Background

From time to time Vertigo Hosting may impose reasonable rules and regulations regarding the use of its services. Such rules and regulations are called Acceptable Use Policies (AUPs) and are posted at http://www.VertigoHosting.com/hosting_policy.htm. The AUPs are not exhaustive and Vertigo Hosting reserves the right to modify the AUPs at any time, effective upon either the posting of the modified AUPs to http://www.VertigoHosting.com/hosting_policy.htm or notification of the modified AUPs. By registering for and using the services, and thereby accepting the terms and conditions of the network, you agree to abide by the AUPs as modified from time to time. Any violation of the AUPs may result in the suspension or termination of your account or such action as Vertigo Hosting deems appropriate. An unlisted activity may also be a violation if it is illegal, irresponsible, or disruptive use of the Internet. No credits will be issued for any interruption of service resulting from policy violations.

YOU SHALL REMAIN SOLELY LIABLE AND RESPONSIBLE FOR YOUR USE OF THE SERVICES AND ANY AND ALL CONTENT THAT YOU DISPLAY, UPLOAD, DOWNLOAD, OR TRANSMIT THROUGH THE USE OF Vertigo Hosting's SERVICES. "CONTENT" INCLUDES, WITHOUT LIMITATION, YOUR E-MAIL, WEB PAGES, PERSONAL HOME PAGES, AND DOMAIN NAMES. IT IS OUR POLICY TO TERMINATE REPEAT INFRINGERS. Vertigo Hosting RESERVES THE RIGHT TO REFUSE SERVICE TO ANYONE AT ANY TIME.

Unacceptable Content
Examples of content that is not acceptable on Vertigo Hosting Servers:

• "Pirated" Software or "Warez"*
• Hacker programs and/or archives
• IRC Bots and IRC Servers
• Gambling related (Casino) Sites
• Copyrighted music and/or audio files, including archives which contain such files**
• CGI-Based message boards (YaBB CGI, Ikonboard, etc)
• Adult Sites/Content
• SPAM
• Sites intended solely for the use of storing files. Your website must be precisely that--a SITE, complete with pages, etc.
• Software downloads may only be hosted if you are the writer and copyright owner of the software; all other software including freeware, shareware, and trial software is not allowed.***

You specifically agree to indemnify and hold Vertigo Hosting.com and its subsidiaries harmless from any claims resulting from a breach of these terms, and/or their use of the service, which damages another.

*Warez includes pirated software, ROMS, emulators, phreaking, hacking, password cracking, IP Spoofing, etc., and encrypting of any of the above. Also includes any sites which provide "links to" or "how to" information about such material.

**Includes but is not limited to mp3s, Real Audio and Video, mpg's, mpeg's, and avi files. You may also not have archives (including but not limited to zip, ace, or rar archives) which contain such files.

Copyright Infringement - Software Piracy Policy

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.

Making unauthorized copies of software is a violation of the law, no matter how many copies you are making. If you copy, distribute or install the software in ways that the license does not allow, you are violating federal copyright law. If caught with pirated software, you or your company may be liable under both civil and criminal law, and you may be fined up to $250,000 and/or receive up to 5 years in jail.

In compliance with the Digital Millennium Copyright Act (the "DMCA"), please send DMCA notifications of claimed copyright infringements to: Abuse@Vertigo Hosting.com

Vertigo Hosting will cooperate fully with any civil and/or criminal litigation arising from the violation of this policy.

Adult Content
Adult content is defined by Vertigo Hosting as any site or material whose dominant theme is either to appeal to a prurient interest in sex without any serious artistic, political, or scientific value; the depiction or description of nudity, including sexual or excretory activities or organs in a lascivious manner; or the depiction or description of sexually explicit conduct in a lascivious manner. (i.e., for entertainment purposes).
Sexually explicit conduct is defined as actual or simulated sexual intercourse, including genital-genital, oral-genital, anal-genital, or oral-anal, whether between persons of the same or opposite sex; bestiality, masturbation; consensual sadistic or masochistic acts; or lascivious exhibition of the genitals, pubic area, or breasts of any person.
As such, the following types of sites would not be permissible on Vertigo Hosting's Servers:

• Pornographic or sexually explicit image galleries
• Sites with sexually explicit advertisements or message boards
• Sites which sell sex toys as its primary focus, or along with other merchandise intended for sale to adults only
• Sites which depict sex acts or sexually aroused people in graphic detail solely for entertainment purposes
• Sites which primarily contain sex stories without substantial literary, artistic, educational, or scientific value.
• Sites whose meta tags contain sexually explicit text, or which imply that the site contains Adult content (for example: "naked pictures", "sexy nude photos", or "hot young girls".)
• Sites which contain a mixture of adult content (as defined above) and non-adult content.
• Sites which primarily serve to drive traffic to sites with Adult content, such as links lists or non-sexually explicit "teasers" for Adult sites

If you have any questions about whether the material you wish to place in your website is acceptable, email us at support@Vertigo Hosting.com.

Customers have a responsibility to use the Vertigo Hosting network responsibly. This includes respecting the other customers of Vertigo Hosting. Vertigo Hosting reserves the right to suspend and or cancel service with any Customer who uses the Vertigo Hosting network in such a way that adversely affects other Vertigo Hosting customers. This includes but is not limited to:

• Attacking or attempting to gain unauthorized access to servers and services that belong to Vertigo Hosting or its customers (i.e. computer hacking), and/or
• Participating in behavior which result in reprisals that adversely effect the Vertigo Hosting network or other customers' access to the Vertigo Hosting network.

Vertigo Hosting will react strongly to any use or attempted use of an Internet account or computer without the owner's authorization. Such attempts include, but are not limited to, "Internet Scanning" (tricking other people into releasing their passwords), password robbery, security hole scanning, port scanning, etc. Any unauthorized use of accounts or computers by a Vertigo Hosting customer, whether or not the attacked account or computer belongs to Vertigo Hosting, will result in severe action taken against the attacker. Possible actions include warnings, account suspension or cancellation, and civil or criminal legal action, depending on the seriousness of the attack. Any attempt to undermine or cause harm to a server, or customer, of Vertigo Hosting is strictly prohibited.

Violations of this policy may be reported directly to the FBI's Infrastructure Protection & Computer Intrusion Squad at http://www.fbi.gov/programs/ipcis/ipcis.htm. Vertigo Hosting will cooperate fully with any civil and/or criminal litigation arising from the violation of this policy.

Lawful Purpose

All services may be used for lawful purposes only. Transmission, storage, or presentation of any information, data or material in violation of any applicable law, regulation, or AUP is prohibited. This includes, but is not limited to: copyrighted material or material protected by trade secret and other statute or dissemination of harmful or fraudulent content.

Using any Vertigo Hosting service or product for the purpose of participating in any activity dealing with subject matters that are prohibited under applicable law is prohibited.

Any conduct that constitutes harassment, fraud, stalking, abuse, or a violation of federal export restriction in connection with use of Vertigo Hosting services or products is prohibited. Using the Vertigo Hosting network to solicit the performance of any illegal activity is also prohibited, even if the activity itself is not performed. In addition, knowingly receiving or downloading a file that cannot be legally distributed, even without the act of distribution, is prohibited.

Servers within the Vertigo Hosting network are open to the public. You are solely responsible for your usage of the Vertigo Hosting network and servers and any statement you make on servers within the Vertigo Hosting network may be deemed "publication" of the information entered. Acknowledging the foregoing, you specifically agree not to use our service in any manner that is illegal or libelous.

Vertigo Hosting 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 the Vertigo Hosting 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 may be reported to the U.S. Customs Agency at 1-800-BEALERT

Unsolicited Commercial Email/Unsolicited Bulk Email (UCE/UBE)

Unsolicited commercial email (UCE) is defined by Vertigo Hosting as any electronic communication (e-mail, ICQ, IRC, Instant Messenger, etc…) sent for purposes of distributing commercial information of any kind, soliciting the purchase or sale of products or services or soliciting any transfer of funds to a recipient who has not agreed to receive such communication.

Unsolicited bulk e-mail (UBE) is defined by Vertigo Hosting as any electronic communication (e-mail, ICQ, IRC, Instant Messenger, etc…) to multiple recipients who have not agreed to receive such communication.

Use of the Vertigo Hosting network, servers or services to transmit any unsolicited commercial or unsolicited bulk-e-mail is expressly prohibited, as is hosting web sites or services on a server which are advertised in any UCE/UBE. Vertigo Hosting also prohibits the sending of any fraudulent, malicious, harassing, false or misleading electronic communications, including, without limitation, chain letters, pyramid schemes, or e-mails with forged headers. Posting off-topic advertisements to Usenet discussion groups, ICQ, Instant Messenger, etc., is also expressly prohibited. Additionally, Vertigo Hosting customers are expressly prohibited from sending any UCE/UBE from our network or any email from another network that in any way references a document, image, or Web site that resides on the Vertigo Hosting network or in one of our data centers. Violations of this type may result in the termination of the offending Vertigo Hosting account. Our customers are ultimately responsible for any violations of the AUP by their clients, and any violation of the AUP by a client of a Vertigo Hosting customer shall be deemed a violation of the AUP by such Vertigo Hosting customer.

Customers whose actions directly or indirectly result in Vertigo Hosting IP space being listed in any of the various abuse databases may be subject to having the offending domain(s), server(s), or user(s) immediately removed from our network. In addition, if Vertigo Hosting in its sole discretion determines that a customer is in violation of our AUP, Vertigo Hosting may, at its sole discretion, restrict, suspend or terminate a customer's account. Vertigo Hosting will, in most cases, attempt to contact a customer prior to suspension or termination of a server(s), but can not guarantee prior notification. Any server suspended or terminated for AUP violations will be reconnected only after the customer agrees to cease all activities that violate the Vertigo Hosting AUP and pays all applicable reconnect fees and related charges. Any server suspended a second time for AUP violations WILL be immediately and permanently removed from our network.

Customers that Vertigo Hosting determines in its sole discretion to be in violation of the Vertigo Hosting AUP may be subject to additional fees or fines including, without limitation, any applicable reconnect fees. Server cleanup fee for spam starts at $250.

Violation of Vertigo Hosting's UCE/UBE policy may be reported to abuse@Vertigo Hosting.com.

Customers seeking to send any permission-based email marketing should read Guidelines for Permission-Based Email to see our guidelines for sending this type of communication.

Guidelines for Permission-Based Email
 

While Vertigo Hosting prohibits the use of its systems or network to send unsolicited email (UCE/UBE) as described above, customers may send permission-based email marketing, subject to the guidelines provided herein. Permission-based marketing is defined as electronic marketing that an end user agrees to receive. This is often referred to as 'opt-in' electronic marketing. All recipient information for such marketing conducted by Vertigo Hosting customers must be documented and cataloged by the customer. This information is to include date, time, originating IP and the location from which the email address or other recipient information was obtained. Additionally, a customer must at a minimum comply with the following guidelines, and any additional guidelines established by Vertigo Hosting from time to time in its sole discretion, to engage in permission-based email marketing without violating the AUP:

1. All commercial or bulk email originating from a Vertigo Hosting customer on the Vertigo Hosting network must have a working unsubscribe link. The customer must honor all requests to unsubscribe within 72 hours. Additionally, there must be text in the email stating that while all requests to unsubscribe are honored, it may take up to 72 hours to process.

2. All commercial or bulk email originating from a Vertigo Hosting customer on the Vertigo Hosting network must clearly list the email address to which the email was originally sent (the intended recipient's email address) in the body of the message OR in the 'TO:' line of the email.

3. All Vertigo Hosting customers sending commercial or bulk email must have a working abuse@domain.com address from EVERY domain associated with the email campaign. Additionally, the abuse@ address must be prominently posted on the front page of the associated web site. Customers must regularly answer any messages sent to the abuse@ address.

4. All Vertigo Hosting customers sending commercial or bulk email must register the abuse@ address for every domain associated with commercial email they send at abuse. net.

5. All Vertigo Hosting customers sending commercial or bulk email must have a Privacy Policy/AUP posted for each domain associated with the email campaign.

6. All commercial or bulk email sent must include information about where the email address was obtained in the body of the email. For example:
"You opted-in to receive this email promotion from our web site or from one of our partner sites."

7. All Vertigo Hosting customers sending commercial or bulk email must answer all complainants' requests for details regarding where the complainant "opted-in" to receive electronic marketing within 72 hours. This information must include the date, time, originating IP and the location from which the email address or other recipient information was obtained. Instructions on how to get this information must be stated clearly in the body of the email. For example, a statement similar to the following must be present in the body of the email:
"If you would like to learn more about how we received your email address, please contact us at abuse@domain.com."

Requests for "opt-in" information must be responded to within 72 hours.

8. All Vertigo Hosting customers sending commercial or bulk email must be able to track and identify SpamCop complainants. There are several software packages (such as RoboMail) that can help accomplish this.

9. If a Vertigo Hosting customer is using an affiliate program to send commercial or bulk email through the Vertigo Hosting network and the affiliate program becomes subject to repeated abuse by users, the customer must discontinue use of the affiliate program or be subject to immediate suspension or cancellation.

10. All customers of Vertigo Hosting are required to have up-to-date and valid contact information on file with their registrar for any domain hosted on the Vertigo Hosting network.

· Vertigo Hosting reserves the right to test portions of any customer's email list and request opt-in information from a random sample of that list at any time.
· Vertigo Hosting reserves the right to determine in its sole discretion the validity of any customer's email list. Any list Vertigo Hosting determines in its sole discretion to be in violation of this AUP must be removed immediately or the customer will be subject to immediate suspension or termination. Repeated violations will result in permanent suspension.
· Vertigo Hosting reserves the right to test and otherwise monitor customer's compliance with the above guidelines and requirements at any time during the customer's term of service at Vertigo Hosting.
· If Vertigo Hosting determines in its sole discretion that the customer is not in strict compliance with the guidelines for permission-based e-mail marketing, then Vertigo Hosting may immediately suspend or terminate the customer's service.

Vertigo Hosting administers the network on which customer servers reside. The customer cannot use IP addresses which were not assigned to them by Vertigo Hosting staff. Any server found using IPs which were not officially assigned will be suspended from network access until such time as the IP addresses overlap can be corrected.

Vertigo Hosting does not allow the use of IRC inside the Vertigo Hosting cPanel Servers.

Payment
 

All payments must be in US Dollars. If your check is returned by the bank as unpaid for any reason, you will be liable for a "returned check" charge of $30.00. All charges payable by you for the Services shall be in accordance with the scale of charges and rates published from time to time by us on our web site and shall be due and payable in advance of our service provision.

Without prejudice to our other rights and remedies under this Agreement, if any sum payable is not paid on or before the due date, we shall be entitled forthwith to suspend the provision of Services to you.

Your Billing is based on the date that you signed up with us. (ex. If you joined us on June 25th, 2003 Your Credit Card will be charge on the 25th of every month)

Any customer who goes over their allotted amount will be billed immediately for the amount of service used. Account additions and/or overage will be billed immediately.

Server Resources

Any web site that uses a high amount of server resources (such as, but not limited to, CPU time, memory usage, and network resources) will be given the option to either pay additional fees (which will depend on the resources required), reduce the resources used to an acceptable level, or upgrade its service to a Dedicated Server plan. Vertigo Hosting shall be the sole arbiter of what is considered to be a high server usage level.

Any web hosting account deemed to be adversely affecting server performance or network integrity will be shut down without prior notice.

CGI script sharing with domains not hosted by Vertigo Hosting is not permitted. Any CGI-scripts deemed to be adversely affecting server performance or network integrity will be shut down without prior notice.

You may install one (1) chat room via your cPanel control panel. Chat rooms tend to place significant strain on the server

Vertigo Hosting does allow Cron Jobs on its cPanel Servers.

Vertigo Hosting may allow distribution of software (i.e., e-Books). If you wish to offer one or the other, please contact us at support@vertigohosting.com. We do require either you are the writer/copyright owner or written verification that you are authorized to distribute said files.

Multimedia files are defined as any graphics, audio, and video files. Vertigo Hosting shared web hosting accounts are not to be used for the purposes of distributing and storing unusual amounts of multimedia files. Any web site whose disk space usage for storing multimedia files exceeds industry standards of its total usage, in terms of total size or number of files, will be considered to be using an unusual amount of multimedia files and will be subject to special pricing.

If any terms of service violation is found, bandwidth used while breaking the TOS agreement shall be billed at $20 per GB. 1 GB minimum. This includes but is not limited to illegal transfers of MP3's, illegal data, and adult material. This charge will be for ALL bandwidth the site incurred, not just the transfer of files.

Vertigo Hosting Resellers
 

Reseller accounts are meant for the reselling of hosting space to your clients, hosting multiple sites of your own, or for sites that require more space and bandwidth than our regular hosting accounts offer. You are free to set the prices as you see fit and create the hosting packages you like.
You may not use your reseller account to

• Offer reseller hosting to others i.e., tell your clients that for x amount of dollars per month you will set up domains that they sell.
• Run a free-hosting space like Geocities or Tripod. (Automated free sign-ups) These type of sites tend to attract undesirable clients (Spammers and warez distributors, just to name a couple). You may offer free hosting as long as each account is set up by you.
  

While we do not and will not dictate the prices you may set, we do suggest that you charge a reasonable rate for your services. $1.00 or $5.00 per year is a good way to attract Spammers and other undesirable clients. Just use common sense to set your prices.

Vertigo Hosting will not police yours or your clients' websites. However, you and your clients must adhere to Vertigo Hosting's Terms of Service/Acceptable Use Policy. If a client is found in violation we will notify you. Failure to remedy the situation promptly will result in you being billed for Unauthorized Bandwidth usage. Repeated offenses/failure to act will result in suspension and/or termination of your account.

Suspension

If Vertigo Hosting in its sole discretion determines that a customer's server has become the source or target of any violation concerning the Vertigo Hosting Acceptable Use Policy (AUP), Vertigo Hosting reserves the right to suspend network access to that server. While Vertigo Hosting will attempt to contact the customer before suspending network access to the customer's server(s), prior notification to the customer is not assured. In certain cases, Vertigo Hosting will contact law enforcement and other agencies regarding these activities. Customers are responsible for all charges, as well as any fees relating to the investigation, suspension, administration and handling of their servers before, during and after the suspension period.

Vertigo Hosting reserves the right to cancel service at any time. If inappropriate activity is detected, all accounts of the customer in question will be deactivated until an investigation is complete. Prior notification to the Customer is not assured. In extreme cases, law enforcement will be contacted regarding the activity. Any violation of policies which results in extra costs will be billed to the customer (i.e. transfer, space etc.). Any cancellations due to a TOS contract violation will result in an immediate loss of any refund for services paid for. You may also be immediately billed for unauthorized bandwidth fees. Please see that section of this document for more information.

You may cancel your account at any time with written notice to Vertigo Hosting.

Vertigo Hosting wishes to emphasize that in signing the Master Services Agreement or its equivalent, customer indemnifies Vertigo Hosting for any violation of the Master Services Agreement or its equivalent, law or AUP that results in loss to Vertigo Hosting or the bringing of any claim against Vertigo Hosting by any third-party. This means that if Vertigo Hosting is sued because of a customer's or a customer of a customer's activity, the customer will pay any damages awarded against Vertigo Hosting, plus costs and reasonable attorney's fees.

Vertigo Hosting is under no duty to look at each customer's or user's activities to determine if a violation of the AUPs has occurred, nor do we assume any responsibility through our AUPs to monitor or police Internet-related activities. Vertigo Hosting disclaims any responsibility for any such inappropriate use and any liability to any person or party for any other person's or party's violation of this policy.

All Sub-Networks of Vertigo Hosting must adhere to the above policies. Failure to follow any term or condition will be grounds for immediate Cancellation.

INDIRECT OR ATTEMPTED VIOLATIONS OF THE AUPs AND ACTUAL OR ATTEMPTED VIOLATIONS BY A THIRD PARTY ON YOUR BEHALF, SHALL BE CONSIDERED VIOLATIONS OF THESE AUPs BY YOU.