Web Site Hosts - Acceptable Use Policy

Ownership and Control

"Site Hosts", "Web Site Hosts" is a wholly owned subsidiary of Rank1st Technology Services. All references to any Rank1st Technology Services subsidiaries include the parent company within the scope of this agreement/policy

Rank1st Technology Services ("Site Hosts") provides web site hosting and dedicated services to its clients as a way for those clients to pursue informational and commercial exchange via the Internet. To protect the interests of clients and to ensure optimal service levels, Site Hosts has developed the following Acceptable Use Policy for clients as a guide to client rights and responsibilities when utilizing services offered by Site Hosts in conjunction with hosting terms and conditions. Use of any service offered by Site Hosts by any client will constitute acknowledgment of and agreement to the terms outlined in this document. This policy may be revised in part or in full at any time by Site Hosts and notices of changes will be posted to the Site Hosts support forums. Continued use of services offered by Site Hosts after such changes or enhancements to the policy have been made will constitute acceptance of any revisions to the policy.

Web Site Content

All services provided by Site Hosts may be used for lawful purposes only. Site Hosts does not monitor, edit, censor, or take responsibility for client content or communications from within the network controlled by Site Hosts except inasmuch to determine if violations of the policy have occurred once a suspected violation has been brought to the attention of Site Hosts. Therefore, clients are solely responsible for the content and use of their service as provided by Site Hosts and should ensure that such use falls within the guidelines of the policy.

Responsibility

Site Hosts will not be responsible for injury or liability to any client resulting from communications that may be offensive, misleading, illegal, or otherwise unsuitable in the view of the client. Clients further agree to indemnify and hold harmless Rank1st Technology Services or any of its subsidiaries from claims resulting from the use of any provided service which damages the client of any other party.

Prohibited Activities

Commercial advertising - email:

The sending of unsolicited email (spamming) from a Site Hosts server or referencing a domain hosted by Site Hosts in any spam, whether originating from the Site Hosts network or not, is forbidden. Site Hosts seeks to be a zero-tolerance provider due to swift action on spam complaints. Complaints regarding spamming are investigated thoroughly by Site Hosts. Should abuses be found, Site Hosts reserves the right to immediately and without notice terminate the offending account. Sites that promote, sell, or otherwise provide access to spamware products or email lists or products that are solely for the purpose of extraction or sale of email addresses or which are used to send bulk email are not permitted on any Site Hosts server. Unsecured form to mail scripts are likewise prohibited. Unsecured form to mail scripts found to exist under any client account may be repaired, deleted or renamed at the discretion of Site Hosts with all costs being forwarded to the client

E-mail - Site Content

The client is solely responsible for the content of their e-mail messages and web site. The client is not permitted to transmit messages on the E-mail service that (a) infringe on any third party's intellectual property or proprietary rights, or rights of publicity or privacy; (b) violate any law, statute, ordinance or regulation; (c) are defamatory, trade libelous, threatening, abusive, or obscene in the opinion of Web Site Hosts; (d) contain viruses or other similar harmful or deleterious programming routines; (e) contain links to any sites that include any of that kind of content.

Misuse of system resources:

To protect and maintain high availability of all servers, activities designed to cause harm to or monopolize the resources of any server in the Site Hosts network is prohibited. This includes, but is not limited to, the use of programs that consume excessive CPU time; use of server space for backup or storage of material unrelated to the web site of an account; use of any provided mail services other than for the client's own account; resale of disk space without an appropriate reseller agreement; use of servers to engage in any malicious or illegal activity, including unauthorized access to remote systems or providing the means for such access or engaging in any activity that can be used as a means to begin remote system penetration; distribution of viruses, worms, or any other electronic destructive resource; or maintaining or creating any free for all (FFA) type sites.

Internet Relay Chat ("IRC") related materials are prohibited, without exception. This includes bots, bouncers, or any script or software package designed to facilitate the creation, maintenance, or access to any server or channel. Client accounts found to have such software or scripts uploaded are subject to suspension or termination without notice. Scripts or software found to exist on any server will be deleted immediately upon discovery, without notice, and a warning issued. Further violations of this policy will result in account termination.

CGI or php-based shell scripts are prohibited. This includes any script that is used for the purpose of issuing shell-level commands or which acts as a proxy for shell access via a web browser rather than the use of the embedded SSH client in the control panel or the use of a standalone SSH client. Such scripts will be deleted without notice when found. Continued use of such scripts will be grounds for account termination.

Web proxy scripts are prohibited. This includes any script, such as nph-proxy, that allows anyone to browse to a third party web site from any server in the Site Hosts network or that otherwise masks the true origination point of browsing activities by use of network information associated with Site Hosts. Such scripts will be deleted when found. Repeated violations will result in account suspension or termination.

Illegal or obscene content:

Use of any Site Hosts service to make any illegal or obscene content available via transmission, storage, or display of such material is prohibited. Accounts maintaining such content are subject to suspension or termination without notice.

Intellectual property violations and defamatory or abusive material:

Any activity that infringes on copyrights, trademarks, service marks, patents, software ownership, or trade secrets held by any third party entity is prohibited. Site Hosts is required by law to remove or suspend accounts that violate copyright held by third parties when notified that such infringement exists. Accounts that engage in such violations are subject to termination. Material that is defamatory or abusive in nature, that infringes on the privacy or rights of others, or that is otherwise threatening, is prohibited.

Other activities:

Any activity not defined above but judged by Site Hosts to be harmful to other clients or general operations of the network will be addressed on a case by case basis.

Account policies and operations

Account Cancellation

Cancellation requests must be made via email to billing@site-hosts.com or via the online ticketing system at http://www.site-hosts.com. No other avenues of cancellation will be accepted. While no advance notice of cancellation is required, all fees paid for service to the point of cancellation are non refundable. Cancellations made within 30 days of beginning service, with the exception of the yearly Basic Web site plan are subject to the Site Hosts 30-day guarantee, and will result in a refund of fees paid. All fees paid for domain registration are non refundable, without exception. Domain registration for accounts payable by check are completed only after payment is received.

Billing

Accounts are payable in full at the time of account creation. Accounts for which payment by credit card is selected are subject to suspension if payment cannot be processed at the time of account creation. If payment by check or money order is selected, payment must be received within two (2) weeks of account activation or the account will be suspended without notice. New accounts that remain past due thirty (30) days after account activation are subject to termination. Any account reaching thirty (30) days past due is subject to suspension for nonpayment. Such accounts are subject to termination after forty-five (45) days in a past due state. All invoicing and payments are automatic and recurring based on the contract length specified by the client at the time of account setup or by request after setup has been completed.

Exceeding Account Limits

In the instance of the monthly bandwidth limit being exceeded, the client will be billed according to the exceeded usage. In the instance of the clients site exceeding the bandwidth limit, the Site Hosts accounting department will contact client and offer the client the option to either upgrade the plan or reduce bandwidth usage. Site Hosts will reasonably cooperate with the client in such instances. However, if the client refuses to either upgrade the plan, pay for excessive bandwidth use or reduce bandwidth usage, Site Hosts will have the right to deactivate the site with no compensation to the client.

Any email box provisioned on a Site Hosts server may store no more than 10 (ten) MB of email. When an e-mail account approaches the maximum email box size, Site Hosts shall notify the client by email that clients account is approaching full capacity. If the client does not subsequently delete email box contents to reduce email box size, then any further emails sent to the client which results in that email box exceeding maximum capacity will be returned to sender without notice to the mailbox owner.

Service and Reporting

Site Hosts reserves the right to refuse, cancel, or suspend service at its discretion. Any violations of the above policy may be made via email to abuse@site-hosts.com or via postal mail to:

Rank1st Technology Services - Site Hosts
30762 Tern Avenue
Shafer, MN 55074

Third Parties

Site Hosts makes no representations, warranties or guarantees as to the accurateness or correctness of any content on any of the Sites and is not responsible for any errors or omissions arising from the use of such information. Site Hosts may link to or include on its Web resources, information provided by third party partners and providers. Site Hosts does not guarantee or warrant the reliability of this information nor recommend any of these services. The client agrees to abide by all agreements, terms and conditions and policies of third party providers entered into as a result of purchasing services through Site Hosts.

Copyright information

This document and all portions of the Site Hosts web site, including images, text, and scripts where ownership is not held by third parties are copyright 2005 Rank1st Technology Services. No portion of this site or the content contained within may be reproduced in any form, or modified or otherwise altered for use by any party without the express permission of Rank1st Technology Services. Violations of the copyright held by Rank1st Technology Services on any material from this site may be reported to abuse@site-hosts.com.

Right of refusal

Site Hosts reserves the right to refuse services in the event users of our service do not abide by the provisions set out in this policy. If Site Hosts deems the client to be a hindrance on business, the client will be "blacklisted" and Site Hosts will not in the future, provide any services such clients.

Dispute Resolutions

All disputes will be settled within the arbitration or legal system within the State of Minnesota.