OSC Hosting Terms & Conditions of Service
(furthermore also known simply as AUP and/or TOS)
Use of OSC Hosting Services (furthermore also known simply as Service or Services) constitutes full, unconditional acceptance of, and agreement to this AUP and constitutes a binding contract between OSC Hosting and you, our customer. The jurisdiction of this contract shall be none other than British Columbia, Canada.
We support the uncensored flow of information and ideas over the Internet and do not actively monitor subscriber activity under normal circumstances. Similarly, we do not exercise editorial control over the content of any web site, e-mail transmission, newsgroups, or other material created or accessible over or through the Services, except for certain proprietary Web sites. However, in accordance with our TOS (Terms of Service), we may remove any materials that, in our sole discretion, may be illegal, may subject us to liability, or which may violate this AUP. OSC Hosting may cooperate with legal authorities and/or third parties in the investigation of any suspected or alleged crime or civil wrongdoing. Your violation of this AUP may result in the suspension or immediate termination of either your OSC Hosting account or other actions as detailed in Section 3 WITHOUT PRIOR NOTICE. We do not routinely monitor the activity of accounts except for measurements of system utilization and the preparation of billing records. However, in our efforts to promote good citizenship within the Internet community, we will respond appropriately if we become aware of inappropriate use of our service.
This document is intended to provide a basic understanding of OSC Hosting's Acceptable Use Policy. The following are guidelines for the establishment and enforcement of OSC Hosting's AUP.
OSC Hosting will:
Ensure reliable service to our customers.
Ensure security and privacy of our systems and network, as well as the networks and systems of others.
Comply with existing laws.
Maintain our reputation as a responsible service provider.
Encourage responsible use of the Internet and discourage activities which reduce the usability and value of Internet services.
Preserve the value of Internet resources as a conduit for free expression and exchange of information.
Preserve the privacy and security of individual users.
OSC Hosting intends to provide its customers access to everything the Internet has to offer. While OSC Hosting is firmly committed to the principles of free speech, certain activities that may be damaging to the resources of both OSC Hosting and the Internet and cannot be permitted under the guise of free speech. The resources of OSC Hosting and the Internet are limited, and abuse of these resources by one user has a negative impact on the entire community.
You may not use your dedicated server or virtual account to publish material, which OSC Hosting determines, at its sole discretion, to be unlawful. For purposes of this policy, material refers to all forms of communications including narrative descriptions, graphics (including photographs, illustrations, images, drawings, logos), executable programs, video recordings, and audio recordings.
If a OSC Hosting account is used to violate the Acceptable Use Policy or our TOS, we reserve the right to terminate your service without notice. We prefer to advise customers of inappropriate behaviour and any necessary corrective action, however, flagrant violations of the Acceptable Use Policy will result in immediate termination of service. Our failure to enforce this policy, for whatever reason, shall not be construed as a waiver of our right to do so at any time.
As a member of our network community, you must use your Internet access responsibly. If you have any questions regarding this policy, please contact us at support@1osc.com.
VIOLATIONS OF OSC Hosting ACCEPTABLE USE POLICY
The following constitute violations of this AUP:
Illegal use: OSC Hosting's Services may not be used for illegal purposes, or in support of illegal activities. OSC Hosting reserves the right to cooperate with legal authorities and/or injured third parties in the investigation of any suspected crime or civil wrongdoing at our sole discretion.
Harm to minors: Use of Services to harm, or attempt to harm, minors in any way, including, but not limited to child pornography.
Threats: Use of Services to transmit any material (by e-mail, uploading, posting or otherwise) that threatens or encourages bodily harm or destruction of property.
Harassment: Use of Services to transmit any material (by e-mail, uploading, posting or otherwise) that harasses another.
Fraudulent activity: Use of Services to make fraudulent offers to sell or buy products, items, or services, or to advance any type of financial scam such as pyramid schemes, ponzi schemes, and chain letters.
Forgery or impersonation: Adding, removing or modifying identifying network header information in an effort to deceive or mislead is prohibited. Attempting to impersonate any person by using forged headers or other identifying information is prohibited. The use of nicknames does not constitute impersonation.
Unsolicited commercial e-mail / Unsolicited bulk e-mail (SPAM): Use of Services to transmit any unsolicited commercial or unsolicited bulk e-mail is expressly prohibited. Violations of this type will result in the immediate termination of the offending OSC Hosting account.
IMPORTANT NOTICE:
Anyone hosting web sites or services on their server or account that support spammers or cause any of our IP space to be listed in any of the various Spam Databases will have their server/account immediately removed from our network. The server/account will not be reconnected until such time that you agree to remove ANY and ALL traces of the offending material immediately upon reconnection and agree to allow us access to the server to confirm that all material has been COMPLETELY removed. Severe violations may result in immediate and permanent removal of the server from our network without notice to the customer. Any server guilty of a second violation WILL be immediately and permanently removed from our network without notice.
E-mail / News Bombing: Malicious intent to impede another person's use of electronic mail services or news will result in the immediate termination of the offending OSC Hosting account. E-mail / Message Forging: Forging any message header, in part or whole, of any electronic transmission, originating or passing through the OSC Hosting service is in violation of this AUP.
Usenet SPAMing:
OSC Hosting has a zero tolerance policy for the use of its network for the posting of messages or commercial advertisements, which violate the rules, regulations, FAQ or charter of any newsgroups or mailing list. Commercial messages that are appropriate under the rules of a newsgroup or mailing list or that are solicited by the recipients are permitted.
Unauthorized access:
Use of Services to access, or to attempt to access, the accounts of others, or to penetrate, or attempt to penetrate, security measures of OSC Hosting's or another entity's computer software or hardware, electronic communications system, or telecommunications system, whether or not the intrusion results in the corruption or loss of data, is expressly prohibited and the offending OSC Hosting account is subject to immediate termination.
Copyright or trademark infringement:
Use of Services to transmit any material (by e-mail, uploading, posting or otherwise) that infringes any copyright, trademark, patent, trade secret or other proprietary rights of any third party, including, but not limited to, the unauthorized copying of copyrighted material, the digitization and distribution of photographs from magazines, books, or other copyrighted sources, and the unauthorized transmittal of copyrighted software.
Collection of personal data: Use of Services to collect, or attempt to collect, personal information about third parties without their knowledge or consent.
Network disruptions and unfriendly activity:
Use of Services for any activity which affects the ability of other people or systems to use OSC Hosting Services or the Internet. This includes denial of service (DOS) attacks against another network host or individual user. Interference with or disruption of other network users, services or equipment is prohibited. It is your responsibility to ensure that their network is configured in a secure manner. A OSC Hosting customer may not, through action or inaction, allow others to use their network for illegal or inappropriate actions. A OSC Hosting customer may not permit their network, through action or inaction, to be configured in such a way that gives a third party the capability to use their network in an illegal or inappropriate manner. Unauthorized entry and/or use of another company and/or individual's computer system will result in immediate account termination. OSC Hosting will not tolerate any subscriber attempting to access the accounts of others, or penetrate security measures of other systems, whether or not the intrusion results in corruption or loss of data.
Fraud: Involves a knowing misrepresentation or misleading statement, writing or activity made with the intent that the person receiving it will act upon it.
Distribution of Viruses: Intentional distributions of software that attempts to and/or causes damage, harassment, or annoyance to persons, data, and/or computer systems are prohibited. Such an offence will result in the immediate termination of the offending account.
Inappropriate Use of Software: Use of software or any device that would facilitate a continued connection, i.e. pinging, while using OSC Hosting services could result in suspension of Services.
Third Party Accountability: OSC Hosting customers will be held responsible and accountable for any activity by third parties, using their account, that violates guidelines created within the Acceptable Use Policy.
IRC networks: It is absolutely forbidden to host an IRC server that is part of or connected to another IRC network or server. Servers found to be connecting to or part of these networks will be immediately removed from our network without notice. The server will not be reconnected to the network until such time that you agree to completely remove any and all traces of the IRC server, and agree to let us have access to your server to confirm that the content has been completely removed. Any server guilty of a second violation will result in immediate account termination.
Security: You are responsible for any misuse of your account, even if the inappropriate activity was committed by a friend, family member, guest, or employee. Therefore, you must take steps to ensure that others do not gain unauthorized access to your account. In addition, you may not use your account to breach security of another account or attempt to gain unauthorized access to another network or server.
Your password provides access to your account. It is your responsibility to keep your password secure. Sharing your password and account access with unauthorized users is prohibited. You should take care to prevent others from using your account since you will be held responsible for such use. Attempting to obtain another user's account password is strictly prohibited, and may result in termination of service.
You must adopt adequate security measures to prevent or minimize unauthorized use of your account. You may not attempt to circumvent user authentication or security of any host, network or account. This includes, but is not limited to, accessing data not intended for you, logging into or making use of a server or account you are not expressly authorized to access, or probing the security of other networks. Use or distribution of tools designed for compromising security is prohibited. Examples of these tools include, but are not limited to, password guessing programs, cracking tools or network probing tools.
You may not attempt to interfere with service to any user, host or network (denial of service attacks). This includes, but is not limited to, flooding of networks, deliberate attempts to overload a service, and attempts to crash a host. Users who violate systems or network security may incur criminal or civil liability. OSC Hosting will cooperate fully with investigations of violations of systems or network security at other sites, including cooperating with law enforcement authorities in the investigation of suspected criminal violations.
Network Performance
OSC Hosting Virtual Accounts operate on shared resources. Excessive use or abuse of these shared network resources by one customer may have a negative impact on all other customers. Misuse of network resources in a manner which impairs network performance is prohibited by this policy and may result in termination of your account.
You are prohibited from excessive consumption of resources, including CPU time, memory, disk space and session time. You may not use resource-intensive programs which negatively impact other customers or the performances of OSC Hosting systems or networks. OSC Hosting reserves the right to terminate or limit such activities at our sole discretion.
REPORTING VIOLATIONS OF THIS AUP
OSC Hosting requests that anyone who believes that there is a violation of this AUP direct the information to the Abuse Department at support@1osc.com.
If available, please provide the following information:
The IP address used to commit the alleged violation.
The date and time of the alleged violation, including the time zone or offset from GMT.
Evidence of the alleged violation.
E-mail with full header information provides all of the above, as do system log files.
Other situations will require different methods of providing the above information. OSC Hosting may take any one or more of the following actions in response to complaints:
Issue written or verbal warnings.
Suspend the customer's account.
Terminate the customer's account.
Bill the customer for administrative costs and/or reactivation charges.
Bring legal action to enjoin violations and/or to collect damages, if any, cause by violations.
REVISIONS TO THIS ACCEPTABLE USE POLICY
OSC Hosting reserves the right to revise, amend, or modify this AUP, our TOS (Terms of Service) and our other policies and agreements at any time and in any manner. Changes take effect immediately upon posting and are enforceable from that time forward. Generally, we will inform our customers via an email about the changes when they take effect but we are not required to do so.
TOS (Terms of Service)
OSC Hosting (The Company) agrees to furnish services to the Subscriber, subject to the following TOS (Terms of Service).
Use of OSC Hosting Service constitutes acceptance and agreement to OSC Hosting's AUP as well as OSC Hosting's TOS (Terms of Service).
All provisions of this contract are subject to the TOS (Terms of Service) of OSC Hosting and AUP (Acceptable Use Policy). The AUP may be changed from time to time at the discretion of the Company. Subscriber understands that change to the AUP by the Company shall not be grounds for early contract termination or non-payment.
This Agreement shall be construed in all respects in accordance with the laws of the province of British Columbia, Canada applicable to contracts enforceable in that province. Venue will be Kelowna, British Columbia.
Disclosure to Law Enforcement: The AUP specifically prohibits the use of our service for illegal activities. Therefore, Subscriber agrees that the Company may disclose any and all subscriber information including assigned IP numbers, account history, account use, etc. to any law enforcement agent who makes a written request without further consent or notification to the Subscriber. In addition, OSC Hosting shall have the right to terminate all service set forth in this Agreement at our sole discretion.
Service Rates: Subscriber acknowledges that the nature of the service furnished and the initial rates and charges have been communicated to Subscriber. Subscriber is aware that the Company may prospectively change the specified rates and charges from time to time. The promotional offer is contingent upon Company achieving and maintaining its cost of service goals including but not limited to rates charged to company by its suppliers.
Payment: Establishment of this service is dependent upon receipt by the Company of payment of stated charges. Subsequent payments are due on the anniversary date of the month for that month's service.
Payments and Fees: Service will be interrupted on accounts that reach 24 hours past due. Service interrupted for nonpayment on dedicated servers are subject to a $200 non-refundable Reconnect Charge. Shared accounts including SmartVDS servers not paid by the due date that are suspended are subject to a $20 Late Fee that must be paid prior to reconnection. Accounts that are not collectable by OSC Hosting may be turned over to an outside collection agency for collection. If your account is turned over for collection, you agree to pay the company a Processing and Collection Fee of not less than $50 nor more than $150. If you desire to cancel your account, please follow the proper procedure to do this as outlined in this TOS. ALL Paypal payments now require a $20 AntiFraud Administration Fee to offset the cost of Paypal not preventing many fraudulent orders and charge backs to our account. This is non-negotiable and will be added to your account automatically for EVERY Paypal transaction. We encourage you to use our secure credit card payment system and not Paypal to avoid any processing charges.
Refund and Disputes: All setup fees, custom work fees, and bandwidth fees paid to OSC Hosting are non refundable. All overcharges or billing disputes must be reported within 60 days of the time the dispute occurred. If you dispute a charge to your credit card issuer that, in OSC Hosting's sole discretion is a valid charge under the provisions of the TOS and /or AUP, you agree to pay OSC Hosting an Administrative Fee of not less than $50 and not more than $150.
Failure to Pay: The Company may temporarily deny service or terminate this Agreement upon the failure of Subscriber to pay charges when due. Such termination or denial will not relieve Subscriber of responsibility for the payment of all accrued charges, plus reasonable interest and any collection fees.
Account Cancellation: Requests for cancelling accounts must be made in writing (via email) with at least 7 days notice. You must have all account information to cancel. You must provide a logical, coherent reason for your cancellation to be eligible for our 30-day Money Back Guarantee. The Company reserves the right to use it's sole discretion in determining who is eligible for the 30-day Money Back Guarantee. Failure to provide a logical reason for cancellation automatically voids your eligibility under the Money Back Guarantee.
Subscriber acknowledges that the service provided is of such a nature that service can be interrupted for many reasons other than the negligence of the company and that damages resulting from any interruption of service are difficult to ascertain. Therefore, subscriber agrees that the company shall not be liable for any damages arising from such causes beyond the direct and exclusive control of the company. Subscriber further acknowledges that the company's liability for its own negligence may not in any event exceed an amount equivalent to charges payable by subscriber for services during the period damages occurred. In no event shall the company be liable for any special or consequential damages, loss or injury of any kind.
Support Boundaries: OSC Hosting, provides 24 x 7 technical support to our subscribers (except for few holidays and short company meetings when we close our center.) We limit our technical support to our area of expertise. The following is our guidelines when providing support: OSC Hosting provides support related to your server or virtual site physical functioning. OSC Hosting does not offer tech support for application specific issues such as cgi programming, html, or any other such issue. OSC Hosting does not provide technical support for YOUR customers. If you can email, we encourage you to email support@1osc.com for assistance. If you are able to get online and have other questions, we have sales and support personnel generally available 24 hours through a Live Chat service on our web site -- we encourage you to check there first. Lastly, the Help files in the program you are using may have the answer to your question so please do investigate these resources first.
SPAM and Unsolicited Commercial Email (UCE): OSC Hosting takes a zero tolerance approach to the sending of Unsolicited Commercial Email (UCE) or SPAM over our network. Very simply this means that customers of OSC Hosting may not use or permit others to use our network to transact in UCE. Customers of OSC Hosting may not host, or permit hosting of, sites or information that is advertised by UCE from other networks. Violations of this policy carry severe penalties, including termination of service.
Violation of OSC Hosting's SPAM policy will result in severe penalties. Upon notification of an alleged violation of our SPAM policy, OSC Hosting will initiate an immediate investigation. During the investigation, OSC Hosting may restrict customer access to the network to prevent further violations. If a customer is found to be in violation of our SPAM policy, OSC Hosting may, at its sole discretion, restrict, suspend or terminate customer's account. Further, OSC Hosting reserves the right to pursue civil remedies for any costs associated with the investigation of a substantiated policy violation. OSC Hosting will notify law enforcement officials if the violation is believed to be a criminal offence.
First violations of this policy will result in an Administrative Fee of $250 and your account will be reviewed for possible immediate termination. A second violation will result in an Administrative Fee of $500 and immediate termination of your account. Users who violate this policy agree that in addition to these Administrative penalties, they will pay Research Fees not to exceed $175 per hour that OSC Hosting personnel must spend to investigate the matter. PLEASE, DO NOT SPAM from your account.
As our Customers are ultimately responsible for the actions of their clients over the OSC Hosting network, it is advisable that Customers develop a similar, or stricter, policy for their clients.
IMPORTANT NOTICE:
Anyone hosting web sites or services on their server/account that support spammers or cause any of our IP space to be listed in any of the various Spam Databases will have their server/account immediately removed from our network. The server will not be reconnected until such time that you agree to remove ANY and ALL traces of the offending material immediately upon reconnection and agree to allow us access to the server/account to confirm that all material has been COMPLETELY removed. Severe violations may result in immediate and permanent removal of the server/account from our network without notice to the customer. Any server guilty of a second violation WILL be immediately and permanently removed from our network without notice.
Network
IP Address Ownership: If OSC Hosting assigns Customer an Internet Protocol address for Customer's use, the right to use that Internet Protocol address shall belong only to OSC Hosting, and Customer shall have no right to use that Internet Protocol address except as permitted by OSC Hosting in its sole discretion in connection with the Services, during the term of this Agreement. OSC Hosting shall maintain and control ownership of all Internet Protocol numbers and addresses that may be assigned to Customer by OSC Hosting, and OSC Hosting reserves the right to change or remove any and all such Internet Protocol numbers and addresses, in its sole and absolute discretion. Our allocation of IP addresses is limited by ARIN's policies. These policies state that use of IP addresses for IP based virtual hosts will not be accepted as justification for new IP addresses. What this means to you is that you MUST use name-based hosting where possible. We will periodically review IP address usage, and if we find that clients are using IP addresses where name-based hosting could be used, we will revoke authorization to use those IP addresses that could be used with name-based hosting.
Bandwidth and Disk Usage: Customer agrees that bandwidth and disk usage shall not exceed the number of megabytes per month for the Services ordered by Customer. OSC Hosting will monitor Customer's bandwidth and disk usage. OSC Hosting shall have the right to take corrective action if Customer's bandwidth or disk usage exceeds the Agreed Usage. Such corrective action may include the assessment of additional charges, disconnection or discontinuance of any and all Services, or termination of this Agreement, which actions may be taken is in OSC Hosting's sole and absolute discretion. If OSC Hosting takes any corrective action under this section, Customer shall not be entitled to a refund of any fees paid in advance prior to such action. In the event that a customer exceeds the included allocation, OSC Hosting may, at its sole discretion, collect a deposit, in an amount determined by OSC Hosting, against customer's credit card on file with OSC Hosting.
System and Network Security: Users are prohibited from violating or attempting to violate the security of the OSC Hosting Network. Violations of system or network security may result in civil or criminal liability. OSC Hosting will investigate occurrences, which may involve such violations and may involve, and cooperate 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 newsgroup posting.
Taking any action in order to obtain services to which such User is not entitled.
Notification of Violation: OSC Hosting is under no duty to look at each customer's or user's activities to determine if a violation of the AUP has occurred, nor do we assume any responsibility through our AUP to monitor or police Internet-related activities.
First violation: Any User, which OSC Hosting determines to have violated any element of this Acceptable Use Policy, shall receive an email, warning them of the violation as well as have their account billed for time spent investigating and processing the complaint or violation. This Administration Fee will not be less than $20 and not more than $100 and must be paid or service will be cancelled at The Company's full discretion. The service may also be subject (at The Company's sole discretion) to a temporary suspension pending a User's agreement in writing (email), to refrain from any further violations. Dispute resolution information will also be forwarded in the notification email. The account holder agrees in full to pay any and all Administration Fees as outlined above.
Second Violation: Users that OSC Hosting determines to have committed a second violation of any element of this Acceptable Use Policy shall be subject to immediate suspension or termination of service without further notice.
We reserve the right, to drop the section of IP space involved in Spam or Denial-of-Service complaints if it is clear that the offending activity is causing harm to parties on the Internet. In particular, if open relays are on your network or a customer's network, or if denial of service attacks are originating from your network. In certain rare cases, we may have to do this before attempting to contact you. If we do this, we will contact you as soon as is feasible.
Suspension of Service or Cancellation: OSC Hosting reserves the right to suspend network access to any customer if, in the judgment of the OSC Hosting Network Administrator or System Administrator, the customer's server or account is the source or target of the violation of any of the other terms of the AUP or for any other reason which OSC Hosting chooses. If inappropriate activity is detected, all accounts of the Customer in question will be deactivated until an investigation is complete. Prior notification to the Customer is not assured. In extreme cases, law enforcement will be contacted regarding the activity. The customer will not be credited for the time the customer's machines were suspended and Administration Fees may be billed to the customer depending on the outcome of the investigation. The account holder agrees in full to pay any and all Administration Fees as outlined above.
OSC Hosting reserves the right to amend its policies at any time. All Sub-Networks, resellers and managed servers of OSC Hosting must adhere to the above policies. Failure to follow any term or condition will be grounds for immediate cancellation. You will be held responsible for the actions of your clients in the matter described on these Terms and conditions. Therefore, it is in your best interest to implement a similar or stricter Terms and conditions or otherwise called Acceptable Terms of Use policy.
Indemnification: OSC Hosting wishes to emphasize that in agreeing to the OSC Hosting Acceptable Use Policy (AUP) and Terms of Service (ToS), customer indemnifies OSC Hosting for any violation of the Acceptable Use Policy (AUP) and Terms of Service (ToS) that results in loss to OSC Hosting or the bringing of any claim against OSC Hosting by any third-party. This means that if OSC Hosting is sued because of a customer's or a customer of a customer's activity, the customer will pay any damages awarded against OSC Hosting, plus all costs and attorney's fees.
Miscellaneous Provisions: You must provide us with, and keep current, good contact information for you. E-mail, fax, and telephone contacts are used, in that order of preference.
A waiver by the Company of any breach of any provision of this Agreement by Subscriber shall not operate as or be construed as a continuing or subsequent waiver thereof or as a waiver of any breach of any other provision thereof.
Subscriber shall not transfer or assign this Agreement without the prior written consent of the Company. Company may assign Agreement at anytime without consent from or notice to Subscriber. Company reserves right to cancel customers rights under this contract at anytime without further obligation.
OSC Hosting takes no responsibility for any material input by others and not posted to the OSC Hosting Network by OSC Hosting. OSC Hosting is not responsible for the content of any other web sites linked to the OSC Hosting Network; links are provided as Internet navigation tools only. OSC Hosting disclaims any responsibility for any such inappropriate use and any liability to any person or party for any other person or party's violation of this policy.
OSC Hosting is not responsible for any damages your business may suffer. OSC Hosting does not make implied or written warranties for any of our services. OSC Hosting denies any warranty or merchantability for a specific purpose. This includes loss of data resulting from delays, non-deliveries, wrong delivery, and any and all service interruptions caused by OSC Hosting.
It is absolutely forbidden to host IRC servers, bots, or any and all IRC-related software on the Company's network. Accounts found hosting this material will be subject to immediate cancellation without refund.
Responsibility for Content: You, as OSC Hosting's customer, are solely responsible for the content stored on and served by your OSC Hosting server/account.
