AUP
AUP aka Acceptable Use Policy for PlotHost Services
As a provider of website hosting and other Internet-related services, PlotHost offers its customer (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. PlotHost respects that the Internet provides a forum for free and open discussion and dissemination of information. However, when there are competing interests at issue, PlotHost reserves the right to take certain preventive or corrective actions. In order to protect these competing interests, PlotHost has developed an Acceptable Use Policy (“AUP”), which supplements and explains certain terms of each customer’s respective service agreement, and is intended as a guide to the customer’s rights and obligations when using PlotHost’ services. This AUP will be revised from time to time.
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 it, 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 PlotHost cannot monitor, verify, warrant or vouch for the accuracy and quality of the information they 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 may be sexually explicit or otherwise offensive. Because PlotHost cannot monitor or censor the Internet, and will not attempt to do so, PlotHost cannot accept any responsibility for injury to its subscribers resulting from inaccurate, unsuitable, offensive or illegal Internet communications.
Illegal Usage
PlotHost servers may be used for lawful purposes only. Transmission, storage, or distribution of any information, data or material in violation of any applicable law or regulation is prohibited. This includes, but is not limited to: copyrighted material, trademark, trade secret or other intellectual property right used without proper authorization, and material that is obscene, defamatory, constitutes an illegal threat or violates export control laws. Examples of non-acceptable content or links: Pirated software, Hackers programs or archives, Warez sites, MP3, and IRC bots. Any type of forum/discussion board discussing where to obtain such files or one that distributes the files is also prohibited. The subscriber to PlotHost service agrees to indemnify and hold harmless PlotHost from any claims resulting from the use of the service that damages the subscriber or any other party. PlotHost will be the sole arbiter as to what constitutes a violation of this provision.
Illegal Content
PlotHost does not allow background Daemons such as IRC bots; eggdrop; BitchX; XiRCON; and any other program that interferes with normal server operation. No warez is allowed. Web proxies are not tolerated. This includes NPH-Proxy, and web proxy. If your site is found to hold any proxy files, your account will be suspended and the account holder will be issued a fee of $50 USD. When using an account with shell, you are not allowed to run ANY servers or services on the PlotHost network. Servers are defined as perlbots, proxies, BitchX, psyBnc, root exploits, DDoS scripts, Shoutcast servers, etc. Running any of these will face an immediate suspension, and users will be subject to a fine no less than $50.00 USD, and no more than $100.00 USD. PlotHost reserves the right to terminate an account for these activities also.
Pornography
We do not allow content that constitutes pornography, child pornography or which is excessively violent, incites violence, threatens violence, or contains harassing content or hate speech;
File Usage and Storage
PlotHost web hosting accounts are not to be used for the purposes of distributing and/or storing an unusual amount of files. We are a web hosting service, not a remote file storage service. Any website whose disk space usage for storing the files exceeds 70% of its total usage, either in terms of total size or number of files, will be deemed to be using an unusual amount of files. At that point, if we find that those files are illegal or harmful in any way, you will be notified. If you do not have any negative intentions such as causing harm to our server or to others with the files you keep, then you have nothing to worry about.
Chat Rooms
PlotHost does not provide nor allow chat rooms on shared hosting environments. You may elect for a dedicated server to run a chat room efficiently.
IRC
PlotHost does not allow IRC or IRC bots to be operated on our shared or reseller servers. They are allowed on dedicated servers provided that no negative effects occur to our network.
Security
Users are prohibited from violating or attempting to violate the security of the PlotHost Network. Violations of system or network security may result in civil or criminal liability. PlotHost will investigate occurrences, which may involve cooperation with law enforcement authorities in prosecuting Users who are involved in such violations. These violations include, without limitation:
1) Accessing data not intended for such user or logging into a server or account, which such user is not authorized to access,
2) Attempting to probe, scan or test the vulnerability of a system or network or to breach security or authentication measures without proper authorization,
3) Attempting to interfere with service to any user, host or network, including, without limitation, via means of overloading, “flooding”, “mail bombing” or “crashing”,
4) Forging any TCP/IP packet header or any part of the header information in any e-mail or forum posting,
5) Taking any action in order to obtain services to which such User is not entitled,
6) Attempting to couple many hosting packages together to take advantage of massive space or bandwidth allocations,
Each hosting package purchased is unique to a domain name and use – you are not allowed to purchase multiple plans to obtain combined bandwidth & space. PlotHost will stop such transactions and label them as deceptive. We have an upgrade path for all services and we can offer special deals for users if they ask us for assistance.
Violations of system or network security are prohibited and may result in criminal and civil liability. Examples include, but are not limited to the following: Unauthorized access, use, probe, or scan of a systems security or authentication measures, data or traffic. Interference with service to any user, host or network including, without limitation, mail bombing, flooding, deliberate attempts to overload a system and broadcast attacks. Forging of any TCP-IP packet header or any part of the header information in an email or a newsgroup posting.
Server Abuse
Any attempts to undermine or cause harm to a PlotHost server or customer of PlotHost is strictly prohibited. Any sub-networks of PlotHost and dedicated servers must adhere to the above policies. The failure to meet or follow any of the above guidelines are grounds for account deactivation. We reserve the right to remove any account without prior notice.
Free Hosting Sites
We do allow our users to run Free Hosting sites, though for having lots of abuses and resources delegation PlotHost reserves the right to set a limit on an account if the abuse department approves the account as a “FREE HOSTING PROVIDER”. Usually, for a free hosting provider a 200 domains limit is eligible if and only if the provider is a TLD Free domain hosting provider, if the provider is a subdomain hosting (FREE) then we do not accept those services. This policy includes for the provider like co.cc, uni.cc etc. We do not block free hosting services like other hosting providers though, for abuse and resource limitation on a premium server this policy is applied.
PlotHost is also aware that many of its subscribers are themselves providers of Internet services, and that information reaching PlotHost’s facilities from those subscribers may have originated from a customer of the subscriber or from another third party. PlotHost does not require its subscribers who offer Internet services to monitor or censor transmissions or websites created by customers of its subscribers. PlotHost reserves the right to directly take action against a customer of its subscribers. Also, PlotHost may take action against the PlotHost subscriber because of activities of a customer of the subscriber, even though the action may affect other customers of the subscriber. Similarly, PlotHost anticipates that subscribers who offer Internet services will cooperate with PlotHost in any corrective or preventive action that PlotHost deems necessary. Failure to cooperate with such corrective or preventive measures is a violation of PlotHost’s policy.
PlotHost 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. PlotHost may, however, monitor its service electronically to determine that its facilities are operating satisfactorily. Also, PlotHost may disclose information, including, but not limited to, information concerning a subscriber, a transmission made using our network, or a website, in order to comply with a court order, subpoena, summons, discovery request, warrant, statute, regulation or governmental request. PlotHost 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, PlotHost may disclose subscriber information or information transmitted over its network where necessary to protect PlotHost and others from harm, or where such disclosure is necessary to the proper operation of the system. However, PlotHost will never sell information to other services or outside companies.
PlotHost expects that its subscribers who provide Internet services to others will comply fully with all applicable laws concerning the privacy of online communications. A subscriber’s failure to comply with those laws will violate PlotHost policy. Finally, PlotHost wishes to emphasize that, in signing the Service Agreement, subscribers indemnify PlotHost for any violation of the Service Agreement, law or PlotHost policy resulting in a loss to PlotHost or the bringing of any claim against PlotHost by any third party. This means that, if PlotHost is being sued because of a subscriber’s or customer of a subscriber’s activity, the subscriber will be responsible for payment of any damages awarded against PlotHost, plus costs and reasonable attorney’s fees.
Resource Abuse Policy (RAP)
Any website on our shared servers that uses a high amount of server resources (CPU, memory usage, and network resources) will be given an option to pay for a dedicated server. The abuse and misuse of system resources is a serious problem, and PlotHost does not tolerate it. Accounts on a shared server must be shared with other users, so we must limit how much of the CPU and memory that can be used by anyone’s account.
AVERAGE SERVER RESOURCE LIMITS
Memory usage may not exceed 10% per domain/file/application
CPU usage may not exceed 10% per domain/file/application
Apache connections may not exceed 30 connections
15 MySQL maximum user connections allowed
200 emails per hour, per domain
We hope this AUP is helpful in clarifying the obligations of Internet users, including PlotHost and its subscribers, as responsible members of the Internet. Any complaints about a subscriber’s violation of this AUP should be sent to abuse@plothost.com.