Acceptable Use Policy

1. Purpose & Scope

This Acceptable Use Policy ("AUP") governs the use of all services offered by Host Marauder, including hosting, domains, email, and professional services. It is incorporated into our Terms of Service and is binding on all customers.

The goal of this policy is straightforward: protect the integrity of our network, protect other customers, and ensure our services are not used to harm others. Most legitimate businesses will never come close to violating this policy.

This policy works in conjunction with our Terms of Service. In cases where our underlying infrastructure provider's policies impose additional restrictions, the more restrictive policy applies.

2. Prohibited Activities

You may not use our services to engage in, facilitate, or support the following:

Illegal Activity

• Any activity that violates applicable local, state, federal, or international laws or regulations
• Fraud, identity theft, or financial crimes of any kind
• Unauthorized access to systems, networks, or data
• Circumventing export controls or trade restrictions

Harmful or Abusive Activity

• Harassment, threats, or intimidation of any individual or group
• Stalking or tracking individuals without their consent
• Distributing malware, viruses, ransomware, or other malicious software
• Operating phishing sites, scam pages, or deceptive content
• Conducting or participating in denial-of-service attacks
• Unauthorized network scanning or vulnerability testing of third-party systems

Intellectual Property Violations

• Hosting, distributing, or transmitting content that infringes copyright, trademark, or other intellectual property rights
• Operating piracy or warez sites
• Software license circumvention or cracking

3. Prohibited Content

The following types of content may not be hosted, transmitted, or stored using our services under any circumstances:

• Child sexual abuse material (CSAM) or any sexual content involving minors
• Content that incites, glorifies, or facilitates violence or terrorism
• Content that promotes or facilitates hate crimes
• Non-consensual intimate imagery ("revenge porn")
• Illegal weapons sales or instructions for illegal weapon modification
• Counterfeit goods or fraudulent storefronts

Restricted Content

The following content types are permitted only with prior written approval from Host Marauder and compliance with all applicable laws:

• Adult content (legal, consensual)
• Firearms and ammunition sales (must comply with all applicable laws)
• Pharmaceutical or medical products
• High-risk financial services

4. Email & Messaging

Our services may not be used for unsolicited bulk email ("spam") or any related activities. Specifically, you may not:

• Send bulk email to recipients who have not explicitly opted in
• Use forged or misleading email headers
• Use our infrastructure to relay email on behalf of third parties without authorization
• Harvest or scrape email addresses for unsolicited contact
• Operate open mail relays

All legitimate email marketing must comply with the CAN-SPAM Act, CASL (for Canadian recipients), GDPR (for EU recipients), and any other applicable regulations. Every commercial email must include an unsubscribe mechanism and a valid physical address.

5. Security

You are responsible for the security of your hosting account and any applications running on it. This includes:

• Keeping WordPress core, themes, and plugins updated
• Using strong, unique passwords for your account and any admin panels
• Not sharing account credentials with unauthorized parties
• Promptly addressing any compromise or vulnerability you become aware of

If your account is compromised and used to engage in prohibited activity (spam, malware distribution, etc.), we may suspend your account to protect our network and other customers. We will notify you and work with you to remediate the issue.

You may not conduct security testing, penetration testing, or vulnerability scanning of our infrastructure or other customers' accounts. Security testing of your own hosted applications requires prior written authorization.

6. Resource Usage

Shared hosting plans provide a set of resources (storage, bandwidth, CPU, memory) that are shared with other customers. You agree to use resources in a manner consistent with your plan and without degrading the experience of other customers.

• You may not run resource-intensive scripts or processes that adversely affect server performance for others
• You may not use your account to store data unrelated to your hosted website (e.g., as a file locker or backup repository)
• Cryptocurrency mining is prohibited on all shared and managed hosting plans
• Bandwidth-intensive streaming or file distribution services require a VPS or dedicated plan

If your usage significantly exceeds what is reasonable for your plan, we will contact you to discuss upgrading or optimizing before taking any action.

7. Enforcement

Investigation

We investigate all credible abuse reports and may review hosted content or account activity when necessary to enforce this policy or respond to legal requests.

Actions We May Take

Depending on the severity and nature of the violation, we may:

• Issue a warning and request corrective action within a specified timeframe
• Temporarily suspend your account or specific services pending investigation
• Immediately terminate your account without notice or refund for serious violations
• Report illegal activity to appropriate law enforcement authorities

Appeals

If you believe your account was suspended or terminated in error, contact us at support@hostmarauder.com within 10 days. We will review the situation and respond within 5 business days.

8. Reporting Abuse

If you believe someone is using Host Marauder's infrastructure to engage in abusive, illegal, or prohibited activity, please report it to support@hostmarauder.com.

Include as much detail as possible: the URL or IP address involved, the nature of the abuse, and any supporting evidence. We take abuse reports seriously and will investigate promptly.

9. Changes to This Policy

We may update this AUP at any time. Changes will be posted at this URL with an updated date. Continued use of our services after changes are posted constitutes acceptance of the revised policy.

For significant changes, we will make reasonable efforts to notify active customers via email with reasonable advance notice.