Acceptable Use Policy

Introduction and Purpose

This document sets forth the principles, guidelines and requirements of the Acceptable Use Policy of Digital Shells. ("Company") and subsidiaries governing the use by the Customer ("Customer") of the Company's services and products ("Services and Products"). The Purpose of Company's Acceptable Use Policy, hereinafter referred to as the AUP, is to comply with all federal, state, and local laws coupled with protecting the network security, network availability, physical security, Customer privacy, and other factors affecting the services provided by Company. Company reserves the right to impose reasonable rules and regulations regarding the use of its services provided to all Customers and such rules and regulations are subject to change. Such rules and regulations are located on the Internet at http://www.digitalshells.com/policy.php. The AUP is not an all inclusive exhaustive list and Company reserves the right to modify the AUP at any time as needed, effective upon either the posting of the modified AUP to http://www.digitalshells.com/policy.php or notification to the Customer via email. Acceptance and execution of the Master Services Agreement binds all parties to Company stated AUP at the time the contract is executed and as modified from time to time. Any violation of the AUP may result in the suspension or termination of Customer account(s) or such other action as Company deems appropriate. No credits will be issued for any interruption in service resulting from policy violations.

VIOLATION OF ANY SECTION OF THE AUP IS STRICTLY PROHIBITED AND MAY RESULT IN THE IMMEDIATE TERMINATION OR SUSPENSION OF THE SERVICES CUSTOMER RECEIVES FROM COMPANY.

Any questions or comments regarding the AUP should be directed to abuse@digitalshells.com or policy@digitalshells.com.

Service Specific Acceptable Use Policies

Shell Account Policies

1) Participation in denial of service attacks from The Provider's servers is strictly prohibited.

2) There are to be no war, xdcc, takeover, mech or abusive bots run on The Provider's servers.

3) Eggdrop bots may only be run on servers that specifically allow them.

4) There is to be only one connection per process connecting to irc excluding bnc connections which can have 2 maximum.

5) Any Client responsible for a k/g/d line will be charged a $50.00 maintenance fee. Do not get our IP addresses k/g/d lined on any IRC servers.

6) The Provider does not permit shoutcast servers, any type of game/mud servers, or any processes that consume a large amount of bandwidth and/or system resources to be run from The Provider's servers.

7) No evading (trespassing) g/k/d lines on ANY network. Any Client found doing so will have their account suspended/removed immediately.

8) Any Client holding a juped nick or attempting to jupe a nick will have the process killed. Multiple infractions will result in account termination. This is determined at the sole discretion of The Provider's Staff.

9) The Provider is not responsible for backups of any data the Client stores on The Provider's servers. The Client acknowledges that they will backup their own data.

Web Hosting Account Policies

1) Background daemons in general are prohibited, we will consider requests on a one to one basis. If allowed, extra charges will be assessed based on resources and system maintenance needed.

2) The Provider does not allow IRC or IRC bots to be operated on the web servers. This includes and is not limited to eggdrop bots, mech bots, ircd, BitchX and ircII. CGI and Java scripts that act as gateways to IRC servers are allowed only with authorization first. Any Client found using such scripts without prior authorization face account cancellation or suspension.

3) The Provider is not responsible for backups of MySQL databases or any other data the Client stores on The Provider's servers. The Client acknowledges that they will backup their own databases and data from the backup utility provided from their control panel.

4) CGI Script sharing with domains not hosted by The Provider is not allowed. Any cgi-scripts deemed to be adversely affecting the server performance or the network integrity will be shut down without prior notice.

Compliance with Law

Customer shall not post, transmit, re-transmit or store material on or through any of Services or Products which, in the sole judgment of the Company (i) is in violation of any local, state, federal or non-United States law or regulation, (ii) threatening, obscene, indecent, defamatory or that otherwise could adversely affect any individual, group or entity (collectively, "Persons") or (iii) violates the rights of any person, including rights protected by copyright, trade secret, patent or other intellectual property or similar laws or regulations including, but not limited to, the installation or distribution of "pirated" or other software products that are not appropriately licensed for use by Customer. Customer shall be responsible for determining what laws or regulations are applicable to its use of the Services and Products.

Customer Security Obligation

Each Customer must use reasonable care in keeping each server or network devices attached to Company infrastructure up-to-date and patched with the latest security updates. Failure to use reasonable care to protect a server may result in a security compromise by outside sources. Company is not responsible for Customer server level security unless a security administration package, firewall security administration package or fully managed operating system package is contracted for and maintained. A compromised server creating network interference will result in immediate Customer notification and will be disconnected from the network immediately so as to not directly affect other Customers. No service credits will be issued for outages resulting from disconnection due directly to breached server security. The Customer is solely responsible for any breaches of security affecting servers under Customer control, including repairing the system, terminating the account(s) of the abusive user(s), and reporting occurrence of the issue to abuse@digitalshells.com. If a Customer intentionally creates a security breach, the cost to resolve any damage to Customer's server or other servers will be charged directly to the Customer. The labor used to resolve such damage is categorized as emergency security breach recovery and is currently charged at $100.00 USD per hour.

System and Network Security

Violations of system or network security are strictly prohibited, and may result in criminal and civil liability. Company investigates all incidents involving such violations and will cooperate with law enforcement if a criminal violation is suspected.

Examples of system or network security violations include, without limitation, the following:

1. Introduction of malicious programs into the network or server (example: viruses, worms, Trojan Horses, key loggers, and other executables intended to inflict harm).
2. Effecting security breaches or disruptions of Internet communication and/or connectivity. Security breaches include, but are not limited to, accessing data of which the Customer is not an intended recipient or logging into a server or account that the Customer is not expressly authorized to access. For purposes of this section, "disruption" includes, but is not limited to port scans, flood pings, email-bombing, packet spoofing, IP spoofing and forged routing information.
3. Executing any form of network activity that will intercept data not intended for the Customer's server.
4. Circumventing user authentication or security of any host, network or account, including “cracking.”
5. Interfering with or denying service to any user, host, or network other than the Customer's host (example: denial of service attack or distributed denial of service attack).
6. Conduct designed to avoid restrictions or access limits to specific services, hosts, or networks, including but not limited to the forging of packet headers (“spoofing”) or other identification information.
7. Using any program script/command, or sending messages of any kind, designed to interfere with or to disable, a user's terminal session, via any means, locally or via the Internet.
8. Failing to comply with the Company's procedure relating to the activities of Customers on the Company's premises. Violators of the policy are responsible, without limitations, for the cost of labor to correct all damage done to the operation of the network and business operations supported by the network. Such labor is categorized as emergency security breach recovery and is currently charged at $100.00 USD per hour required. Network interference by any Customers that may cause or is currently causing network interference with another Customer will be disconnected immediately. No service credits will be issued to Customers disconnected for network violations.

Internet Etiquette

Each Customer is expected execute reasonable Internet etiquette, the accepted behavior and expectations of the Internet community. The Customer will comply with the rules appropriate to any network to which Company may provide access. The Customer should not post, transmit, or permit Internet access to information the Customer desires to keep confidential. The Customer is not permitted to post any material that is illegal, libelous, and tortuous, indecently depicts children or is likely to result in retaliation against Company by offended users. Company reserves the right to refuse or terminate service at any time for violation of this section. This includes advertising services or sites via IRC or USENET in clear violation of the policies of the IRC channel or USENET group.

Child Pornography

Company will cooperate fully with any criminal investigation into a Customer's violation of the Child Protection Act of 1984 concerning child pornography. Customers are ultimately responsible for the actions of their clients over Company network, and will be liable for illegal material posted by their clients.

According to the Child Protection Act, child pornography includes photographs, films, video or any other type of visual presentation that shows a person who is or is depicted as being under the age of eighteen years and is engaged in or is depicted as engaged in explicit sexual activity, or the dominant characteristic of which is the depiction, for a sexual purpose, of a sexual organ or the anal region of a person under the age of eighteen years or any written material or visual representation that advocates or counsels sexual activity with a person under the age of eighteen years.

Violations of the Child Protection Act should be reported to the U.S. Customs Agency at 1-800-BEALERT.

Copyright Infringement

Company datacenter infrastructure including network, leased hardware, co-location services, and other hardware located in the facility may only be used for lawful purposes. Transmission, distribution, or storage of any information, data or material in violation of United States or state regulation or law, or by the common law, is prohibited. This includes, but is not limited to, material protected by copyright, trademark, trade secret, or other intellectual property rights; including creating, utilizing, distributing unauthorized copies of software, or the use of BitTorrent or other types of technologies utilized in the distribution of illegally copied materials.  If Customer copies, distributes or installs software in defiance of the license agreement, Customer is violating federal copyright law. Company will cooperate with all law enforcement agencies in relation to alleged copyright infringement housed in our datacenters.

Repeated violations of Company's Copyright Infringement Policy could result in permanent suspension of customer's account.

Hosting Policy

Data Unlawful or Against the AUP:  Promoting violation of the law or the AUP by hosting data that facilitates the violation is prohibited, including but not limited to:

• Hosting web pages that detail the methodology of committing unlawful acts, or acts violating this AUP.
• Hosting software, scripts, or other resources intended to facilitate committing unlawful acts, or acts violating this AUP.
• Advertising, transmitting, storing, or using any software, script, program, product, or service designed to violate this AUP.
• Harvesting.  The collection of email addresses, credit card information, or other personal information for fraudulent use or sale is prohibited.
• Phishing. Hosting web pages with forwards to, containing scripts or executables for, or any other component of an operation designed to fraudulently collect authentication, credit card, names, addresses, or any other personal data (“phishing”) is not permitted.
• Spamvertised Sites. Hosting web pages advertised by spam sent from another network (“spamvertised”) is not permitted.

Email Policy

Email Spam: Company has a zero stance policy on SPAM, Junk E-mail or UCE. Spam, Junk-mail and UCE are defined as: the sending of the same, or substantially similar, unsolicited electronic mail messages, whether commercial or not, to more than one recipient. A message is considered unsolicited if it is posted in violation of a newsgroup charter or if it is sent to a recipient who has not requested or invited the message. UCE also includes e-mail with forged headers, compromised mail server relays, and false contact information. This prohibition extends to the sending of unsolicited mass mailings from another service, which in any way implicates the use of Company whether or not the message actually originated from our network.

Block Removal: If Customer actions have caused Company mail servers or Company IP address ranges to be placed on black hole lists and other mail filtering software systems used by companies on the internet, Customer will be assessed a $100 charge to Customer account and $100 per hour for administrative charges incurred to remove and protect mail servers and IP ranges.

• Drop-Box Accounts. Using this network for the receipt of replies to unsolicited mass email (spam) sent from a third-party network is prohibited.
• Header Forgery: Forgery of email headers (“spoofing”) is prohibited.
• Proxy Spamming: Spamming via third-party proxy, aggregation of proxy lists, or installation of proxy mailing software is prohibited.
• Relaying. Configuration of a mail server to accept and process third-party messages for sending without user identification and authentication is prohibited.

Mass Mailings: Sending mass unsolicited email is considered spam. Unsolicited email is defined as email sent to a recipient who has not double-opted in to mailings from the Customer. Senders of mass mailings must maintain complete and accurate records of all opt-ins, including the email and its headers if applicable, and provide such records to Company upon request. If positive and verifiable proof of opt-in cannot be provided, complaints from recipients of the mailing are considered proof they did not subscribe and the mailing is unsolicited.

Mailing Lists: Company's mass mailing rules also apply to mailing lists, list servs, or mailing services contracted for by Customer. The policy is stated as follows: An acceptable mailing list will be focused at a targeted audience that has voluntarily signed up for e-mail information using a double opt-in process or that has made their e-mail address available to Customer for distribution of information. The list must also allow for automatic removal by all end Customers with non-distribution in the future.

Fraud Policy

By agreeing to this AUP, Customer affirms that the contact and payment information provided to Company identifies Customer and that Customer is authorized to use the payment method. Commitment of fraud, obtaining services, or attempting to obtain services by any means or device with intent to avoid payment is prohibited.

Reseller Policy

Resellers are responsible for the conduct of their Customers and by agreeing with this AUP, agree that their Customers will adhere to the AUP. Resellers should make their perspective Customers aware of the AUP and the consequences for violation.

Suspension and Cancellation

Company will use reasonable care in notifying the Customer and in resolving the problem in a method resulting in the least amount of service interference as reasonably possible. Company reserves the sole right to suspend service to any Customer located in our datacenter for violation of the AUP without notice. Company reserves the right to terminate service without notice for any violations of the AUP.

Violations of the AUP will result in the following:

• A warning notification via email with 72 hours notice for resolution.

Failure to resolve the AUP violation within 72 hours will result in the following:

• Removal of the violating content or service
• Removal of DNS for the server
• Temporary shutdown of service
• Block on outgoing mail
• IP address routing to null

Repeat violation of the above terms will result in the following actions.

• Immediate disconnection of service with no re-activation.
• $100 fee assessed to Customer account for violation.