As a provider of web site hosting, and other Internet-related services, Pro IT Hosting offers its clients, and their customers and users, the means to disseminate a wealth of public, private, commercial, and noncommercial information. Pro IT Hosting respects that the Internet provides a forum for free and open discussion and dissemination of information, however, when there are competing interests at issue, Pro IT Hosting reserves the right to take certain preventative or corrective actions. In order to protect these competing interests, Pro IT Hosting 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 utilizing Pro IT Hosting’s services. This AUP will be revised from time to time. A customer's use of Pro IT Hosting’s services after changes to the AUP are posted on Pro IT Hosting’s web site, www.proithosting.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 to disseminate information to others. When information is disseminated through the Internet, users also must keep in mind that Pro IT Hosting does not review, edit, censor, or take responsibility for any information its clients 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 ProIT Hosting’s network and may reach a large number of people, including both clients and non-clients of Pro IT Hosting, clients' postings to the Internet may affect other clients and may harm ProIT Hosting’s goodwill, business reputation, and operations. For these reasons, clients violate Pro IT Hosting policy and the service agreement when they, their customers, affiliates, or subsidiaries engage in the following prohibited activities:
SpammingSending unsolicited bulk and/or commercial messages over the Internet is known as "spamming". It is not only harmful because of its negative impact on consumer attitudes toward ProIT Hosting, but also because it can overload ProIT Hosting’s network and disrupt service to ProIT Hosting clients. Also, maintaining an open SMTP relay is prohibited. When a complaint is received, ProIT Hosting has the discretion to determine from all of the evidence whether the e-mail recipients were from an "opt-in" e-mail list. Intellectual Property ViolationsThis type of violation includes:
Adult MaterialBecause the Internet is a global communication tool and we have clients from nearly every country in the world, it is difficult to dictate what is considered "adult material." However, it is not our function to discriminate against those who choose to utilize adult content or adult related material. This being said, there are still several reasons why Pro IT Hosting has been forced to create its no adult sites policy for its virtual server users. What does ProIT Hosting consider "Adult Material?"
Why does ProIT Hosting have this policy?A virtual server is a shared environment where many web sites reside on each particular machine. Consider that an average "adult site" gets more hits than 100 standard websites. Some of the smaller adult sites get around 5 GB of transfer per day. With these types of resources being utilized, our servers would be severely slowed if we allowed these high traffic sites to also reside on our servers. On top of that, we would be forced to raise our prices to pay for the additional bandwidth. We strive to keep our servers fast and inexpensive, and our bandwidth clear; therefore, adult sites are not an option. ProIT Hosting reserves the right to decide what it considers "adult content", "adult material", "sexually explicit", or "sexually related". Let us know if you are unsure of the approval of your site before placing an order. Defamatory or Abusive LanguageUsing ProIT Hosting’s network as a means to transmit or post defamatory, harassing, abusive, or threatening language is prohibited. Forging of HeadersForging or misrepresenting message headers, whether in whole or in part, to mask the originator of the message is prohibited. Illegal or Unauthorized Access to Other Computers or NetworksAccessing 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") is not permitted. 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) is prohibited. Background Running ProgramsBackground Daemons in general are prohibited on ProIT Hosting servers. These include but not limited to IRC bots, eggdrop, BitchX, XiRCON, warez sites and any other program that interferes with normal server operation. ProIT Hosting will be the sole arbiter of what constitutes a violation of the above policy. Distribution of Internet Viruses, Worms, Trojan Horses, or Other Destructive ActivitiesSending or distributing information regarding the creation of Internet viruses, worms, Trojan horses, pinging, flooding, mailbombing, or denial of service attacks is prohibited. 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 are prohibited. Facilitating a Violation of this AUPAdvertising, 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, mailbombing, denial of service attacks, and piracy of software is prohibited. Export Control ViolationsExporting encryption software over the Internet or otherwise, to points outside the United States is prohibited. Usenet GroupsPro IT Hosting reserves the right not to accept postings from newsgroups where we have actual knowledge that the content of the newsgroup violates the AUP. Other Illegal ActivitiesEngaging in activities that are determined to be illegal, including advertising, transmitting, or otherwise making available ponzi schemes, pyramid schemes, fraudulently charging credit cards, and pirating software is prohibited. Other ActivitiesEngaging in activities, whether lawful or unlawful, that ProIT Hosting determines to be harmful to its clients, operations, reputation, goodwill, or customer relations is prohibited. As we have pointed out, the responsibility for avoiding the harmful activities described above rests primarily with the client. ProIT Hosting will not, as an ordinary practice, monitor the communications of its clients to ensure that they comply with ProIT Hosting policy or applicable law. When ProIT Hosting 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. ProIT Hosting 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, ProIT Hosting urges its clients to assume that all of their on-line communications are insecure. ProIT Hosting cannot take any responsibility for the security of information transmitted over ProIT Hosting’s facilities. ProIT Hosting will not intentionally monitor private electronic mail messages
sent or received by its clients unless required to do so by law, governmental
authority, or when public safety is at stake. ProIT Hosting may, however,
monitor its service electronically to determine that its facilities are
operating satisfactorily. Also, ProIT Hosting may disclose information,
including but not limited to, information concerning a client, 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. ProIT Hosting assumes no obligation to inform the
client that client information has been provided and in some cases may
be prohibited by law from giving such notice. Finally, ProIT Hosting may
disclose client information or information transmitted over its network
where necessary to protect ProIT Hosting and others from harm, or where
such disclosure is necessary to the proper operation of the system. |