Acceptable Use Policy

Use of the FirstServed hosting services is regulated by our Acceptable Use Policy.

FirstServed reserves the right to modify present policy at any moment in order to respond to changes circumstances in our professional services or any legislation related to them.

The aim of this policy is to guarantee an optimal quality and reachability of our network to our customers, and users of our and our customers’ internet applications. This policy applies to FirstServed customers, their employees, their agents and any third parties making use of the FirstServed services through our customer’s applications. The parties mentioned above are referred to as ‘the User’ in this policy.

Illegal activities & Warez

The FirstServed network and the rented infrastructure may not be used for storage or distribution of illegal software.
Failure to compy will result in an immediate termination of the account. Furthermore, legal instances will be notified.

Storage and distribution of copyrighted material

The User may not use the FirstServed network for the storage or the usage of any digital data for which the user has not obtained a valid license from the copyright’s owner. This includes but is not limited to pictures, video fragments, music, texts and software.

X-rated content

The User is not allowed to use the FirstServed network in order to store or to disseminate material with a pornographic content.

SPAM & UCE (Unsolicited Commerce Email)

The User will refrain from using the FirstServed network to send unsolicited mass mailings. This applies both to the sending of e-mails through a FirstServed mail server, and to the sending of e-mails through and e-mail domain which has been registered or is managed by FirstServed. It is also prohibited to send mass mailings through an external server which contain links to content stored on the FirstServed network.
In case the abuse should lead to blacklisting of one or more addresses of the FirstServed network, the User will be held liable for any losses and costs incurred by FirstServed through the blacklisting.

General prohibited activities

The User is bound to refrain form any activity on the FirstServed network which is either an infringement of applicable law, or which may reasonably be assumed to hinder or cause losses to FirstServed, its customers and their customers and contacts.
It is prohibited to:

1. To use the FirstServed network for the dissemination of content which may be harmful to third parties, such as viruses, worms, Trojan horses, and any other software that may be used for malicious means.
2. To make use of Internet Relay Chat (IRC) clients, IRC bots, IRC servers and chat rooms on the FirstServed network without written prior consent from FirstServed.
3. To launch Denial of Service (DOS) attacks against FirstServed servers, or originating from FirstServed servers.
4. To run or make available software, scripts or other content which consume a disproportionate amount of resources – CPU usage, memory usage, network usage - in proportion to the service offered. The User shall have the option either to modify his software or scripts, or to pay an additional fee for the resource usage. In the case of shared hosting, FirstServed may also ask the User to step up to a Dedicated Hosting plan if his application is clearly unsuitable for running in a shared environment. Failure to comply with one of the alternatives may result in a termination of the agreement involved.
5. To run port scans against FirstServed servers unless prior consent has been obtained. Permission may be granted for security audits.
6. To use the services to gather e-mail addresses with the sole aim of using unsolicited commercial e-mail.
7. To bring harm to FirstServed’s reputation by storing or disseminating objectionable content, such as sexually explicit, racist, discriminatory or hateful material.

Notifying FirstServed of abuse

Violations of this policy may be reported by sending an e-mail to abuse@firstserved.net. Please be sure to include all relevant details pertaining to the abuse, such as the involved domain name or e-mail address, website and/or IP address, as well as a detailed description of the complaint.

Resolution of abuse by FirstServed

FirstServed will assess infringements on this policy, and take one or more of the steps detailed below depending on the infringement:

1. The temporary suspension of involved services if applicable;
   
2. The termination of the involved agreement if applicable;
   
3. The invoicing of additional costs or penalties according to the involved agreement;
   
4. The removal of objectionable content from the FirstServed network;
   
5. The notification of legal or internet-related authorities depending on the nature of the infringement.