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Acceptable Use Policy

By making application for or using any of the services or products provided or offered by Host Ireland, you are agreeing to abide by the terms of our acceptable use policy, outlined in this document. If you do not agree to the terms hereof you should notify us immediately to arrange for termination of any service provided to you.

Objectives

This acceptable use policy has been drawn up with the following objectives in mind:

• To encourage the use of the Internet as a conduit for free expression without infringing the rights of others.
• To protect and preserve the privacy of individual users and the public at large.
• To discourage the irresponsible use of network resources, which use may result in the degradation of service to other customers or users.
• To ensure the security, reliability and privacy of Host Ireland's system and network infrastructure.
• To avoid any situation that may result in the occuring by Host Ireland of any form of civil liability.
• To propagate the image and reputation of Host Ireland as a reliable and responsible organization.

General

The provisions of this document are intended as guidelines only and are neither exhaustive nor intended to be so. Essentially, any conduct that breaches a law, regulation, or any of the accepted norms of the Internet community, whether or not expressly mentioned in this document, is prohibited.

We expect you to have a reasonable knowledge of how the Internet functions, what types of use thereof are considered acceptable and what types of use should be avoided.

Host Ireland reserves the right at all times to prohibit any activity that it, at its sole discretion, believes may damage its commercial reputation. Any relaxation of this clause, or any failure on the part of Host Ireland to act hereon within a particular time frame, does not constitute derogation thereof.

Your web site may not be used for any activity that is illegal, including but not limited to activities like unauthorised distribution or copying of software, violation of export restrictions, harassment, fraud, trafficking in obscene material or dealing in illegal drugs.

Your web site may be used for lawful purposes only. The transmission, distribution or storage of any material that is in violation of any applicable law or regulation is prohibited. Without derogating from the generality of the aforegoing, this is deemed to include any material protected by copyright, trademark, trade secret or any other intellectual property right used without proper authorisation, and any material that is obscene, defamatory, constitutes an illegal threat, or violates export control laws.

Spam

Your account may not be used for "spam". By spam we mean:

• The sending of unsolicited mass mail messages, including, without limitation, any commercial advertising and informational announcements.
• The use of another site's mail server to relay mail without the express permission of the site.
• The posting to any Usenet or other newsgroup, forum, mailing list or other group or list any article which is off-topic according to the charter, FAQ or description of the group or list.
• The sending unsolicited mass email, if such unsolicited email provokes complaints from the recipients.
• The use of a Host Ireland provided mail server as a mail drop for responses to the mailings and/or postings described above.
• The falsification of user information on any Host Ireland mail account.

Hacking

Violations of system or network security are strictly prohibited, and this action may result in criminal and/or civil action. Without derogating from the generality of the aforegoing, this is deemed to include any the following:

• Unauthorized access, use, probing, or scanning of a system's security, authentication measures, data or traffic.
• Interference with the service provided to any user, host or network including (again without limitation) mail bombing, flooding, deliberate attempts to overload a system or any form of so called "broadcast attack".
• The forging of any TCP-IP packet header or part thereof.
• The forging of any part of the header information in an email or a newsgroup posting.
• The use of postings or programs which consume excessive processor time or hard disk storage space
• The use of mail services, mail-forwarding capabilities, POP accounts, or auto responders other than for the user's own account.
• The resale of access to CGI scripts installed on Host Ireland's servers.

Remedies

When or if Host Ireland becomes aware of an alleged violation of its acceptable use policy as defined above, Host Ireland will initiate an internal investigation into the matter. During this investigation the customer's access may be restricted by Host Ireland at Host Ireland's sole discretion in order to prevent further possible alleged unauthorized activity.

Host Ireland reserves the right, at its sole discretion, to restrict, suspend, or terminate customer's account. In addition, depending on the severity and/or extent of the alleged violation, or if in Host Ireland's opinion the violation may be of a criminal nature, Host Ireland reserves the right to notify the appropriate law enforcement department of such alleged violation or take such civil action as it may deem appropriate.

Notwithstanding the aforegoing, Host Ireland makes no representations of any sort regarding its ability or responsibility to monitor the activity on any customer's web site or mail accounts.

No credits will be issued in respect of service outages that result from any of the above actions.

Host Ireland reserves the right to add to, delete from, or modify any of the provisions of this document at any time and without prior notice.

If you have reason to believe that any party has violated any of the clauses contained herein, you are requested to notify Host Ireland by email.