The Black Label Hosting Acceptable Use Policy (“AUP”) is provided to give The Customer and users a clear understanding of what Black Label Hosting expects of them while using any Black Label Hosting hosting service. While Black Label Hosting is firmly committed to the principles of free speech, certain activities that may be damaging to the resources of both Black Label Hosting, the Internet and cannot be permitted under the guise of free speech. The resources of Black Label Hosting and the Internet are limited, and abuse of these resources by one user has a negative impact on the entire community.

If you are the operator of a hosting service with Black Label Hosting, it is a condition of the continuance of your hosting service that you agree with and agree to adhere to any and all conditions of this AUP.

1. WHO DOES THIS POLICY APPLY TO?

1.1 – The AUP applies to all users of Black Label Hosting services who:

1. access our services but do not have an account;
2. pay a service fee to Black Label Hosting  for a hosting service;
3. Pay a customer of Black Label Hosting’s to host content on a hosting service located on Black Label Hosting’s infrastructure.

2. WHAT SERVICES ARE COVERED BY THIS POLICY?

2.1 – All hosting services provided by Black Label Hosting to The Customer. Failure to comply with this AUP will be considered a breach of the AUP and will be handled in accordance with the Black Label Hosting Terms of Service.

3. WHAT IS THE PURPOSE OF THIS AUP?

3.1 – The enforcement of Black Label Hosting’s AUP is designed to:

1. Ensure reliable service to our customers;
2. Ensure security and privacy of our systems and network, as well as the networks and systems of others;
3. Comply with existing laws;
4. Maintain our reputation as a responsible service provider;
5. Encourage responsible use of the Internet and discourage activities which reduce the usability and value of Internet services;
6. Preserve the value of Internet resources as a conduit for free expression and exchange of information;
7. Preserve the privacy and security of individual users and companies.

4. HOW WILL WE ENFORCE THIS AUP?

4.1 Service Monitoring – We routinely monitor the activity of accounts for the purposes of measuring system resource utilisation, the preparation of billing records, and to maintain the security of files being transferred to and from our services. This monitoring may result in us further investigating a hosting service and we will respond appropriately if we become aware of inappropriate use of the service.

4.2 Reporting Violations of this AUP – Black Label Hosting requests that anyone who believes that there is a violation of this AUP direct the information to the Abuse Department at support@blacklabel.hosting

When submitting your request, please provide the following information:

1. The IP address used to commit the alleged violation
2. The date and time of the alleged violation, including the AEST time zone.
3. 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. Black Label Hosting may take any one or more of the following actions in response to complaints:

1. Issue written or verbal warnings
2. Suspend the Member’s account
3. Terminate the Member’s account
4. Charge the Member for administrative costs and/or reactivation charges
5. Bring legal action to enjoin violations and/or to collect damages, if any, cause by violations

5. WHAT CONSTITUTES UNACCEPTABLE USE?

5.1 Prohibited or Restricted Content – You may not use a Black Label Hosting hosting service to:

5.1.1 – Publish content that is deemed to be unlawful, indecent or objectionable. The Service Provider does NOT allow ADULT material of any kind. This includes without limitation narrative descriptions, graphics (including photographs, illustrations, images, drawings, logos), executable programs, video recordings, and audio recordings. Links to other web sites containing adult material are NOT permitted either. The Service Provider reserves full right to suspend any account that does not comply with this guideline.

5.1.2 – Publish content that promotes or links to sites that promote any illegal activity or activity that may be damaging to Black Label Hosting  services or any other service on the Internet. Examples of unacceptable content or links without limitation are:

1. Pirated software;
2. Programs or archives that provide the functionality to gain unauthorised access to other systems or networks of any kind;
3. Warez sites;
4. Files or web pages that contain viruses, trojans, malware or other applications designed to access a user’s equipment or information with illegal intentions and/or without the knowledge of the user;
5. Content that promotes activities of a violent, destructive or terrorist nature

5.1.3 – Publish or transmit content that results in, or could result in, damage to property or injury to any person or that infringes on any person’s rights or constitutes harassment or a misuse of any person’s confidential information.

5.1.4 – Collect, or attempt to collect, personal information about third parties without their knowledge or consent.

5.1.5 – Publish content that enables a minor to access material inappropriate for a minor or to establish or try to establish contact with a minor not otherwise known to you.

5.1.6 – Publish or 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 unauthorised copying of copyrighted material, the digitisation and distribution of photographs from magazines, books, or other copyrighted sources, and the unauthorised transmittal of copyrighted software.

5.1.7 – Store or publish content or applications that affect the ability of other people or systems to use Black Label Hosting Services or the Internet. This includes “denial of service” (DOS) attacks against other network hosts or individual users.

5.1.8 – Gain unauthorised access to and/or use of another company and/or individual’s computer system or network.

5.1.9 – engage in any misleading or deceptive business or marketing practice or that involves providing or promoting illegal pyramid selling schemes or unlawful gambling or gaming activities.

5.2 Unsolicited Email Advertising (SPAM) – Black Label Hosting strictly prohibits the use of its services for the purpose of sending of unsolicited, unwanted or inappropriate messages via email. This includes the sending of email to mailing lists that contain email addresses obtained without the knowledge or consent of the recipient as well as email addresses that have been requested to be removed from any lists by the recipient.

5.3 Shared Hosting Space – Shared hosting services are designed to be used for hosting websites. The use of a shared hosting service for online storage, backups or archival of electronic files including documents, log files, binary files or any files otherwise is strictly prohibited.

6. EXCESSIVE SERVER RESOURCE CONSUMPTION

6.1 Excessive resource consumption is defined as any site's use of shared resources that significantly exceeds the average usage of other sites on the same server for an extended period. This includes, but is not limited to, CPU time, memory usage, and disk I/O operations. Activities that can lead to excessive resource consumption include, but are not limited to, hosting large-scale file downloads, running intensive web applications, or experiencing unusually high traffic volumes.

Should a site be found to consume excessive resources, Black Label Hosting will take appropriate steps to ensure the stability and performance of the shared hosting environment for all users. These steps may include:

6.1.1 Notification: The account holder may be notified of the excessive resource consumption, detailing the specific resources affected, with the intent to establish unusual traffic conditions or site activities that may be causing the excessive load.

6.1.2 Investigation: Attempt to work with the account holder if available to assist with investigation into the cause of the excessive resource usage. This may involve analyzing traffic patterns, reviewing site content, establishing if there has been a marketing release or assessing web applications for efficiency.

6.1.3 Restriction: If it is determined that excessive load is caused by traffic from specific IP addresses, we may temporarily restrict inbound traffic from those addresses to mitigate the impact of the excessive load conditions to ensure services remains performant for other co-hosted clients.

6.1.4 Suspension: As a last resort, if the excessive resource consumption persists and compromises the server's stability, the site may be temporarily suspended until a resolution is found. The account holder will be required to take corrective action to reduce resource consumption or consider upgrading to a higher-tier hosting plan that offers dedicated resources.

Site suspensions are temporary in nature, however may increase in duration if the high load conditions do not subside. In the event that an individual site's load requirements are found to be unsuitable for a shared hosting environment, the client may need to consider alternative hosting for the website and / or consider moving to a dedicated VPS environment.

6. REVISIONS TO THIS AUP

6.1 Black Label Hosting reserves the right to revise, amend, or modify this AUP without prior notification. Notice of any revision, amendment, or modification will be posted in accordance with our Terms of Service (TOS). Your continued use of the service following notice of such modifications shall be deemed to be your acceptance of any such modification.

7. DISCLAIMER

7.1 This AUP shall be governed by and construed in accordance with the laws of the State of Queensland, Australia without regard to its conflicts of law provisions. Any cause of action you may have with respect to the Service must be commenced within one (1) year after the claim or cause of action arises or such claim or cause of action is barred.

7.2 In the event that any portion of this AUP is held to be unenforceable, the unenforceable portion shall be construed in accordance with applicable law as nearly as possible to reflect the original intentions of the parties and the remainder of the provisions shall remain in full force and effect.

7.3 Black Label Hosting’s failure to insist upon or enforce strict adherence to any portion of this AUP shall not be construed as a waiver of any provision or right. Neither the course of conduct between parties nor trade practice shall act to modify any provision of this Agreement.

By using our shared hosting services, clients acknowledge and agree to this Fair Usage Policy. It is designed to ensure the reliability and performance of our hosting environment for all users.