, and is now being applied to our Netherlands location.

Terms Of Service


By using our service(s), you agree to the below terms. We believe that these terms are more than reasonable and we hope that you find them reasonable, too.

TOS > Use of our Services

    Content hosted on our network should abide by both our Acceptable Usage Policy as well as the laws of your home country.


    You are responsible for the content that is available under your account with us. If hosting a website that allows users to share or distribute text, images, media or other files, it is your responsibility to moderate the content so that your account does not violate these or other terms.


    We reserve the right to cancel, suspend, or terminate your service for any reason and without prior notice. If we suspend a service due to policy violations we will attempt with our best effort to reach you at the email you registered with to resolve the issue. If we are unable to reach you or you fail to respond within a ‘reasonable’ amount of time (5+ days) we have the right to cancel and terminate your account. Additionally, in severe cases, we reserve the right to terminate an account without a prior suspension period.


    While we do maintain a level of storage redundancy for shared web hosting and VPS hosting, and now offer opt-in, off site snapshot backups of your Virtual Servers, having your own backups is always a good practice that you should consider. Any restoration of data due to a hardware failure, user error, or unplanned outage is always done on a best effort basis and is not fully guaranteed to succeed.


    You agree to abide by our Acceptable Usage Policy and understand that accidentally or purposefully violating our AUP may result in account suspension or termination without compensation depending on severity.


TOS > Account Registration
    The only information we require from you to create an account is an email address. Clients should provide a working Email Address so that we may contact you as needed for invoicing, and service related notices (abuse complaints, maintenance notifications, etc). It is your responsibility to make sure your point of contact is reliable. It does not have to be a personal email address. You may use any number of free and reliable email forwarding services from whichever 3rd party to choose.

TOS > Billing / Invoices / Payments & Refunds

      Crypto we accept and process in-house: BTC, XMR, LTC, DASH and DOGE. We now also accept a wide range of alt-coins which are processed by Trocador.


      Traditional Payments we accept: PayPal (balance or card), Credit / Debit card via Stripe, SEPA Payments via Stripe.


      We will send you an invoice for your service renewal 10 days before its renewal date.


      Accounts with ‘auto-debit’ enabled will attempt to be charged on the service renewal date.


      Any Dedicated Server more than 1 day overdue will be suspended for non-payment.


      Any Shared or VPS Hosting account more than 5 days overdue will be suspended for non-payment.


      Any account more than 15 days overdue will simply be terminated. This includes removal of your data (including backup data). After deletion it will not be possible to recover any of this data.



Refunds

      There are no refunds for domain names and dedicated servers. These sales are final and the services will remain active for the remainder of the service cycle you have paid for.


      Shared Web Hosting and Virtual Server (VPS) Hosting services have a 72 hour refund period from the time the service was deployed.


      Crypto payments are non-refundable.

TOS > Service Processing

      Shared Web Hosting, Virtual Server Hosting and the WireGuard VPN Service are configured to be setup automatically after your initial payment is processed and clears.


      Domain Names orders are usually processed within 12-24 hours. These are not completed automatically and require manual action on our behalf to complete.


      Most Dedicated Servers are setup within 12-24 hours, with additional time required in some cases. If we expect the setup to be longer than usual, we will communicate this to you.


      Orders placed, but that remain unpaid for more than 24 hours may be deleted in our system, in which case you will need to re-initiate the order process to continue with an order after that time.


      Service downgrades will result in pro-rated refund for the difference in cost to be applied as service credit. Service upgrades may be delayed depending on available resources / capacity / stock of the service in question. Any previous outstanding invoice must be paid in full before service upgrades/downgrades can take place.


TOS > Scope of Support

    All of IncogNET services are unmanaged unless otherwise specified. Support tickets are answered based on the priority assigned to them by us and no support response time SLA is offered. Most support requests are answered within 24 hours, with sales related tickets having the lowest priority assigned to them with response times sometimes being longer. We always prioritize existing customers and services over new ones.

    With that said, we have thorough network and hardware monitoring in place and are immediately alerted through multiple avenues of any service impacting issue or concern worthy of review and react quickly.