Our Acceptable Usage Policy

Introduction

Intergage Limited has created this Acceptable Usage Policy (AUP) for those clients using our hosting services. It is designed to protect our resources as well as those of our clients and peering networks in order to provide a high speed network, high availability services and to ensure that Intergage comply with all relevant UK laws.

This AUP must be read in conjunction with our Terms and Conditions.

It is the responsibility of all clients of the Intergage network and services to ensure that they comply with the latest edition of the AUP at any given time.

This AUP may be revised, without notice, at any time, at the sole discretion of Intergage. Completion of the relevant application form, or connection to the service for the first time, is deemed to be an agreement to our Terms and Conditions and this AUP.

In the event of a breach of this policy, Intergage reserves the right to terminate all or part of any service with immediate effect, without recompense, and delete any files held on our servers.

If you have any questions about any of our policies, please contact the Client Services Team.

Compliance with UK Law

It is an offence under UK law to transmit, receive or store certain types of files.

Clients may not use our services to engage in activities, or store, transfer or receive material of an indecent, offensive or otherwise illegal nature. Any such activities may result in prosecution by the UK authorities under the relevant Criminal Acts including but not limited to the Computer Misuse Act 1990, the Protection of Children Act 1978, the Criminal Justice Act 1988 and the Prevention of Harassment Act 1997.

It is also a criminal offence under UK law to knowingly infringe intellectual property rights, such as copyright, patents, database rights and registered trade marks. Clients are reminded that sharing copyright material through the use of peer to peer software may consequently constitute a criminal offence if done without permission of the right owner in question. Intergage will co-operate with any agency or rights holder wishing to assert their rights in these matters and Intergage reserves the right to withdraw service under such circumstances.

The Data Protection Act 1998 imposes numerous duties on any organisation that processes personal data relating to third parties. Failure to comply with many of these duties constitutes a criminal offence. Clients who are not merely processing personal data for domestic (including recreational) reasons are reminded of their likely duty to register with the Information Commissioner.

Under the Electronic Commerce (EC Directive) Regulations 2002, Intergage is in general not liable to any criminal or pecuniary penalty for any unlawful acts carried out using our service unless we have actual knowledge of those unlawful acts. Accordingly, if we become aware of credible evidence that a client has carried out any unlawful acts we will take preventative measures to bring those acts to an end.

Compliance with Foreign Law

The Internet is global in reach. Consequently it is possible for anyone using the internet to break the laws of foreign countries. Clients are therefore advised to take all reasonable steps to avoid breaching relevant foreign laws.

Warranties & Disclaimers

Our service warranties and the extent of our liability are explained fully in our Terms and Conditions.

By connecting to the Intergage network, Clients agree to hold Intergage harmless in the event of any legal claim regarding our services.

Irresponsible Usage

Client acknowledges that they have a responsibility to ensure that their connection is not used in an irresponsible manner. Intergage deem irresponsible use of the services to include, but not be limited to, sending unsolicited e-mail ("spamming"), attempting to breach the security of a 3rd party machine, and flooding Usenet by placing a single post in a large number of newsgroups.

In the event that a client's services are used for any purpose that Intergage deem irresponsible then Intergage reserves the right to suspend service while the usage is investigated in consultation with the client. Should investigation determine that the service has been used irresponsibly, Intergage reserves the right to terminate the client's account with immediate effect. Wherever possible the client will be notified in advance of any termination.

Security & Privacy

Login names and passwords must be kept secret and not be communicated to any third party. Intergage must be notified immediately if they are compromised. If a client forgets or loses their password, they will need to contact support to have it changed.

If Intergage find malicious traffic emanating from a client's Web site, Intergage has an obligation to our other clients and peering networks to take urgent measures to block that traffic. In many cases, this can be achieved by selective port blocking, but in other cases, this will involve disconnecting and suspending the account until the issue has been resolved. Intergage understand that in many cases a client may not be responsible for or aware of the problem, and therefore Intergage will work with the client to resolve the issue as efficiently as possible to restore normal service.

E-mail

Clients may not use Intergage services to send unsolicited commercial e-mail (UCE, also known as 'Spam').
Intergage will block the mail services of any client found to be sending such mail.
Opt-in mailing lists are allowed, where it can be proved that subscribers did opt-in and that a suitable opt-out mechanism is available.
Intergage reserves the right to remove any mail older than 60 days from shared mail servers.
It is the client's responsibility to ensure that mail is regularly collected and removed from Intergage's POP3 server.
Intergage strongly advises against the use of the POP3 option to keep mail on the server. If a POP3 mailbox contains an excessive amount of mail, Intergage reserves the right to remove older mails from the mailbox to reduce its size.

Hosting (General)

By uploading to an Intergage server, the client will be deemed to have accepted and agreed to the Terms and Conditions of use of the Web space service.
The client will be responsible for the content on their server, including obtaining the legal permission for any works they include and ensuring that the content on the server does not violate UK law.
Intergage reserves the right, without notice or explanation, to remove from the network a client's Web site that does not comply with this AUP or our Terms and Conditions, such as one storing material of a pornographic nature or pirated software.
Intergage reserves the right to remove a client's Web site from its servers and networks where it is deemed:
- to be causing excessive load or traffic
- where it is adversely affecting the performance of other servers on the network
- is being abused by an external entity
The client agrees not to advertise their Web site via unsolicited commercial e-mail.
Intergage reserves the right to suspend a site which has been 'spamvertised' at any time.
Intergage reserves the right to suspend any or all of the service at any time, without prior notice, explanation, or recompense.
Clients will be held solely responsible for any defamatory, confidential, secret or other proprietary material made available via their Web site and hosted on any Intergage servers. Intergage reserves the right to remove from the network any server containing such material.
Clients must be careful when using peer-to-peer networking software to ensure that they do not download or transfer material which they do not have the right to download or transfer.
Login names and passwords must be kept securely and not communicated to any third party. Intergage must be notified immediately if they are compromised. If someone were to gain access to a client's account password, they could tamper with files held on the client's Web site.
The client is ultimately responsible for ensuring that their site is suitably backed-up.
Intergage will keep backups of the web site database and files uploaded through the administration facility to a maximum of 10GB.
Intergage will accept no responsibility whatsoever for loss of data or information resulting from the use of this service.
If the client maintains their own DNS or via a third party, it may occasionally be necessary for Intergage to request a change in IP address for the Web and/or e-mail services supplied by Intergage and thereby ensuring optimal performance of servers.
Intergage may, for the purpose of a DNS change, temporarily withdraw service of interactive features such as, and not limited to, site administration, e-commerce and discussion forum.
If the account is suspended for any reason, such as non-payment, access to the server may be suspended.
On closing an account, the relevant data on this Web space will be deleted

Hosting (Shared)

Intergage imposes a 10GB per calendar month quota for data transfer on shared servers
Where a client is using an excessively high volume of bandwidth for data transfer Intergage reserves the right to revert to its Terms and Conditions and impose a charge for high usage
We ask clients who intend to use high volumes of bandwidth for data transfer to first discuss their requirement with their dedicated Account Manager

Hosting (Dedicated)
Intergage imposes a 100GB per calendar month quota for data transfer on dedicated servers.
Where a client is using an excessively high volume of bandwidth for data transfer Intergage reserves the right to revert to its Terms and Conditions and impose a charge for high usage.
We ask clients who intend to use high volumes of bandwidth for data transfer to first discuss their requirement with their dedicated Account Manager.

Attempted security breaches

Any attempt to breach the security of any machine is forbidden. Attempting to do so will result in immediate account termination and possible further legal action. Users may not run any programme except those supplied by Intergage.
It should be noted that attempting to breach security may lead to prosecution under the Computer Misuse Act 1990 or any other relevant criminal legislation.
Attempts to circumvent copy protection technology and encryption are also likely to be illegal under the Copyright Designs and Patents Act 1988 (as amended).

Non-Specific

Clients may not mount an attack, by whatever means, against our system, or any other systems
Clients may not run unauthorised mailing lists from or through any of our machines or mail servers
When using a quota-based service, it is the client's responsibility to remain within their usage quota
Intergage reserves the right to delete files for over-quota users if disk space is affecting the normal running of the server

LAST UPDATED AUGUST 2007