ACCEPTABLE USE POLICY

The AUP defines the acceptable use of PracticalHost services.
This AUP is incorporated by reference in your hosting services agreement with PracticalHost.
Your services may be suspended or terminated for violation of this AUP in accordance with your hosting services agreement with PracticalHost.
Capitalized terms used in this AUP shall have the meaning given in your hosting services agreement.
Inquiries regarding this policy should be directed to abuse@practicalhost.com.

Abuse

You may not use PracticalHost’s network or services to engage in, foster, or promote illegal, abusive, or irresponsible behavior, including:
  • Unauthorized access to or use of data, systems, or networks, including any attempt to probe, scan or test the vulnerability of a system or network or to breach security or authentication measures without express authorization of the owner of the system or network;
  • Monitoring data or traffic on any network or system without the express authorization of the owner of the system or network;
  • Interference with service to any user of the PracticalHost or other network, including, without limitation, mail bombing, flooding, deliberate attempts to overload a system, and broadcast attacks;
  • Use of an Internet account or computer without the owner’s authorization;
  • Collecting or using email addresses, screen names, or other identifiers without the consent of the person identified (including, without limitation, phishing, Internet scamming, password robbery, spidering, and harvesting);
  • Collecting or using information without the consent of the owner of the information;
  • Use of any false, misleading, or deceptive TCP-IP packet header information in an email or a newsgroup posting;
  • Use of the service to distribute software that covertly gathers information about a user or covertly transmits information about the user;
  • Use of the service for the distribution of advertisement delivery software unless: (i) the user affirmatively consents to the download and installation of such software based on the clear and conspicuous notice of the nature of the software, and (ii) the software is easily removable by use of standard tools for such purpose included on major operating systems; (such as Microsoft’s “add/remove” tool); or
  • Any conduct that is likely to result in retaliation against the PracticalHost network or website or PracticalHost’s employees, officers, or other agents, including engaging in behavior that results in any server being the target of a denial of service attack (DoS).
Bulk Email
You may not use a PracticalHost Mail Service (such as PracticalHost® Email or PracticalHost’s Microsoft Exchange®) to send bulk mail. To help ensure prompt and successful email delivery without it being throttled or flagged as spam, we do not allow bulk mail to be sent from our mail servers, and we do not support the automated sending of email (e.g., web forms or transactional receipts).
We consider bulk mail to be the mail of identical or similar content sent to 250 or more addresses external to the PracticalHost network. This also includes sending the same or similar message more than 250 times to a single external email address (e.g., a monitoring alert system). Breaking up mass mailings and sending them in smaller batches to intentionally avoid this restriction is also a violation of the AUP.
Unsolicited Communications
You may not use your service to send emails or any other communications to a person who has indicated that they do not wish to receive it.
Vulnerability Testing
You may not attempt to probe, scan, penetrate or test the vulnerability of a PracticalHost system or network or to breach PracticalHost’s security or authentication measures, whether by passive or intrusive techniques, without PracticalHost’s express written consent. Please let us know when you want to do a Pen test so as not to interpret it as hostile behavior from your IP. Please note that all our incoming/outgoing servers are 256-bit SSL enabled for encrypted traffic.
Newsgroups, Chat Forums, and Other Networks
You must comply with the rules and conventions for postings to any bulletin board, chat group, or another forum in which you participate, such as IRC and USENET groups, including their rules for content and commercial postings. These groups usually prohibit posting off-topic, commercial messages or mass postings to multiple forums.
You must comply with the rules of any other network you access or participate in using your PracticalHost services.
Offensive Content
You may not publish, transmit or store on or via PracticalHost’s network and equipment any content or links to any content that PracticalHost reasonably believes:
  • Constitutes, depicts, fosters, promotes, or relates in any manner to child pornography, bestiality, or non-consensual sex acts;
  • is excessively violent, incites violence, threatens violence, or contains harassing content or hate speech;
  • is unfair or deceptive under the consumer protection laws of any jurisdiction, including chain letters and pyramid schemes;
  • is defamatory or violates a person’s privacy;
  • creates a risk to a person’s safety or health, creates a risk to public safety or health, compromises national security, or interferes with an investigation by law enforcement;
  • improperly exposes trade secrets or other confidential or proprietary information of another person;
  • is intended to assist others in defeating technical copyright protections;
  • infringes on another person’s copyright, trade or service mark, patent, or other property right;
  • promotes illegal drugs, violates export control laws, relates to illegal gambling or illegal arms trafficking;
  • is otherwise illegal or solicits conduct that is illegal under laws applicable to you or to PracticalHost; or
  • is otherwise malicious, fraudulent, or may result in retaliation against PracticalHost by offended viewers or recipients, or is intended to harass or threaten.
Content “published or transmitted” via PracticalHost’s network or equipment includes Web content, email, bulletin board postings, chat, tweets, and any other type of posting or transmission that relies on the Internet.
Live Events
You may not use your PracticalHost services to stream live video events of any kind, even if the content would otherwise comply with the AUP.
Copyrighted Material
You may not use PracticalHost’s network or services to download, publish, distribute, or otherwise copy or use in any manner any text, music, software, art, image, or other work protected by copyright law unless:
  • you have been expressly authorized by the owner of the copyright for the work to copy the work in that manner; or
  • you are otherwise permitted by established copyright law to copy the work in that manner.
It is PracticalHost’s policy to terminate in appropriate circumstances the services of customers who are repeat infringers.
Shared Systems
You may not use any shared system provided by PracticalHost in a way that unnecessarily interferes with the normal operation of the shared system or that consumes a disproportionate share of the resources of the system. For example, we may prohibit the automated or scripted use of PracticalHost Mail Services if it has a negative impact on the mail system, or we may require you to repair coding abnormalities in your Cloud-hosted code if it unnecessarily conflicts with other Cloud customers’ use of the Cloud. You agree that we may quarantine or delete any data stored on a shared system if the data is infected with a virus or is otherwise corrupted and has the potential to infect or corrupt the system or other customers’ data stored on the same system.
EnsureMail, EnsureMail Pro, and EnsureMail Exchange services are spread over several servers, providing a higher level of security and continuity.
Other
  • You must have valid and current information on file with your domain name registrar for any domain hosted on the PracticalHost network.
  • You may only use IP addresses assigned to you by PracticalHost in connection with your PracticalHost services.
  • You agree that if you register a DNS record or zone on PracticalHost managed or operated DNS servers or services for a domain of which you are not the registrant or administrative contact according to the registrars WHOIS system, that, upon request from the registrant or administrative contact according to the registrars WHOIS system, PracticalHost may modify, transfer, or delete such records or zones.
SLA
No credit will be available under a PracticalHost service level guarantee or agreement for interruptions of service resulting from a deliberate or willful violation of AUP for the offending user and not for the entire company accounts.