Web Hosting PoliciesTOS & AUP

Privacy

eHostDirect ("Web Hosting Service") will not sell, distribute, reveal, or otherwise make available any customer information. We contribute our time and help to anti-spam organizations. We are involved 100% in prosecuting spammers. Should we need to contact you directly regarding your specific account or service, we will do so via email only.

Satisfaction Guaranteed (30-Day Guarantee Statement)

If for any reason you are unhappy with the web hosting services you receive from eHostDirect during the first 30 days of service, you may request in writing via support ticket that your web hosting services be discontinued, at which time you will receive a full refund.

Domain name registrations are non-refundable.

New Web Hosting Accounts

All new web hosting accounts purchased on our order page will be set up within one (1) business day, and you will receive email including login details after your purchase. Due to unforeseen complications with various mail servers and any connection problems between your ISP and eHostDirect.com ("Web Hosting Service"), this process may sometimes be delayed.

Domain Names, Domain Transfers

In order for your domain name to point to the eHostDirect server your new account is on, you must change your DNS (Domain Name Servers) at your registrar.

Web Hosting Service Cancellations

If you wish to end your web hosting service, simply cancel your subscription payment prior to your next renewal date.

Overages

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. 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. If you do not contact us after an exceeded allotment, the system will suspend your site.

Web Hosting Service Refunds/Account Termination

If, for any reason, eHostDirect fails to deliver said web hosting services, a prorated refund will be issued. No refunds will be issued if abuse of our stated policies forces eHostDirect to suspend or terminate your services prematurely.

In the event you request account cancellation, your web hosting service will been cancelled and your account suspended from use. It will then be deleted within 30 days. If your account becomes suspended for any other reason and remains suspended, it will be deleted after a 30-day period.

Content

eHostDirect 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 files): racism or prejudice due to color, creed, or belief; profanity or obscene language towards anyone but yourself; any violent/malicious content. We do allow legal adult content. We prefer that you self-govern your content and are responsible as to what your website provides. We do not have the resources and time needed to govern our servers constantly which have growing and evolving content. However, if eHostDirect is made aware of any questionable content on an eHostDirect-hosted site, we will address the concerns directly with you and seek an amiable resolution. If anyone contacts us about content they have found on a eHostDirect server that copyrights their own material or that they wish to be removed, we require legal documentation to take any further action.

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. If we find your account trasnmitting email to persons that did not authorize such activity, that is grounds to suspend and terminate your site. Note: On the flip side, the joining of an opt-in email list does not guarantee the legitimacy of such a list. Please contact us before taking any steps so that you will not be a victim of spam from second and third parties of such lists.

UCE, UBE, Spam

eHostDirect ("Web Hosting Service") has a zero tolerance policy regarding unsolicited commercial email (UCE) and unsolicited bulk email (UBE) also known as "spam". 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 eHostDirect customer engaging in this practice will have their service suspended. Not only does spam place a strain on the server that can negatively effect that server's uptime record and performance record; you also 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 eHostDirect upon request.

Prohibited Uses of eHostDirect Systems and Services Regarding Spam

  • Sending Unsolicited Bulk Email ("UBE", "spam"). The sending of any form of Unsolicited Bulk Email through eHostDirect'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 eHostDirect's servers, is prohibited. eHostDirect 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 eHostDirect 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 eHostDirect-hosted domain, or referencing any eHostDirect 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 www.spamhaus.org.

Liabilities

eHostDirect makes no endorsement, claims, or promises regarding the web hosting services offered by our customers and will not be held liable for any disputes or claims against said customers. In no event shall eHostDirect be liable for any direct, indirect, incidental, consequential, special and exemplary damages, or any damages whatsoever, arising from the use or performance of this web site or from any information, services or products provided through your web site. We are not responsible for any content on any server in our network and will not take any action against any questionable material or action until the website in question is brought to our attention by emailing our abuse department.

Acceptable Use Policy (AUP)

eHostDirect 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. eHostDirect 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 support department.

Illegal Usage

eHostDirect 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, and material that is obscene, defamatory, constitutes an illegal threat, or violates export control laws. Examples of non-acceptable content or links: Pirated software, Hackers programs or archives, Warez sites, MP3, and IRC bots. The subscriber to eHostDirect service agrees to indemnify and hold harmless eHostDirect from any claims resulting from the use of the service that damages the subscriber or any other party. eHostDirect will be the sole arbiter as to what constitutes a violation of this provision.

Illegal Content

eHostDirect does not allow background Daemons such as IRC bots; eggdrop; BitchX; XiRCON; and any other program that interferes with normal server operation. No warez are allowed. Web proxies are not tolerated. This includes NPH-Proxy and web proxy. If your site is found to hold any proxy files, your account will be suspended, and the account holder will be issued a fee of $50 USD. When using an account with shell, you are not allowed to run ANY servers or services on the eHostDirect 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 of no less than $50.00 USD and no more than $100.00 USD. eHostDirect reserves the right to terminate an account for these activities also.

Server Resources

Any website that uses a high amount of server resources (such as, but not limited to, CPU time, memory usage, and network resources) will be suspended until the problem is resolved. eHostDirect shall be the sole arbiter of what is considered to be a high server usage level.

Software Distribution

eHostDirect's web hosting accounts are not to be used for the purposes of distributing software and multimedia products. If you wish to distribute software and/or multimedia files, please contact our sales department for special arrangement.

File Usage & Storage

eHostDirect web hosting accounts are not to be used for the purposes of distributing and/or storing an unusual amount of files. We are a web hosting company, not a remote file storage company. Any web site whose disk space usage for storing the files exceed 70% of its total usage, either in terms of total size or number of files, will be deemed to be using unusual amount of files. At that point, if we find that those files are illegal or harmful in any way, you will be notified. If you do not have any negative intentions such as causing harm to our server or to others with the files you keep, then you have nothing to worry about.

Chat Rooms

eHostDirect does not provide or allow chat rooms.

IRC

eHostDirect does not allow IRC or IRC bots to be operated on our servers.

Security

Users are prohibited from violating or attempting to violate the security of the eHostDirect Network. Violations of system or network security may result in civil or criminal liability. eHostDirect 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. eHostDirect 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 eHostDirect server or customer of eHostDirect is strictly prohibited. Any subnetworks of eHostDirect 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.

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 (such as the usage of Free For All links pages). Use of eHostDirect's service requires a certain level of knowledge in the use of Internet languages, protocols, and software. This level of knowledge varies depending on the anticipated use and desired content of the web space by the client. The following examples are offered: Web Publishing: requires knowledge of HTML, properly locating and linking documents, FTPing Web contents, Graphics, text, sound, image mapping, etc. FrontPage web publishing: knowledge of the FrontPage tools as well as Telnet and FTP understanding and capability. CGI-Scripts: requires a knowledge of the UNIX environment, TAR & GUNZIP commands, Perl, CShell scripts, permissions, etc. Mail: a use of mail clients to receive and send mail, etc. The client agrees that he or she has the necessary knowledge to create and maintain their web space. Client agrees that it is not the responsibility of eHostDirect to provide this knowledge or support outside matter specific to eHostDirect servers.

Backups

eHostDirect takes extreme steps to maintain system integrity. However, eHostDirect shall not be held responsible for loss of data due to any cause. To ensure the highest level of data protection, eHostDirect 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. eHostDirect data backups are designed to protect against hardware failure, not customer error.

Actions Taken

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

When eHostDirect becomes aware of an alleged violation of its AUP, eHostDirect will initiate an investigation. During the investigation, eHostDirect may restrict a customer's access in order to prevent further potentially unauthorized activity. Depending on the severity of the violation, eHostDirect 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, eHostDirect will notify the appropriate law enforcement authorities of such violation.

eHostDirect customers agree to indemnify and hold harmless eHostDirect from any claims resulting from the use of our services that damages them or any other party. The eHostDirect 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. eHostDirect expressly disclaims any representation or warranty that the eHostDirect service will be error-free, secure or uninterrupted. No oral advice or written information given by eHostDirect, its employees, licensors or the like, will create a warranty; nor may you rely on any such information or advice. eHostDirect 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

eHostDirect reserves the right to add, delete, or modify any provision of this policy at any time without notice.

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.