Policies

Below you will find links to all of our policies. By hosting with us you agree to abide by these policies. They are designed to protect both parties, and allow us to provide a fair service to all of our customers.

Acceptable Usage Policy
E-Mail Policy
Resource Abuse Policy
Service Level Agreement
Terms of Service

Acceptable Usage Policy

Ninebox Web Hosting is dedicated to providing top quality service at a very affordable price. The conditions which follow are necessary to ensure that we may continue to provide the best possible service to all of our customers whilst at the same time satisfying our legal and ethical responsibilities.

Failure to follow any condition will be grounds for immediate account deactivation without notice. Ninebox Web Hosting will be the sole arbiter as to what constitutes a violation of any of these provisions.

Activity which results in the suspension or deactivation of an account will result in a forfeiture of all fees paid. Complaints made regarding abuses of an account will be investigated and if found guilty will be grounds for immediate suspension.

To report suspected abuses or any violations of these policies, please contact our abuse department at abuse@ninebox.co.uk.

Illegal Usage

Ninebox Web Hosting servers may be used for lawful purposes only. Transmission, storage, or distribution of any information, data or material in violation of any applicable law or regulation is prohibited. This includes, but is not limited to: copyrighted material, trademark, trade secret or other intellectual property right used without proper authorization, prescription drug sales, and material that is obscene, defamatory, constitutes an illegal threat, or violates export control laws. Examples of non-acceptable content or links: pirated software, hacker programs or archives, warez sites, MP3, and IRC bots. Any type of forum/discussion board discussing where to obtain such files or one that distributes the files is also prohibited. Sites related to HYIP (High Yield Investment Programs), Ponzi schemes or pyramid schemes are prohibited. The subscriber to Ninebox Web Hosting service agrees to indemnify and hold harmless Ninebox Web Hosting from any claims resulting from the use of the service that damages the subscriber or any other party. Ninebox Web Hosting will be the sole arbiter as to what constitutes a violation of this provision.

Illegal Content

Ninebox Web Hosting does not allow torrent clients or trackers due to copyright issues and resource abuse. Background daemons such as IRC bots, eggdrop, BitchX, XiRCON and any other program that interferes with normal server operation are not allowed. Web proxies are also not tolerated due to resource abuse. When using an account with shell, you are not allowed to run any servers or services on the Ninebox network. Servers are defined as perlbots, proxies, bitchX, psyBnc, root exploits, DDoS scripts, Shoutcast servers, etc. Running any of these will face an immediate suspension, and users will be subject to a fine no less than £50.00 GBP, and no more than £100.00 GBP. Ninebox reserves the right to terminate an account for these activities also.

Chat Rooms

Ninebox Web Hosting does not provide nor allow chat rooms on any hosting packages.

IRC

Ninebox Web Hosting does not allow IRC or IRC bots to be operated on our hosting packages.

Security

Users are prohibited from violating or attempting to violate the security of the Ninebox Network. Violations of system or network security may result in civil or criminal liability. Ninebox Web Hosting will investigate occurrences, which may involve cooperation with law enforcement authorities in prosecuting Users who are involved in such violations. These violations include, without limitation:

Accessing data not intended for such user or logging into a server or account, which such user is not authorized to access.
Attempting to probe, scan or test the vulnerability of a system or network or to breach security or authentication measures without proper authorization
Attempting to interfere with service to any user, host or network, including, without limitation, via means of overloading, "flooding", "mail bombing" or "crashing"
Forging any TCP/IP packet header or any part of the header information in any e-mail or forum posting
Taking any action in order to obtain services to which such User is not entitled
Attempting to couple many hosting packages together to take advantage of massive space or bandwidth allocations

Each hosting package purchased is unique to a domain name and use - you are not allowed to purchase multiple plans to obtain combined bandwidth & space. Ninebox Web Hosting will stop such transactions and label them as deceptive. We have an upgrade path for all services and we can often times work out special deals for users if they ask us for the assistance.

Violations of system or network security are prohibited, and may result in criminal and civil liability. Examples include, but are not limited to the following: Unauthorized access, use, probe, or scan of a systems security or authentication measures, data or traffic. Interference with service to any user, host or network including, without limitation, mail bombing, flooding, deliberate attempts to overload a system and broadcast attacks. Forging of any TCP-IP packet header or any part of the header information in an email or a newsgroup posting.

Server Abuse

Any attempts to undermine or cause harm to a Ninebox Web Hosting server or customer of Ninebox Web Hosting is strictly prohibited. Any sub-networks of Ninebox Web Hosting and dedicated servers must adhere to the above policies. The failure to meet or follow any of the above guidelines are grounds for account deactivation. We reserve the right to remove any account without prior notice.

User agrees to only use shared hosting services for its intended applications. Misuses include scientific/grid/distributed computing, data warehouse/backup storage, or bandwidth sinks. Ninebox Web Hosting will be the sole arbiter to what is considered a misuse of service. User agrees to ask Ninebox Web Hosting in the event they are unsure of their application's fitness for our shared hosting services.

Client Responsibility

The client is responsible for all activity originating from the account unless proven to be a victim of outside hacking or address forgery. The client is responsible for securing their username/password. The client assumes responsibility for all material on their site that may be put on by a third party.

Backup Policy

Ninebox Web Hosting takes extreme steps to maintain system integrity. However, Ninebox Web Hosting shall not be held responsible for loss of data due to any cause. To ensure the highest level of data protection, Ninebox Web Hosting recommends that ALL information be backed up on your own computer. As with any data that you hold a high importance to, it should be in more than one location at all times. All Ninebox Web Hosting data backups are designed against hardware failure, not customer user error.

Actions Taken

The failure by a customer to meet or follow any of the above policies/terms is grounds for account deactivation. Ninebox Web Hosting will be the sole arbiter as to what constitutes a violation of the AUP. Ninebox Web Hosting reserves the right to remove any account without prior notice.

When Ninebox Web Hosting becomes aware of an alleged violation of its AUP, Ninebox Web Hosting will initiate an investigation. During the investigation, Ninebox Web Hosting may restrict a customer's access in order to prevent further potentially unauthorized activity. Depending on the severity of the violation, Ninebox Web Hosting may, at its sole discretion, restrict, suspend, or terminate a customer's web hosting account and/or pursue other civil remedies. If such violation is a criminal offense, Ninebox Web Hosting will notify the appropriate law enforcement authorities of such violation.

Ninebox Web Hosting does not issue credits for outages incurred through service disablement resulting from AUP violations.

Ninebox Web Hosting customers agree to indemnify and hold harmless Ninebox Web Hosting from any claims resulting from the use of our services that damages them or any other party. The Ninebox Web Hosting service is provided on an as is, as available basis without warranties of any kind, either express or implied, including, but not limited to, warranties of merchantability, fitness for a particular purpose or non-infringement. Ninebox Web Hosting expressly disclaims any representation or warranty that the Ninebox Web Hosting service will be error-free, secure or uninterrupted. No oral advice or written information given by Ninebox Web Hosting, its employees, licensors or the like, will create a warranty; nor may you rely on any such information or advice. Ninebox Web Hosting and its partners and suppliers will not be liable for any cost or damage arising either directly or indirectly from any transaction or use of the service.

Modification

Refusal of Service

We reserve the right to refuse, cancel, or suspend service at our sole discretion. An example of refusal of service is if an account continues to abuse our policies after warnings. Refusal, cancellation or suspension of services especially holds true to issues with spam or any script abuse. Another example of refusal of service is if a customer becomes very unreasonable, unprofessional, extremely difficult to work with or threatening. Said customer's account will be suspended and we will recommend to the customer to find a new host. A backup of the account(s) will be provided.

E-Mail Policy

Messages Allowed Per Domain, Per Hour

Clients hosted on our servers may only send up to 350 individual pieces of mail per hour.

Opt-in Email Marketing

If you choose to engage in marketing your site and/or services via email please heed the following. The only permitted form of email marketing is that in which the list is "opt-in". By definition, opt-in is where people provide you with their email address specifically requesting to be on your email list for information about your site and/or service. Even opt-in has its share of issues, so we cannot guarantee we will host this type of site on our network. If we find your account transmitting email to persons that did not authorize such activity, that is grounds to suspend and terminate your site.

UCE, UBE, Spam

Ninebox Web Hosting has a zero tolerance policy regarding unsolicited commercial email (UCE) and unsolicited bulk email (UBE) also known as "spam". Uploading, posting, emailing, transmitting or otherwise making available any UNSOLICITED or unauthorized advertising, or promotional materials where examples of these include but are not limited to "junk mail," "instant messaging," "chain letters," "pyramid schemes," or any other form of unauthorized solicitation from or through a Ninebox Web Hosting server or using an email address or system that is maintained by Ninebox Web Hosting is STRICTLY prohibited. Ninebox Web Hosting will be the sole arbiter as to what constitutes a violation of this provision. If you engage in any of the foregoing activities using the service of another ISP or IPP, but channelling activities through a Ninebox Web Hosting server as a mail drop for responses, you are in violation. Violators will be assessed a minimum of £200.00 fine and will face an immediate suspension and are subject to termination.

The definition of spam:

An electronic message is "spam" IF: (1) the recipient's personal identity and context are irrelevant because the message is equally applicable to many other potential recipients; AND (2) the recipient has not verifiably granted deliberate, explicit, and still-revocable permission for it to be sent; AND (3) the transmission and reception of the message appears to the recipient to give a disproportionate benefit to the sender.

You will be cited with "UCE/UBE Abuse" if you send any email to persons who have not specifically asked to receive email from you. The sending origin of such email is irrelevant. Upon confirmation of abuse, any Ninebox Web Hosting customer engaging in this practice will have their service suspended. Not only does spam place a strain on the server that can negatively affect that server's uptime record and performance record, you subject that server to the possibility of being blacklisted.

If your site will be sending mailings out to subscribers, this is a checklist of what you are required to do:

You must not try to hide, forge or misrepresent the sender of the e-mail and sending site of the e-mail. Bulk mailings must specifically state how the persons' e-mail addresses were obtained and must indicate the frequency of the mailing. Bulk mailings should contain simple and obvious unsubscribe mechanisms. We recommend that this be in the form of a working link to a one-click unsubscribe system; however, a valid "reply to:" address may be used instead.

All subscription based e-mail must have valid, non-electronic, contact information for the sending organization in the text of each e-mail including either a phone number or physical mailing address.

All bulk e-mail must be solicited, meaning that the sender has an existing and provable relationship with the e-mail recipient and the recipient has not requested not to receive future mailings from the sender. Documentation of the relationship between the sender and the recipient must be made available to AOL upon request.

Prohibited Uses of Ninebox Web Hosting Systems and Services Regarding Spam

Sending Unsolicited Bulk Email ("UBE", "spam"). The sending of any form of Unsolicited Bulk Email through Ninebox Web Hosting's servers is prohibited. Likewise, the sending of UBE from another service provider advertising a web site, email address or utilizing any resource hosted on Ninebox Web Hosting's servers, is prohibited. Ninebox Web Hosting accounts or services may not be used to solicit customers from, or collect replies to, messages sent from another Internet Service Provider where those messages violate this Policy or that of the other provider.

Running Unconfirmed Mailing Lists. Subscribing email addresses to any mailing list without the express and verifiable permission of the email address owner is prohibited. All mailing lists run by Ninebox Web Hosting customers must be Closed-loop ("Confirmed Opt-in"). The subscription confirmation message received from each address owner must be kept on file for the duration of the existence of the mailing list. Purchasing lists of email addresses from 3rd parties for mailing to from any Ninebox Web Hosting-hosted domain, or referencing any Ninebox Web Hosting account, is prohibited.

Operating an account on behalf of, or in connection with, or reselling any service to, persons or firms listed in the Spamhaus Register of Known Spam Operations (ROKSO) database at spamhaus.org.

We receive automatic reports from Spamhaus, AOL and SpamCop for our IP ranges. If there are more than three complaints lodged against your site in one day, the site will be suspended until a resolution/explanation is made.

Resource Abuse Policy

Introduction

Any website on our servers that uses a high amount of server resources (CPU, memory usage, and network resources) will be given an option to upgrade their account. The abuse and misuse of system resources is a serious problem, and Ninebox Web Hosting does not tolerate it. Accounts on a shared server must be shared with other users, so we must limit how much of the CPU and memory that can be used by any one account.

In all fairness, we cannot allow one or two clients to use all of the system resources on a shared machine and have all other clients suffer because of it. Excessive CPU and memory usage by one or more clients causes extreme slowness in all areas: MySQL, Email, HTTP and more. If the CPU and memory usage by a few clients gets out of hand, all sites hosted on the machine will return errors and not be accessible in any way.

Average Server Resource Limits

Memory usage may not exceed 10% per domain/file/application
CPU usage may not exceed 20% per domain/file/application
Apache connections may not exceed 30 connections
15 MySQL maximum user connections allowed
350 emails per hour, per domain

There are special exceptions to these rules to be determined at the time we discover abuse. There are different combinations of usage that can create problems and other special cases. At any given time a server is unstable and an account is found to be the cause, we reserve the right to suspend the account to keep the server online and operating normally. If the usage is an increasing trend, we recommend the user invest in a dedicated server so the website can grow at a normal rate without restriction.

Suspensions

In the event your website has been suspended for resource abuse (abuse that cannot be resolved by removing/changing a script, etc.) and you do not wish to upgrade to a dedicated server to accommodate your site needs, we will only release the suspension within 24-48 hours. This is to ensure the CPU intensive site slows down in traffic to avoid further damage and problems. A backup will then be provided of your files or you will be allowed FTP/cPanel access for a certain time period. Any questions about our abuse policy may be answered by emailing our abuse department at abuse@ninebox.co.uk.

Service Level Agreement

Coverage

This web site availability service level agreement (SLA) applies to you if you have ordered any hosting plan ("service") and you are in good financial standing with Ninebox Web Hosting.

Service Level

Ninebox Web Hosting endeavours to have network connectivity available for http access by third parties 100% of the time ("web site availability") In the event this is not met, we will issue credits based on the below schedule.

Credits

A) In the event that there is no web site availability, Ninebox Web Hosting will credit the monthly service charge for the service as calculated below and as measured 24 hours a day in a calendar month.

Web site availability credit
95% to 99.4% = 25%
90% to 94.9% = 50%
89.9% or below = 100%

In order for you to receive a credit on your account, you must request such credit within seven (7) business days after you experienced no web site availability so that we may check our stats and your stats. You must request credit by sending a request to our support division at support@ninebox.co.uk. For security, the body of this message must contain your domain name, the dates and times of the unavailability of your web site, and such other customer identification requested by Ninebox Web Hosting. Credits will usually be applied within sixty (60) days of your credit request. Credit to your account shall be your sole and exclusive remedy in the event that there is no web site availability.

Restrictions

Credits shall not be provided to you in the event that you have no web site availability resulting from (i) scheduled maintenance, (ii) your behaviour or the performance or failure of your equipment, programs or applications, or (iii) circumstances beyond Ninebox Web Hosting's reasonable control, including, without limitation, acts of any governmental body, war, insurrection, sabotage, embargo, fire, flood, strike or other labour disturbance, interruption of or delay in transportation, unavailability of interruption or delay in telecommunications or third party services (including DNS propagation), failure of third party software or hardware or inability to obtain raw materials, supplies, or power used in or equipment needed for provision of your Web Site.

Limitations

Online problems occur continuously. There might come a time when you cannot access your website or any other service. This is not necessarily due to Ninebox Web Hosting. Perhaps your ISP is experiencing technical difficulties, or there might be a routing problem between your ISP and the data centre utilized by Ninebox Web Hosting, making communication difficult or impossible. We cannot bear the responsibility of such problems. Our monitoring agents determine the uptime of our service, and not any one client's experience.

Modifications

Ninebox Web Hosting reserves the right to add, delete or modify any provision of this policy at any time without notice. You agree to be bound by any changed Ninebox Web Hosting may reasonably make to this agreement when such changes are made. If you have purchased services or software from Ninebox Web Hosting, the term of this agreement shall continue in full force and effect as long as you take advantage of and use the software or services that we provide.

You agree that you will be responsible for notifying Ninebox Web Hosting should you require to terminate your use of Ninebox Web Hosting's services. Notification of your intent to terminate must be provided no earlier than 5 days prior to your billing date.

Privacy

Ninebox Web Hosting will not sell, distribute, reveal, or otherwise make available any customer information. We contribute a great amount of time and help to anti-spam organizations. Should we need to contact you directly regarding your specific account or service we will do so via email only.

Satisfaction Guaranteed

90 Day Guarantee Statement for hosted accounts: If for any reason you are unhappy with the services you receive from Ninebox Web Hosting during the first 90 days of service, you may request in writing via email or by our cancellation form (as mentioned below) that your services be discontinued at which time you will receive a full refund. You must also state a detailed reason as to why you are cancelling (as we request for any cancellation, no matter the time frame). We are the sole arbiter as to if your reason is a valid reason and if all possible steps were taken on your side and on ours to correct the situation causing the interest to cancel.

New Accounts

All new web hosting accounts purchased on our order page are set up within 24 hours by our account administrators. You will receive several emails including login details after your purchase. Due to unforeseen complications with various mail servers and any connection problems between your ISP and Ninebox Web Hosting, this process may sometimes be delayed. When signing up for our service, if you save what you choose for your client area username and password, then you can resend the emails to yourself if for any reason they do not arrive.

Domain Names and Domain Transfers

In order for your domain name to point to the Ninebox Web Hosting server your new account is located on, you must change your DNS (Domain Name Servers) at your registrar. That process is not known as a domain transfer. Payments

All payments will be charged through PayPal's secure payment handling facilities. This can be used by none registered users of Paypal, who can pay with any approved credit or debit card. All hosting packages will be invoiced 7 days before the payment due date. All hosting plans renew automatically and payments will incur unless you submit proper cancellation of your account.

Late Payments If at any time, your hosting payments become past due, you will receive a notification via email (to the most recently updated email address on file) with instructions on rectifying the situation. Please note that Ninebox Web Hosting holds the right to deny access to and/or de-activate accounts hosted on our servers of which have unpaid past due balances.

Hosted accounts 15 days past due will incur a £5 GBP late fee. In the event that your scheduled charge is denied and we are unable to contact you, then the aforementioned fees to enable your account shall apply. Monthly instalments will incur for the entire duration services are rendered and you remain subscribed to until you submit proper cancellation of the account. Any debt not paid will be forwarded to a collections agency and the necessary fees will be applied. Please address any questions regarding payment to our billing department: billing:ninebox.co.uk

In the event that a client issues a chargeback or reversal of charges without first following the above cancellation policy, the customer will be responsible for a £50.00 billing service fee.

Cancellations

Hosted Accounts - If you wish to cancel your services, you must file your request via our cancellation form 5 business days prior to your renewal date. If your notice of cancellation is not received within this time frame, we cannot guarantee that you will not be charged for the preceding month/year. You will then be liable for payment of the preceding month/year and hereby agree to complete payment as invoiced accordingly.

If you cancel your account and your payments still continue for any reasons such as 1) by fault of Ninebox Web Hosting staff 2) by fault of the credit card processor 3) by fault of any other payment collection company we are not responsible for any overdraft fees that are issued by your financial institution.

Our service plans are designed to accommodate the majority of usage scenarios given the needs of our customers. However, your usage may vary and require additional allocations, specifically in the areas of storage and traffic. We will never charge your card automatically if your account requires more resources. You must keep your email address updated within your cPanel, so that you may receive an email when your account reaches certain limits determined solely by our system, ie. bandwidth exceedment warning at 80% at which time you may contact us to purchase a higher transfer quota for your account. If you do not contact us, the system will suspend your site if your allotments exceed.

If, for any reason, Ninebox Web Hosting fails to deliver said services, a prorated credit can be issued upon request. No credits will be issued if abuse of our stated policies forces Ninebox Web Hosting to suspend or terminate your services prematurely. In the event you request account cancellation, once your service has been cancelled your account will be suspended from use. It will then be deleted within 30 days.

Cancellations of accounts pre-paid for on a monthly basis will not receive a credit/refund for the remainder of the billing period, therefore we encourage to only submit cancellation when the account will no longer be used. Cancellations of accounts pre-paid on a yearly basis will only receive a pro-rated credit, not a refund, based on the monthly rate of the same hosting plan, where any applicable credits will be issued to the client account and can be used to purchase other services/products by client at anytime. All add-on service payments are non-refundable as they are included only during the life of the hosting plan. If for any other reason your account becomes suspended and remains suspended it will be deleted after a 30-day period.

Overage Charges

Refunds/Account Termination

Cancellations of accounts pre-paid for on a monthly basis will not receive a credit/refund for the remainder of the billing period, therefore we encourge to only submit cancellation when the account will no longer be used. Cancellations of accounts pre-paid on a yearly basis will only receive a pro-rated credit, not a refund, based on the monthly rate of the same hosting plan, where any applicable credits will be issued to the client account and can be used to purchase other services/products by client at anytime. All add-on service payments are non-refundable as they are included only during the life of the hosting plan. If for any other reason your account becomes suspended and remains suspended it will be deleted after a 30-day period.

Content

Ninebox Web Hosting believes in freedom of speech; however, any content (written, visual, or implied) in the following areas will not be tolerated and is grounds for immediate suspension of service (in most cases customer will be allowed a zip file of their account): racism or prejudice due to colour, creed, or belief; any violent/malicious/obscene content written, visual or implied. We will not tolerate any type of hate site including terrorist related websites on our network. If we receive notice that there is such a hate site hosted within our network, the customer hosting the material will be notified immediately. They are required to remove the content within a certain timeframe or will face account suspension and/or termination.

We prefer that you self-govern your content and remain responsible and all-knowing of your website publically provides. Even if other users have access to your account, you are responsible for their actions. The resources and time needed to govern our servers by checking each website individually, which have growing and evolving content, is impossible. However, if Ninebox Web Hosting is made aware of any questionable content on a Ninebox Web Hosting-hosted site, we will address the concerns immediately and directly with you to seek an amiable resolution. If any person contacts us about content they have found on a Ninebox Web Hosting server that copyrights their own material or that they wish to be removed, we require a proper DMCA notice to begin investigation.

Liabilities

Ninebox Web Hosting, makes no endorsement, claims, or promises regarding the services offered by our customers and will not be held liable for any disputes or claims against said customers. In no event shall Ninebox Web Hosting be liable for any direct, indirect, incidental, consequential, special and exemplary damages, or any damages whatsoever, arising from the use or performance of a customer web site or from any information, services or products provided through a customer web site. If there is questionable content on any server in our network, we will not take any action against any material or action until the website is brought to our attention by emailing our abuse department at abuse@ninebox.co.uk.

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