Acceptable Usage Policy and Terms of Service

Acceptable Use Policy > Prohibited Use

The below items demonstrate what we determine to be prohibited use of our network, services and provided resources.

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 for a resolution. This helps us provide a stable service to all.

AUP > Prohibited Use > Resource Abuse > CPU Consumption (Shared Hosting)

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.

A shared hosting service is not appropriate for websites and projects that require heavy CPU consumption or dedicated CPU cores. For that, you should seek a VPS (shared CPU, but more isolation) or a Dedicated Server (dedicated CPU, can use 100% of it 100% of the time) to have more CPU power.

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

AUP > Prohibited Use > Resource Abuse > CPU Consumption (VPS Hosting)

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 > Resource Abuse > Disk I/O (VPS Hosting)

While we do not specifically cap the I/O performance of an individual VPS or have set, hard limits, it should be clear that pounding the disk for hours on end with incredibly taxing read/write operations is not permitted. (Think: CHIA mining, repeatedly stress testing disks over and over, etc).

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.

The use of our services for spamming is strictly prohibited. Any customer discovered to be sending spam, intentional or otherwise, will have their service suspended without notice until we are able to reach you for a solution. If discovered 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 ruins our network reputation.

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, etc.

Any account found to purposely be participating in the above actions will be suspended without notice, until we are able to reach you to determine if this was unintentional or intentional actions from your account.

AUP > Prohibited Use > Content Depicting Minors Sexually

Hosting, sharing or making available any images, video, or other media that depicts minors sexually (nude or non-nude) is strictly forbidden. We will not be put in a position where we are held liable for that type of content, and have no obligation to supply you with a backup of your data if service is terminated if in violation of the above.

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 marketplae.

AUP > Prohibited Use > Crypto Mining

Crypto Mining is strictly prohibited from our network as it puts an unnecessary strain on shared resources and reduces the usable lifespan of dedicated 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.

Acceptable Use Policy: Things we're cool with

Our prohibited use policies above are pretty standard within the web hosting industry. But we allow and support some things that other providers may not, and they're shown below.

Tor Relays:

We allow Tor relays but request that all Tor Exits enforce a strict exit policy that blocks all common mail ports, SSH, and more. An example of an acceptable exit policy can be found here. Any Tor Exit failing to use an acceptable exit policy may be suspended as a means from us preventing abuse stemming from our network.

Other anonymity network projects:

We allow I2P Routers, Yggdrasil Peers, VPN (OpenVPN, WireGuard, etc), Proxy Services, etc, etc. It is your responsibility to block access to commonly abused open ports such as those used for email, SSH, FTP, and communication if running any publicly accessible anonymity service.

IRC, XMPP, Etc:

Yeah, we're cool with IRC, XMPP, etc. That's fine.

DMCA:

If you have content that requires DMCA ignored hosting, please use our Netherlands location. We have to enforce DMCA requests in our other locations.

Free Speech and Controversial Content:

You can read our full view on free speech here. In short: We fully support freedom of speech and expression and only request that your speech / content to be legal in the country that is hosting it.