Terms of Service (TOS) & Acceptable Usage Policy (AUP)
Overview (including, but not limited to...) in plain English:
- No illegal intent nor content! – No: spamming, warez, phising, pirated media, hate, bullying etc… (based on North American Laws)
- No Server abuse
- Bill is monthly in advance – no long-term contracts
- Violation of our policies may result in OWHosting cancelling your hosting account (we will contact you in advance)
- IRC is forbidden on our Data networks.
Legalese
Acceptable Usage Policy (AUP)
OWHosting has certain ethical, legal and moral responsibilities resulting from the use of its servers and equipment involved in the services of hosting website(s), domain registration, marketing and design. OWHosting reserves the right to suspend, deny or cancel a Clients access to any or all services provided by OWHosting whenever OWHosting decides the services it has rendered have been inappropriately used. Use of OWHosting’s service constitutes acceptance and agreement to our policies.
Website, Server, and Network Content/Use Provisions
All services provided by OWHosting and its underlying service providers may be used for lawful purposes only. Transmission, storage, or presentation of any information, data or material in violation of any United States federal, state or city law is prohibited. This includes, but is not limited to: copyrighted material, material we judge to be threatening or obscene, material protected by trade secret and other statutes, material that would cause harm to minors, threats and harassment, forgery, fraud, unfriendly network disruptions, and distribution of viruses. The Client agrees to indemnify and hold harmless OWHosting from any claims resulting from the use of the service which damages the Client or any other party. The Client also agrees that OWHosting may disclose, without a Client consent, any and all information related to the Client and their service with OWHosting to any law enforcement agent who makes a written request.
OWHosting is not responsible for any material input by anyone other than OWHosting and/or posted to the OWHosting network by anyone other thenOWHosting. This includes the content and links on websites hosted by OWHosting. OWHosting disclaims any liability and responsibility relating to inappropriate use or inappropriate content of anything hosted by OWHosting that OWHosting did not solely create and post to the OWHosting network.
Spamming:
OWHosting prohibits its users from sending unsolicited e-mail messages (“spamming”), including, but not limited to: Posting the same, or similar, messages to one or more Usenet or other newsgroups, forums, e-mail mailing lists or other similar groups or lists; Posting any Usenet or other newsgroup, forum, e-mail mailing list or other similar group, or list articles which are off-topic or otherwise violate the rules of the charter or other owner-published FAQ or description of the group or list; Sending unsolicited e-mail, including commercial advertisements and informational announcements to Internet users, or any unsolicited e-mail that could reasonably be expected to provoke complaints; Using e-mail to engage in harassment, whether through language, frequency or messages. Continuing to send someone e-mail after being asked to stop is considered harassment; Sending e-mail with falsified or obscured header or information designed to hinder the identification of the location of what is advertised; Collecting replies to either (i) unsolicited e-mail messages or (ii) messages that were either sent through another provider which violate these rules or those of the other provider. OWHosting allows only COI (Closed-Loop Opt-In) mailing lists. More information on COI can be found here. Users who send bulk e-mail to “opt-in” list must have a method of confirming or verifying subscriptions and be able to show evidence of subscriptions for users who complain about unsolicited e-mail. The Company’s receipt of complaints from Internet users related to e-mails received due to users use of “opt in” list shall be a violation of this AUP.
Any user that gets any of OWHosting’s IPs listed on any legitimate Spam Block or Black hole list such as but not limited to SpamCop or Spamhaus will be billed a $100 charge to a Client account and additionally a $100 per hour administrative charge to remove the block and protect our IP ranges and mail servers.
Pornography:
Pornography is prohibited on any OWHosting server. OWHosting will be the sole arbiter as to what constitutes a violation of this provision but in general if its legal for all ages to see, it's ok, if you have to be 18 or 21 to view, then it's not ok. OWHosting also reserves the right not to host sites that it considers, in its sole discretion, to be religiously or racially offensive or inflammatory. OWHosting will not host warez sites or anything related to, promoting, or offering warez, serial numbers, cracks, illegal mp3’s or anything else that would be considered illegal by the laws governing the citizens of the United States and/or Canada.
With the few exceptions listed above and below, we support the uncensored flow of information and ideas over the internet. We do not actively monitor the information that our Clients transmit and receive, however, we do react immediately to any alleged violations of any of our policies in which case we reserve the right to monitor anything on our network and any packet of information that traverses our network.
Bandwidth usage for dedicated and co-located servers: (for dedicated and co-location accounts) Client agrees to pay for all bandwidth they use that is above the amount included in their package, at the current rate which is listed on OWHosting’s dedicated server page. Clients may elect to have their bandwidth capped at any amount of their choosing, or they may elect to have no cap and simply pay for the additional bandwidth used above what is included in a Client package.
Background-running Programs: (for virtual accounts) We may allow programs to run continuously in the background. These are considered on an individual basis and an extra charge may be incurred based on system resources used and operational maintenance needed.
IP address’s: All IPs that are assigned to OWHosting’s Client must be used under the authorized use stipulations within 24 hours of being assigned the IP. Authorized use stipulations are taken from ARIN, the organization that manages IPs in the United States. There are to be no unused IP’s on OWHosting’s networks, except those in reserve for OWHosting to assign its Clients on an as needed basis. Clients are only allocated IPs that they will use within 24 hours. Clients are not allowed to keep IP’s in reserve. IPs are assigned by opening a support ticket and requesting the IP. Usually turn around time is 1 - 2 hours.
OWHosting assigns and allows its Clients to use IP addresses that are owned or are given to OWHosting to use. Assignment does not transfer ownership of an IP. Name-Based hosting must be used where possible as per ARIN rules.
Server Abuse Issues: Any attempts to undermine or cause harm to OWHosting servers or the servers of its underlying service providers or a Client of OWHosting or its underlying service providers is strictly prohibited.
Network Security: Clients are prohibited from violating or attempting to violate the security of the OWHosting network or any of its other Clients, should a violation take place, civil or criminal liability may result. OWHosting will investigate any alleged violations and cooperate fully with law enforcement. Violations include but are not limited to the attempt to login to any machine which the Client is not exclusively paying for, interfering with any service by DDos attacking, mail bombing or anything else that would be detrimental to the services that OWHosting provides, attempting to probe or scan or test the vulnerability of any machine on the OWHosting network, forging any IP address, and taking any action in an attempt to receive services that the Client is not paying for. A violation of any of the above may result in immediate removal from the network.
Any sub-networks or re-seller networks of OWHosting must adhere to all of these policies.
Terms of Service (TOS)
Right To Refuse Service and Cancel Accounts:
OWHosting reserves the right not to accept accounts for hosting for any reason it deems appropriate. We also reserve the right to cancel an account at anytime, for any reason, other than those stated specifically in this policy statement, with 10 days notice. Accounts that violate any of the policies specifically stated herein, including late payment or non-payment of fees owed, may be canceled with no notice.
Communication
Our primary means of communications with clients, including for billing purposes and technical support is by e-mail. You must supply us with your current e-mail address so that we may contact you at any time. We cannot be held responsible for not notifying you of account cancellation if you do not supply us with your correct and current e-mail address. You should check your e-mail regularly to make sure you do not miss an important notice. We do have a toll free number for a Client to call.
Technical Support
Technical Support is available 24/7/365 from our website under the technical support section. Priority is given to the ticketing system (support) in ALL cases. For all virtual and non-virtual accounts, tech support covers connecting to the server, setup, email, path, uploading files issues and more but does dot included troubleshooting and editing scripts or databases. OWHosting has experts available to assist with troubleshooting you if needed at $100/hour. For dedicated accounts, tech support is limited to initial setup, and thereafter only network related issues – the dedicated account holder must be or have someone be the system administrator for their computer. OWHosting can support and administrate your computer but that service is not included in the price of the dedicated server. For information on what it would cost to have OWHosting be the system administrator on your dedicated server, please email sales@owhosting.com.
Note: In practice, as permited, we assist in technical servicing of our clients beyond what is stated above and we even also offer one-on-one personalized training for individuals and teams.
Deactivation
If any of these terms or conditions are not followed it will result in grounds for account deactivation. We reserve the right to remove any account without notice if any of the terms or conditions stated herein are violated. If such an occurrence takes place, the fees for that month’s service will not be refunded to the Client. Fees for the entire month are due if the account is active for any amount of time, even just one day during that month.
If we deem it necessary to cancel an account for any reason other than those specifically stated in this document, we will give you a 10-day notice of cancellation by e-mail.
OWHosting reserves the right to make any changes to its policies and Hosting plans, pricing, bandwidth providers, IP’s, and features offered at any time as necessary and in no way implies fitness of purpose warranties. OWHosting reserves the right to refuse service to anyone. OWHosting reserves the right to determine what violates any of OWHosting’s policies.
Payment Policies
All charges are in Canadian Dollars. All accounts are set up on a pre-pay basis. Setup fees (where applicable) are charged for all new accounts and major account changes and are non-refundable. All pricing is guaranteed for the term of pre-payment. The Client is responsible for all money owed on the account from the time it was established to the time that the Client notifies OWHosting in writing for a request for termination of services (see cancellation by Client section below for details on how to cancel). All payment is in CDN currency and must be prepaid with Email Money Transfer, Square Up, Credit Card, PayPal or cashier’s check or money order mailed 1 week in advance of due date. A Client may prepay for 1 year in advance to earn special bonuses in some cases, note: all prepayments are non-refundable. A Client who prepays and then wants to downgrade their hosting package can do so, but may not be eligible for a refund of prepaid monies, or a reduction in monthly charges until the prepaid period has completed.
There is a $10 late fee for all payments that are not on time. Returned payments (payments that do not go through, are declined, expired, no longer good, or other issue) may be subject for an administration, service, and/or nsf fee of up to $75. It is the client's responsibility to update OWHosting of any changes in their credit card information including expiration dates. The Client authorizes OWHosting to use whatever means necessary to effect payment for overdue accounts or fees, if any. This includes making the charge to the client's credit card, even if the Client does not usually pay by credit card. If a Client is late 3 times consecutively, the late fee will be $50 and will increment by $50 for each consecutive month Client is late thereafter, indefinitely.
All service may be interrupted for late payment as early as 7 days overdue, if prior arrangements with OWHosting have not been made.
If a Client's service has been disconnected for lack of payment as per our payment policies and Client wishes to reconnect service, there will be a $75 reconnection fee.
Clients files may be completely deleted from our servers anytime after 45 days of the account being non-paid (without previous arrangements). A $250 reconnection and set-up fee may be required to recover the account from deletion.
OWHosting reserves the right to turn over any debts owed to OWHosting to a collection agency or to attorneys.
Refunds and Disputes
All payments to OWHosting are non-refundable and non pro-rateable. This includes the setup-fees and all subsequent monthly recurring charges and any one time fees. If you dispute a charge made to your credit card or PayPal by OWHosting and it is found that the charge was valid, you agree to pay OWHosting an additional $150 administration fee.
Transfer of Service
Client shall not transfer ownership of their service with OWHosting to any other person or entity without prior written consent from OWHosting. If OWHosting agrees to allow the transfer of service, the new Client must agree to the OWHosting TOS and AUP.
Hacked Server Policy
When a server gets hacked, any recent backups that have been made will very likely contain the hack. It is generally not known when a hack was made to the server, and therefore any nightly or weekly backups will likely contain the hack. For this reason OWHosting does not generally permit a Client to restore data from backups once a server has been known to be hacked. It is neither in the best interest of the client, nor OWHosting and the network to use the suspect data. If the data from the backup is needed, the standard procedure is for the Client to purchase the old hard drive and have it shipped to the Client. If for some reason any of the backed up data is allowed to be used, and the server is hacked again (within one week of the data being used), the Client will be billed hourly for all work to redo the server again. If the client's server has initiated a DDos attack on the OWHosting network, and the Client uses any of the backed up data after the server has been restored, and the client's server initiates another DDos attack within one weeks time, the Client agrees to pay an immediate $750 fine in addition to all hourly fees associated with restoring the network and clients affected.
OWHosting might have to reimburse a Client in order to meet its SLA. This is generally not a risk that a Client will want to take.
Service Rates
Client acknowledges that the initial costs and specifications of the service that the Client is subscribing to have been disclosed to the Client. OWHosting reserves the right to change pricing and specifications of its service at any time due to market fluctuations, cost to provide service, changes in cost of hardware etc… When changes are made to pricing or specifications of the service OWHosting is providing that result in lower pricing or in better specifications, OWHostingwill make every effort to pass those changes on to the Client, however, in some circumstances additional fees will apply. When changes are made to pricing or specifications of the service OWHosting is providing that result in higher pricing or in lower specifications, OWHosting will make every effort NOT to pass those changes on to the Client. OWHosting is not obligated to change the rates and specifications of a Client's existing service for any reason at any time, and it will be at the sole discretion of OWHosting and based on financial evaluations of what is required to keep OWHosting a profitable operating company, able to provide the highest quality services to the client.
Cancellation initiated by Client
A client must notify OWHosting in writing via opening a support ticket when they wish to cancel their accounts and must include in that ticket the intended cancellation date. Cancellation must be initiated at least 30 days before the cancellation date or the client may be billed for the next month. Client is responsible for and must pay in full, all fees which may have accrued including monthly recurring fees and third party software fees. OWHosting will not pro-rate fees or charges. Notification to OWHosting of the transfer of the client's domain name from internic or associated organization to another hosting provider does not constitute a cancellation as these are often forged without the client's knowledge. Email is not acceptable for the written notice of cancellation to OWHosting as email and its sources may be forged.
Term (length) of service
All hosting packages are month to month with the minimum being 1 month. OWHosting does not require any long-term contracts for any of its services, however should a client opt to pay annually we will honour our month to month agreement for the 12 month period paid for by the client.
Service Level Agreement
OWHosting guarantees 99% network uptime as a general rule excluding scheduled maintenance and internet wide vulnerabilities (things like linux slapper, sql sapphire and others that have taken large parts of the internet down due to things which are far beyond the control of OWHosting), although we average better than 99% uptime. Some clients may have different uptime agreements based on their packages. In the event the network uptime guarantee is not met OWHosting may (at it's discretion) refund 5% of the clients monthly package amount for every 3 hours of downtime after the guarantee is not met, up to and not to exceed the full monthly amount. Network is considered unreachable if there is 100% packet lost between OWHosting and its backbone providers. OWHosting cannot provide any guarantees beyond its backbone providers. Downtime is measured starting 10 minutes past notification of network failure via support. our help desk ticketing system, or by telephoning OWHosting in the event that support is not reachable. End of the downtime is when there is no longer 100% packet loss between OWHosting and its backbone providers. Customer is responsible to notify accounts@owhosting.com within 7 days of the incident if customer believes they are entitled to a claim.
The Client acknowledges that the service provided is of such a nature that service can be interrupted for many reasons other than the negligence of the company and that damages resulting from any interruption of service are difficult to ascertain. Therefore, Client agrees that the company shall not be liable for any damages arising from such causes beyond the direct and exclusive control of OWHosting. Client further acknowledges that the company’s liability for its own negligence may not in any event ever exceed an amount equivalent to charges payable by Client for services during the period damages occurred. In no event shall the company be liable for any special or consequential damages, loss or injury.
Response Time Guarantee
We guarantee that a live technician will reply to your opened support ticket within 3 hours of you opening the ticket. We do not use automated ticket replies so this is a real person, not an automatically program acknowledging your support enquiry. This guarantee does not apply to auto-generated tickets either on clients side or server side.
Indemnification
The Client agrees that it shall defend, indemnify, save and hold OWHosting harmless from any and all demands, liabilities, losses, costs and claims, including reasonable attorney’s fees asserted against OWHosting, its agents, its a Client, officers and employees, that may arise or result from any service provided or performed or agreed to be performed or any product sold by the Client, it’s agents, employees or assigns. a Client agrees to defend, indemnify and hold harmless OWHosting against liabilities arising out of (but not limited to); (1) any injury to person or property caused by any products sold or otherwise distributed in connection with OWHosting’s server; (2) any material supplied by Client infringing or allegedly infringing on the proprietary rights of a third party; (3) copyright infringement and (4) any defective products sold to Client from OWHosting’s server. This means if OWHosting is sued because of a Client or a Client of an OWHosting’s Clients activity, the Client will pay for any and all damages and associated court costs and attorneys fees that OWHosting incurs. The failure of OWHosting or its suppliers to enforce this AUP, for whatever reason, shall not be construed as a waiver of any right to do so at any time. You agree that if any portion of this Policy is held invalid or unenforceable, that portion will be construed consistent with applicable law as nearly as possible, and the remaining portions will remain in full force and effect.
Disclaimer
OWHosting will not be responsible for any damages your business may suffer. OWHosting makes no warranties of any kind, expressed or implied for any service we provide. OWHosting disclaims any warranty or merchantability or fitness for a particular purpose. This includes loss of data resulting from delays, non-deliveries, wrong delivery, lack of customer backups, lack of data integrity and any and all service interruptions caused by OWHosting and its employees. Client acknowledges that the service that is provided can be interrupted for reasons other then the negligence of OWHosting. Client agrees that OWHosting cannot be held liable for any damages arising from any disruption of service that is outside the direct and exclusive control of OWHosting. Client also acknowledges that the absolute limit of any liability for anything for any reason to any Client at all can never exceed an amount equivalent to the charges payable by the Client to OWHosting during the period in which damages are alleged to have occurred. OWHosting reserves the right to revise its policies at any time and will send an email to Clients email address in SAM to notify Client when changes are made. A Client must adhere to the policies and changes as they are made. Client agrees that continuance of business and/or lack of any response regarding policy changes will constitute agreement and adherence to OWHosting’s revised policies by Client.
Support Services Addendum
Disclaimer: All security & support procedures applied to your server or account represent a good faith effort by OWHosting to ensure the security and integrity of your server and website by eliminating or minimizing common security risks. These security procedures do not replace or eliminate the need for regular software and system updates as well as security-minded system policies. Support services are executed on a one time basis to a website or server. All ongoing maintenance, backups and administration of the site or server remain the responsibility of the customer.
Operations: Support and security procedures applied to your website or server are often intended to restrict access to or usability of certain system functions commonly used to compromise websites. These procedures may alter the way the server behaves in certain instances. OWHosting has made every effort to ensure that its security procedures provide the maximum level of security while minimizing the impact to server usability however OWHosting accepts no responsibility for any complications associated with our security procedures.
Liability: OWHosting accepts no responsibility for the continued security of your website or server. By accepting the terms of this agreement you acknowledge that you understand that no sire nor server is ever immune to being compromised and furthermore agree that OWHosting will not be held responsible for data-loss, financial damages, server down-time or any other ramification resulting from your server being compromised or abused. The ability of OWHosting to restore clients data is limited to the integrity of the clients data and the participation of the Client in assisting OWHosting with setup and proprietary information. Although OWHosting agrees to make its best effort to restore all of the clients data exactly as it was, OWHosting makes no guarantee or warranty that the purchase of recovery services will in any way guarantee that all of the clients data will be able to be restored exactly as it was before the need for recovery.
DISPUTE RESOLUTION AND GOVERNING LAW
This agreement shall be governed by and construed in accordance with the laws of the Province of Ontario, and by federal laws of Canada. The parties hereby agree that the appropriate forum for any disputes arising out of this Agreement or the transactions contemplated hereby shall be the provincial courts located in the Town of Milton or City of Brampton and the parties hereby irrevocably consent to the exclusive and personal jurisdiction of such courts.
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