Acceptable Usage Policy
Introduction
The Acceptable Use Policy (as amended, modified or supplemented from time to time as set forth on AABox's website, this "AUP") of AABOX WEB HOSTING INC. ("AABox"), is designed to (i) protect AABox's customers, users of AABox's website, Products and Service, AABox Network and physical infrastructure and third parties, (ii) further compliance with all relevant laws and regulations, (iii) promote the security and availability of AABox's website, AABox Network and physical infrastructure and (iv) regulate and restrict the use of all products and services (including, but not limited to the Products and Services) provided by AABox, its website, AABox Network and its physical infrastructure ("AABox Services").
This AUP applies to each user that subscribes for AABox Services ("Customers"), all users of AABox Services and all users that access or utilize AABox's website, AABox Network or its physical infrastructure, whether or not such users are customers of AABox, including the customers of our Customers ("Third Party Users"), and every server or network device that is under each User's control and attached to AABox Network or physical infrastructure as a part of AABox Services (a " Server"). The term " User" as used in this AUP means both Customers and Third Party Users.
This AUP is incorporated by this reference into each Customer's Terms of Service and Service Level Agreement. This AUP should be read in conjunction with AABox's Terms of Service, AABox's Service Level Agreement and AABox's Privacy Policy. Capitalized terms used herein without being defined herein shall have the meaning ascribed to such capitalized term in the Terms of Service, the SLA or the Privacy Policy, as applicable. Customer's use of AABox's website, AABox Network, the Products and Services is also subject to Customer's acceptance and compliance with the Terms of Service, the SLA and this AUP. Current copies of AABox's Terms of Service, SLA and Privacy Policy may be reviewed or printed by Customer at the Legal section of AABox's website. CUSTOMER HEREBY REPRESENTS AND WARRANTS THAT IT HAS READ, UNDERSTOOD AND ACCEPTED THE TERMS OF THE TERMS OF SERVICE, THE SLA AND THIS AUP. AABox reserves the right to amend or modify this AUP from time to time, and a User's use of AABox Services, AABox's network and physical infrastructure after changes to the AUP are posted on the legal department page of AABox's website (www.aabox.com) will constitute the User's acceptance of any such amendments or modifications.
Customers are responsible for complying with this AUP and for violations attributable to their customers and users, whether authorized or not by a Customer or AABox. Customers must take all reasonable steps to ensure that their customers and users will comply with this AUP.
This AUP does not (a) obligate AABox to monitor, review, or police the data and content residing on AABox Network or (b) create any obligation or duty of AABox to any party that is not a Customer, including, but not limited to, any Third Party User. Unless and until notified, AABox is not likely to be aware of any violations of this AUP or any violations of law. AABox expects all Users to notify us of any violations of law or violations of this AUP. AABox EXPRESSLY DISCLAIMS ANY LIABILITY FOR THE DATA AND CONTENT TRANSMITTED THROUGH OR INTERMEDIATELY, TEMPORARILY OR PERMANENTLY STORED ON AABox NETWORK OR ANY SERVER AND FOR THE ACTIONS OR OMISSION OF USERS.
Prohibited Content
Users shall not allow the posting, transmission, or storage of data or content on or through AABox Services, AABox Network or its physical infrastructure which, in AABox's sole determination, constitutes a violation of any federal, state, local or international law, regulation, ordinance, court order or other legal process ("Applicable Law"). Users shall be responsible for determining which Applicable Laws are applicable to their use of AABox Services. Prohibited content includes, without limitation, (a) content or code that facilitate any violation of, or describe ways to violate, this AUP or (b) " harvested" addresses or information, (c) "phishing" websites, or (d) "spamvertising" sites.
A User shall not knowingly host on its Servers, use AABox Services or transmit over AABox Network, any material believed by AABox to constitute child pornography. In addition to any other actions it may take under this AUP, AABox reserves the right to cooperate fully with any criminal investigation of content located on a Server that constitutes alleged child pornography or an alleged violation of Applicable Law.
Users' Security Obligation
Users must use reasonable care to ensure the security of each Server, AABox Network and its physical infrastructure. A Customer is solely responsible for any intrusions into, or security breaches of, any of its Servers, except as otherwise covered by a specifically designated security administration or firewall security service package ordered by the Customer. AABox reserves the right to disconnect without refund or the provision of service credit any Servers which disrupt AABox Network or any hardware objects on the network as a result of a security compromise.
Network Abuse
Users are prohibited from engaging in any activities that AABox determines, in its sole discretion, to constitute network abuse, including, but not limited to, the following:
If you believe that a violation of this AUP has occurred please review the information at the Legal section which contains important information concerning the reporting of potential violations.
Resource Usage
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 shared system resources is a serious problem. Accounts on a shared server must share resources with other users so we must limit how much of the CPU and memory that can be used by any one account.
Average Server Resource Limits
There are special exceptions to these rules to be determined at the time we discover abuse. There are different combinations of usage that can create problems and other special cases. At any given time a server is unstable and an account is found to be the cause, we reserve the right to suspend the account to keep the server online and operating normally. If the usage is an increasing trend, we recommend the user invest in a dedicated server so the website can grow at a normal rate without restriction.
Suspensions
In the event your website has been suspended for resource abuse (abuse that cannot be resolved by removing/changing a script, etc.) and you do not wish to upgrade to a dedicated server to accommodate your site needs, we will only release the suspension within 24-48 hours. This is to ensure the CPU intensive site slows down in traffic to avoid further damage and problems. A backup will then be provided of your files or you will be allowed FTP/cPanel access for a certain time period. Any questions about our abuse policy may be answered by opening a ticket with our abuse division.
Inodes
Accounts on any shared hosting account may not have an excessive number of inodes. Any account found to have over 50,000 inodes may be suspended and or moved to a different hosting solution such as a VPS or Dedicated server. If no action is taken to resolve the issue by the customer, the account may be suspended. Every file on the account is counted as 1 inode. This includes mail as well as webpage content and any other files stored on the account.
Cron
We allow customers to set up cron jobs to perform routine functions automatically. Any client who schedules cron jobs in such a manner that jobs take more then half the time to complete before the next scheduled iteration, and more frequently then 10 minutes is abusing the cron system. Any automated processes that excessively consume resources and impact server stability may be disabled at our discretion by our technicians.
Intellectual Property Infringement Policy
Users may not transmit, distribute, download, copy, cache, host, or otherwise store on a Server, AABox Network or its physical infrastructure any information, data, material, or work that infringes the intellectual property rights of others or violates any trade secret right of any other person. AABox has the right to disable access to, or remove, infringing content to the extent required under any law or regulation, including the Digital Millennium Copyright Act of 1998. For your convenience, information concerning procedures for making claims of copyright infringement for purposes of Title 17, Section 512, of the United States Code is contained at the Legal section of our website.
If any Customer or any Third Party User, including those that are customers of our Customers, repeatedly violates AABox's Intellectual Property Infringement Policy, any copyright law or any other intellectual property right, AABox reserves the right to (i) suspend permanently or terminate AABox Services of such Customer and/or (ii) suspend permanently or terminate the access to AABox Services, AABox Network or its physical infrastructure by such Third Party User.
E-mail and Anti-Spamming Policy
Users may not send unsolicited bulk messages over the Internet (i.e., "spamming") and must comply with all relevant legislation and regulations on bulk and commercial e-mail, including the CAN-SPAM Act of 2003.
Mass Mailings
Users may not send mass unsolicited e-mail, which is email that is sent to recipients who have not Confirmed Opt-In or Closed-Loop Opt-In in to mailings from the User. Users who send mass mailings must maintain complete and accurate records of all consents and opt-ins, including the actual e- mail and its headers, and provide such records to AABox upon its request. If a User cannot provide positive and verifiable proof of such consents and opt-ins, AABox will consider the mass mailing to be unsolicited.
Mailing Lists
Users are prohibited from operating mailing lists, listservs, or mailing services that do not target an audience that has voluntarily signed up for e-mail information using a Confirmed Opt-In or Closed- Loop Opt-In process or that has made their e-mail addresses available to a User for distribution of information. Users who operate mailing lists must maintain complete and accurate records of all consents and Confirmed Opt-In or Closed-Loop Opt-In elections (including the actual e-mails and their headers) and provide such records to AABox upon its request. If a User cannot provide positive and verifiable proof of such consents and Confirmed Opt-In or Closed-Loop Opt-In elections, AABox will consider the list mailing to be unsolicited. Any User-maintained mailing list must also allow any party on the list to remove itself automatically and permanently.
Other prohibited activities include, without limitation, the following:
If any Customer or any Third Party User that is a customer of our Customer uses AABox Services, AABox Network or its physical infrastructure in a manner that causes AABox to be "blacklisted" or blocked, AABox reserves the right to (i) suspend permanently or terminate AABox Services of such Customer and/or (ii) suspend permanently or terminate the access to AABox Services, AABox Network or its physical infrastructure by such Third Party User. Operating AABox Service on behalf of, or in connection with, or reselling any service to persons or firms listed in the Spamhaus Register of Known Spam Operations database at www.spamhaus.org shall constitute a violation of this AUP.
Block Removal
If, as a result of a Customer's actions, AABox's mail servers or IP address ranges are placed on black hole lists or other mail filtering software systems, AABox shall charge Customer $100 upfront and $100 per hour thereafter for any necessary remedial actions.
IP Allocation
AABox owns each IP address that it assigns to a Customer. A Customer shall not use IP addresses that were not assigned to it by AABox. AABox reserves the right to suspend the network access of any server utilizing IP addresses outside of the assigned range.
IRC Policy
Customers may not operate and maintain IRC servers which connect to global IRC networks such as Undernet, EFnet and DALnet. Use of IRC plug-ins, scripts, add-ons, clones or other software designed to disrupt or deny service to other users is prohibited. Harassing or abusive IRC activity is expressly prohibited under the AUP, including (i) disruption or denial of service or (ii) the use or joining of " botnets" or the use of IRC BNC's or other proxy and re-direction software. If a Customer's IRC servers are frequently compromised or attract denial of service or distributed denial of service attacks that disrupt or denies service to other Customers or users, AABox may null-route, filter, suspend, or terminate that Customer's service.
Usenet Policy
Usenet posts and content must conform to standards established by the Internet community and the applicable newsgroup charter. AABox reserves the right to determine whether such posts violate the AUP.
Legal Investigations
Users will cooperate and comply with any civil or criminal investigation regarding use of AABox Services, AABox Network or its physical infrastructure or content located on its Servers or transmitted using AABox Services, AABox Network or its physical infrastructure, including, without limitation, the following: discovery orders, subpoenas, freeze orders, search warrants, information requests, wire taps, electronic intercepts and surveillance, preservation requests, and any other order from a court, government entity or regulatory agency (each an "Investigation"). AABox may charge a User or any person seeking compliance with an Investigation for the reasonable costs and expenses associated with AABox's compliance with any Investigation. AABox reserves the right to comply with any Investigation without notice to a User. Customers shall not be entitled to a refund or any service credits, and AABox shall not be in default under any agreement for AABox Services, if its compliance with any Investigation causes a User to incur downtime or requires the sequestering of all or a portion of the Servers. AABox also reserves the right to disclose information relating to Users and their use of AABox Services, AABox Network or its physical infrastructure or information transmitted, owned by or stored by or on behalf of any User, if such information is disclosed in connection with an Investigation or in order to prevent the death of or bodily harm to any individual, as determined by AABox in its sole discretion.
Violations of AUP
AABox may enforce this AUP, with or without notice to a User, by any action it deems reasonable, in its sole discretion. In addition to the remedial provisions provided elsewhere in this AUP, AABox may:
Reporting Violations:
If there is a violation of this AUP direct the information to the Abuse Department at [email protected]. If available, please provide the following information:
E-mail with full header information provides all of the above, as do system log files. Other situations will require different methods of providing the above information. AABox may take any one or more of the following actions in response to complaints:
If any User uses AABox Services, AABox Network or its physical infrastructure in a manner that exposes AABox to potential liability, as reasonably determined by AABox, AABox may suspend permanently or terminate the access to AABox Services, AABox Network or its physical infrastructure by such User.
The remedial actions set forth in this AUP shall not be construed in any way to limit the actions or remedies that AABox may take to enforce and ensure compliance with this AUP. AABox reserves the right to recover any and all expenses, and apply any reasonable charges, in connection with a User's violation of this AUP. No refund or service credits will be issued for any interruption in service resulting from violations of this AUP.
AABox reserves the right at all times to investigate any actual, suspected, or alleged violations of this AUP, with such investigation to include accessing of data and records on, or associated with, any Server, AABox Network or its physical infrastructure.
Prohibited Activities
