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.

The first section covers our Acceptable Usage Policy (AUP), which states acceptable use of our services and highlights prohibited activities, content, etc. This is strictly enforced so that we may continue to maintain a high level of quality for our network and services. That is then followed by our Terms Of Service. Are you looking for our Privacy Policy? That can be found on its own page here.

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

Last updated: 09/05/2022 – Added information related to new services (Domain Names, Dedicated Servers) as well as updated payment methods section (Payment gateway, accepted currencies).

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.

Terms Of Service


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

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.

Conditions Of Use


  • 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.

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 3rd parties.

Billing / Invoices / Payments


  • Crypto we accept: BTC, XMR, LTC, DASH and DOGE

  • 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 be attempt to be charged on the service renewal date.

  • Any account more than 5 days overdue will be suspended for non-payment. (Please contact us if you need more time. We’re human and we understand that you may be late on 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.

Service Processing


  • Shared Web Hosting and Virtual Server Hosting are configured to be setup automatically after your initial payment is processed and clears.

  • Domain Names orders are usually processed within 8 hours. These are not completed automatically and require manual action on our behalf to complete.

  • Most Dedicated Servers are setup within 8-12 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.

Generated Domain Key Files


  • The files associated with your I2P and Tor .onion domain names on shared hosting services are stored outside of your user directory to prevent accidental deletion and/or modification which would render your domain(s) inoperable.

  • The domain key file(s) that we generate for your Tor Onion and I2P hosting will be given to you upon request.

  • Canceled or terminated accounts will have their domain key(s) removed from our servers as a privacy measure. If you will need these keys to host your site(s) elsewhere, please make the request for them before cancellation, suspension for non-payment, etc.

Business Hours


We are unofficially available 24/7, meaning that we are a small team on various sleep schedules with the ability to respond to most questions/concerns within 8-12 hours, often times much faster. We do not offer any response time guarantee currently.