Acceptable Use Policy

As a provider of Internet access, web site hosting, and other Internet-related services, SECUREHOST.COM offers its customers (also known as subscribers), and their customers and users, the means to acquire and disseminate a wealth of public, private, commercial, and non-commercial information. SECUREHOST.COM respects that the Internet provides a forum for free and open discussion and dissemination of information, however, when there are competing interests at issue, SECUREHOST.COM reserves the right to take certain preventative or corrective actions. In order to protect these competing interests, SECUREHOST.COM has developed an Acceptable Use Policy (“AUP”), which supplements and explains certain terms of each customer’s respective customer agreement and is intended as a guide to the customer’s rights and obligations when utilizing SECUREHOST.COM’s services. This AUP will be revised from time to time. A customer’s use of SECUREHOST.COM’s services after changes to the AUP are posted on SECUREHOST.COM’s web site, WWW.SECUREHOST.COM, will constitute the customer’s acceptance of any new or additional terms of the AUP that result from those changes.

One important aspect of the Internet is that no one party owns or controls it. This fact accounts for much of the Internet’s openness and value, but it also places a high premium on the judgment and responsibility of those who use the Internet, both in the information they acquire and in the information they disseminate to others. When subscribers obtain information through the Internet, they must keep in mind that SECUREHOST.COM cannot monitor, verify, warrant, or vouch for the accuracy and quality of the information that subscribers may acquire. For this reason, the subscriber must exercise his or her best judgment in relying on information obtained from the Internet, and also should be aware that some material posted to the Internet is sexually explicit or otherwise offensive. Because SECUREHOST.COM cannot monitor or censor the Internet, and will not attempt to do so, SECUREHOST.COM cannot accept any responsibility for injury to its subscribers that results from inaccurate, unsuitable, offensive, or illegal Internet communications.

When subscribers disseminate information through the Internet, they also must keep in mind that SECUREHOST.COM does not review, edit, censor, or take responsibility for any information its subscribers may create. When users place information on the Internet, they have the same liability as other authors for copyright infringement, defamation, and other harmful speech. Also, because the information they create is carried over SECUREHOST.COM’s network and may reach a large number of people, including both subscribers and non subscribers of SECUREHOST.COM, subscribers’ postings to the Internet may affect other subscribers and may harm SECUREHOST.COM’s goodwill, business reputation, and operations. For these reasons, subscribers violate SECUREHOST.COM policy and the customer agreement when they, their customers, affiliates, or subsidiaries engage in the following prohibited activities:

1. knowingly interfere with the lawful use by others of any Service;
2. modify, reverse engineer or, decompile, disassemble, or create derivative works based on software provided by SECUREHOST.COM or any SECUREHOST.COM service provider or supplier unless expressly permitted;
3. use the SECUREHOST.COM name, logo or trademark in any promotional materials, contracts, bills, or similar names or documents, or in association with the Customer’s products or services without the express written authorization of SECUREHOST.COM;
4. use the Services to invade the privacy of third parties, impersonate SECUREHOST.COM personnel or other SECUREHOST.COM customers or tend to damage the name or reputation of SECUREHOST.COM, its affiliates or agents;
5. solicit SECUREHOST.COM customers to patronize competing services;
6. Intentional Harm — cause or intentionally damage SECUREHOST.COM systems or other networks through SECUREHOST.COM systems or use any process, program, or tool via the Services for the purposes of guessing, deriving or in any other way attempting to obtain the passwords of SECUREHOST.COM, its service providers or customers of SECUREHOST.COM or any other service provider;
7. Spamming — Sending unsolicited bulk and/or commercial messages over the Internet (known as “spamming”). It is not only harmful because of its negative impact on consumer attitudes toward SECUREHOST.COM, but also because it can overload SECUREHOST.COM’s network and disrupt service to SECUREHOST.COM subscribers. Also, maintaining an open SMTP relay is prohibited. When a complaint is received, SECUREHOST.COM has the discretion to determine from all of the evidence whether the email recipients were from an “opt-in” email list.
8. Hacking — use the Services to engage in the practice of hacking or any other unauthorized attempt to access or otherwise gain entry to the filter systems or network of SECUREHOST.COM, its customers, service providers or any other third party;
9. Intellectual Property Violations — Engaging in any activity that infringes or misappropriates the intellectual property rights of others, including copyrights, trademarks, service marks, trade secrets, software piracy, and patents held by individuals, corporations, or other entities. Also, engaging in activity that violates privacy, publicity, or other personal rights of others. SECUREHOST.COM is required by law to remove or block access to customer content upon receipt of a proper notice of copyright infringement. It is also SECUREHOST.COM’s policy to terminate the privileges of customers who commit repeat violations of copyright laws.
10. Obscene Speech or Materials — Using SECUREHOST.COM’s network to advertise, transmit, store, post, display, or otherwise make available child pornography or obscene speech or material. SECUREHOST.COM is required by law to notify law enforcement agencies when it becomes aware of the presence of child pornography on or being transmitted through SECUREHOST.COM’s network.
11. Defamatory or Abusive Language — Using SECUREHOST.COM’s network as a means to transmit or post defamatory, harassing, abusive, or threatening language.
12. Forging of Headers — Forging or misrepresenting message headers, whether in whole or in part, to mask the originator of the message.
13. Illegal or Unauthorized Access to Other Computers or Networks — Accessing illegally or without authorization computers, accounts, or networks belonging to another party, or attempting to penetrate security measures of another individual’s system (often known as “hacking”). Also, any activity that might be used as a precursor to an attempted system penetration (i.e. port scan, stealth scan, or other information gathering activity). This specifically includes any attempt to violate or tamper with the security of any computer, equipment or program belonging to SECUREHOST.COM or any other service provider participating with or connected to SECUREHOST.COM Services;
14. Distribution of Internet Viruses, Worms, Trojan Horses, or Other Destructive Activities — Distributing information regarding the creation of and sending Internet viruses, worms, Trojan horses, pinging, flooding, mail bombing, or denial of service attacks. Also, activities that disrupt the use of or interfere with the ability of others to effectively use the network or any connected network, system, service, or equipment.
15. Facilitating a Violation of this AUP — Advertising, transmitting, or otherwise making available any software, program, product, or service that is designed to violate this AUP, which includes the facilitation of the means to spam, initiation of pinging, flooding, mail bombing, denial of service attacks, and piracy of software.
16. Usenet Groups — SECUREHOST.COM reserves the right not to accept postings from newsgroups where we have actual knowledge that the content of the newsgroup violates the AUP.
17. Other Illegal Activities — Engaging in activities that are determined to be illegal, including advertising, transmitting, or otherwise making available ponzi schemes, pyramid schemes, fraudulently charging credit cards, pirating software/music/video, sale of counterfeit/replica goods.
18. Other Activities — Engaging in activities, whether lawful or unlawful, that SECUREHOST.COM determines to be harmful to its subscribers, operations, reputation, goodwill, or customer relations.

As we have pointed out, the responsibility for avoiding the harmful activities just described rests primarily with the subscriber. SECUREHOST.COM will not, as an ordinary practice, monitor the communications of its subscribers to ensure that they comply with SECUREHOST.COM policy or applicable law. When SECUREHOST.COM becomes aware of harmful activities, however, it may take any action to stop the harmful activity, including but not limited to, removing information, shutting down a web site, implementing screening software designed to block offending transmissions, denying access to the Internet, or take any other action it deems appropriate.

SECUREHOST.COM also is aware that many of its subscribers are, themselves, providers of Internet services, and that information reaching SECUREHOST.COM’s facilities from those subscribers may have originated from a customer of the subscriber or from another third-party. SECUREHOST.COM does not require its subscribers who offer Internet services to monitor or censor transmissions or web sites created by customers of its subscribers. SECUREHOST.COM has the right to directly take action against a customer of a subscriber. Also, SECUREHOST.COM may take action against the SECUREHOST.COM subscriber because of activities of a customer of the subscriber, even though the action may effect other customers of the subscriber. Similarly, SECUREHOST.COM anticipates that subscribers who offer Internet services will cooperate with SECUREHOST.COM in any corrective or preventive action that SECUREHOST.COM deems necessary. Failure to cooperate with such corrective or preventive measures is a violation of SECUREHOST.COM policy.

SECUREHOST.COM also is concerned with the privacy of on-line communications and web sites. In general, the Internet is neither more nor less secure than other means of communication, including mail, facsimile, and voice telephone service, all of which can be intercepted and otherwise compromised. As a matter of prudence, however, SECUREHOST.COM urges its subscribers to assume that all of their on-line communications are insecure. SECUREHOST.COM cannot take any responsibility for the security of information transmitted over SECUREHOST.COM’s facilities.

SECUREHOST.COM will not intentionally monitor private electronic mail messages sent or received by its subscribers unless required to do so by law, governmental authority, or when public safety is at stake. SECUREHOST.COM may, however, monitor its service electronically to determine that its facilities are operating satisfactorily. Also, SECUREHOST.COM may disclose information, including but not limited to, information concerning a subscriber, a transmission made using our network, or a web site, in order to comply with a court order, subpoena, summons, discovery request, warrant, statute, regulation, or governmental request. SECUREHOST.COM assumes no obligation to inform the subscriber that subscriber information has been provided and in some cases may be prohibited by law from giving such notice. Finally, SECUREHOST.COM may disclose subscriber information or information transmitted over its network where necessary to protect SECUREHOST.COM and others from harm, or where such disclosure is necessary to the proper operation of the system.

SECUREHOST.COM expects that its subscribers who provide Internet services to others will comply fully with all applicable laws concerning the privacy of on-line communications. A subscriber’s failure to comply with those laws will violate SECUREHOST.COM policy. Finally, SECUREHOST.COM wishes to emphasize that in signing the customer agreement, subscribers indemnify SECUREHOST.COM for any violation of the customer agreement, law, or SECUREHOST.COM policy, that results in loss to SECUREHOST.COM or the bringing of any claim against SECUREHOST.COM by any third-party. This means that if SECUREHOST.COM is sued because of a subscriber’s or customer of a subscriber’s activity, the subscriber will pay any damages awarded against SECUREHOST.COM, plus costs and reasonable attorneys’ fees.

We hope this AUP is helpful in clarifying the obligations of Internet users, including SECUREHOST.COM and its subscribers, as responsible members of the Internet. Any complaints about a subscriber’s violation of this AUP should be sent to abuse@securehost.com.

Last revised: November 30, 2012