Acceptable Use Policy
Cloud Tree has created this Acceptable Use Policy (AUP) for hosting customers
Cloud Tree has created this Acceptable Use Policy (AUP) for hosting customers to protect our resources, and the resources of our customers and peering networks in order to provide a high speed network, high availability services and to ensure that Cloud Tree comply with all relevant UK laws. This AUP must be read in conjunction with our Terms and Conditions.
It is the responsibility of all customers of the Cloud Tree 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 Cloud Tree. 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, Cloud Tree reserve the right to terminate all or part of any service with immediate effect, without recompense, and delete any files held on our servers.
You are responsible for your actions on our network and systems you access through your
Service. If you act recklessly or irresponsibly in using your Service, or your actions endanger any
person or the integrity or security of our Network, systems or equipment, your access may be
restricted, suspended or terminated, without prior notice.
If you have any questions about any of our policies, please contact the Customer Service Team at: admin@cloud-tree.co.uk
Compliance with UK Law
It is an offence under UK law to transmit, receive or store certain types of files.
Customers 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. Customers 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. Cloud Tree will co-operate with any agency or rights holder wishing to assert their rights in these matters and Cloud Tree reserve the right to withdraw service under such circumstances.
The Data Protection Act 2018 & UK GDPR imposes numerous duties on any organisation that processes personal data relating to third parties. Failure to comply with many of these duties may result in enforcement action and, in certain circumstances, also constitute a criminal offence. Customers 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, Cloud Tree 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 customer has carried out any unlawful acts we will take preventative measures to bring those acts to an end, accounts may be suspended until such time as we are confident no unlawful information remains on our servers. We will where required pass access onto law agencies.
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. Customers are therefore advised to take all reasonable steps to avoid breaching relevant foreign laws.
Warranties and Disclaimers
Our service warranties and the extent of our liability are explained fully in our Terms and Conditions.
By connecting to the Cloud Tree network, Customers agree to hold Cloud Tree harmless in the event of any legal claim regarding our services.
Irresponsible usage
Customer acknowledges that they have a responsibility to ensure that their connection is not used in an irresponsible manner.
In particular, you agree that you will not use, attempt to use or allow your Internet Service to be
used to:
• store, send or distribute any content or material which is restricted, prohibited or otherwise unlawful under any applicable law or which is likely to be offensive or obscene to a reasonable person;
• store, send or distribute confidential information, copyright material or other content, which is subject to third party intellectual property rights, unless you have a lawful right to do so;
• store, send or distribute material which defames, harasses, threatens, abuses, menaces, offends, violates the privacy of, or incites violence or hatred against, any person or class of persons, or which could give rise to civil or criminal proceedings;
• do any other act or thing which is illegal, fraudulent or otherwise prohibited under any applicable law or which is in breach of any code, standard or content requirement of any other competent authority;
• store, send or distribute material, which interferes with other users or restricts or hinders any person from accessing, using or enjoying the use of our Services, Network or systems;
• forge header information, email source address or other user information;
• access, monitor or use any data, systems or networks, including another person’s private information, without authority or attempt to probe, scan or test the vulnerability of any data, system or network;
• compromise the security or integrity of any network or system including our Network;
• deliberately access, download, store, send or distribute any viruses or other harmful programs or material;
• send or distribute unsolicited advertising, bulk electronic messages or otherwise breach your spam obligations set out in this policy, or overload any network or system including our Network and systems;
• use another person’s name, username or password or otherwise attempt to gain access to the account of any other User without their consent;
• tamper with, hinder the operation of or make unauthorised modifications to any network
or system; or
• aid, abet, encourage or incite any other person to do or attempt to do any of the above acts
In the event that a customer’s services are used for any purpose that Cloud Tree deem irresponsible then Cloud Tree reserve the right to suspend service while the usage is investigated in consultation with the customer. Should investigation determine that the service has been used irresponsibly, Cloud Tree reserve the right to terminate the customer’s account with immediate effect. Wherever possible the customer will be notified in advance of any termination.
Security and privacy
Login names and passwords must be kept secret and not be communicated to any third party. Cloud Tree must be notified immediately if they are compromised. If a customer forgets or loses their password, they will need to contact support to have it changed.
Customers are responsible for all traffic that is sent from their server. It is therefore the customer’s responsibility to ensure that all software is virus-free and up-to-date with all relevant security patches. In particular, server software running on public-facing ports, such as mail servers and proxy servers, must not be remotely exploitable.
If Cloud Tree find malicious traffic emanating from a customer’s server, Cloud Tree have an obligation to our other customers 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. Cloud Tree understand that in many cases a customer may not be responsible for or aware of the problem, and therefore Cloud Tree will work with the customer to resolve the issue as efficiently as possible to restore normal service.
Customers may not use Cloud Tree services to send unsolicited commercial e-mail (UCE, also known as ‘Spam’). Cloud Tree will block the mail services of any customer found to be sending such mail.
Customers may not have “open mail relays”. Cloud Tree will close the relay or connection of any customer found with an open mail relay.
We request that the use of forwarding emails to 3rd party email services such as gmail/outlook/live are restricted and CloudTree reserve the right to remove any email forward that is contributing the the forwarding of spam emails without notice.
Cloud Tree reserve the right to remove any mail older than 365 days from shared mail servers. It is the customer’s responsibility to ensure that mail is regularly collected and removed from Cloud Tree’s IMAP server. If an IMAP mailbox contains an excessive amount of mail, Cloud Tree reserve the right to remove older mails from the mailbox to reduce its size. Backup of emails remains the responsibility of the customer
If Clients have not logged into any mailbox provided by Cloud Tree within a 6 month period this may result in the deletion of the mailbox.
Emails on shared hosting packages are restricted to 10Mb total size, including attachments. This is both for inbound receiving and outbound sending of emails.
Mailboxes are limited to a maximum of 2Gb storage, once full no emails can be sent or received until the size of the mailbox is reduced.
Unacceptable Uses
The Internet is a powerful information and entertainment tool, we would expect our customers to use the Internet with respect, courtesy, and responsibility, giving due regard to the rights of other Internet users.
Our acceptable use policy (“AUP”) is actively and strictly enforced. Offending content or users are removed from our network, usually as soon as they are discovered, although we will always inform you when and why any action has been taken.
Common sense is the best guide as to what is considered acceptable use, however, the following are unacceptable uses.
Illegality
In any form, including but not limited to the unauthorised distribution or copying of copyrighted software or other data, harassment, fraud, or trafficking in obscene material.
Undesirable Content
Certain types of content are not permitted on our network. We do not host adult content of any description. Content relating to Hacking, Cracking, Warez and IRC is not allowed. Software downloads may only be hosted if you are the writer and copyright owner of the software, all other software including freeware, shareware and trial software is forbidden. Audio and video downloads may only be hosted if you are the creator and copyright owner of the work.
Bulk Email
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. Domains are limited to sending 100 mails per hour & 500 bulk emails per 24 hours. Any emails in excess of this will be deleted and not delivered.
The use of our network to send any other bulk email whether opt-in or otherwise, and the use of bulk email to promote a site on our network is strictly forbidden.
Misuse Of Resources
Including but not limited to employing applications which consume excessive CPU time, memory or storage space; any file you store on the Server will be reachable via a hyperlink from a page. Chat/IRC, web proxy and mailing list scripts are not allowed on our network under any circumstances. Streaming media can be a drain on web server resources and as such is not allowed. CGI based message forums which use flat file databases are often found to use excessive system resources, to avoid disappointment please use a PHP/ASP message forum. The use of web cam applications which maintain a constant FTP connection uploading an image at regular intervals is forbidden.
If you are unsure about content you intend to place on our network, please check with us before you do. We reserve the right to determine what constitutes acceptable use.
Hosting (Shared)
By uploading to the services, the customer will be deemed to have accepted and agreed to the Terms and Condition of use of the Web space service.
The Customer will be responsible for the content of their website, including obtaining the legal permission for any works they include and ensuring that the contents of these pages do not violate UK law. Cloud Tree reserve the right, without notice or explanation, to remove material which does not comply with this AUP or our Terms and Conditions, such as material of an adult nature or pirated software.
Cloud Tree reserve the right to suspend any or all of the service at any time, without prior notice, explanation, or recompense.
Customers will be held solely responsible for any defamatory, confidential, secret or other proprietary material made available via their website. Cloud Tree reserves the right to suspend any sites containing such material. Customers 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.
You may not use our services in any way that would disrupt, impair, or interfere with our servers or with other customers’ use and enjoyment of our services. This includes, but is not limited to, employing applications such as Shoutcast and Minecraft utilities that consume excessive CPU time, memory or storage space. Any file you store on the Server will be reachable via a hyperlink from a page. Chat/IRC, web proxy and mailing list scripts are not allowed on our network under any circumstances. Streaming media can be a drain on web server resources and as such is not allowed. CGI based message forums which use flat file databases are often found to use excessive system resources, to avoid disappointment please use a PHP/ASP message forum. The use of web cam applications that maintain a constant FTP connection uploading an image at regular intervals is forbidden.
Should your use of our services result in an overly high load on our servers in our sole discretion, we may suspend your account until the cause of any such overload is determined and resolved, or we may terminate your account if we believe that the situation cannot be satisfactorily resolved. Abuse of an “unlimited” service (e.g. bandwidth or hosting) to the extent that it detrimentally affects other customers’ services will be treated in the same manner, such abuse to be assessed and decided upon at Cloud Tree’s sole discretion. We ask customers who intend to use high volumes of data to first discuss their requirements with our Sales Team.
Login names and passwords must be kept secret and not communicated to any third party, except for agencies, such as Webpage designers, working on the customer’s behalf. Cloud Tree must be notified immediately if they are compromised. If someone were to gain access to a customer’s account password, they could tamper with files held on the customer’s website.
The customer has sole responsibility for ensuring that any data is suitably backed-up. Cloud Tree will not keep backups of customers’ websites. Cloud Tree will accept no responsibility whatsoever for loss of data or information resulting from the use of this service.
If the account is suspended for any reason, such as non-payment, access to the customer’s website, both for viewing and uploading, may also be suspended.
On closing an account, the relevant data on this Web space will be deleted, it customer responsibility to ensure they have taken full backups of any data they wish to retain after terminating the account.
Hosting (Dedicated or Virtual Private Server)
By uploading to a Cloud Tree dedicated server or Virtual Private Server, the customer will be deemed to have accepted and agreed to the Terms and Conditions of use of the Web space service.
The customer 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. Cloud Tree reserve the right, without notice or explanation, to remove from the network a server which does not comply with this AUP or our Terms and Conditions, such as one storing material of an adult nature or pirated software.
Cloud Tree reserve the right to remove a server from the network, if it is deemed to be causing excessive load or traffic, is adversely affecting the performance of other servers on the network, or is being abused by an external entity. It is the customer’s responsibility to ensure that their scripts are not vulnerable to these problems.
The customer agrees not to advertise their Website via unsolicited commercial e-mail. Cloud Tree reserve the right to suspend a site which has been ‘spamvertised’ at any time.
Cloud Tree do not impose quotas for data transfer on dedicated or virtual private servers. However if a customer is using an excessively high volume of bandwidth for data transfer Cloud Tree reserve the right to revert to its terms and conditions and impose a charge for high usage. We ask customers who intend to use high volumes of bandwidth for data transfer to first discuss their requirements with our Sales Team.
Customers will be held solely responsible for any defamatory, confidential, secret or other proprietary material made available via their dedicated or virtual private server. Cloud Tree reserve the right to remove from the network any server containing such material. Customers 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 secret and not communicated to any third party, except for agencies, such as Webpage designers, working on the customer’s behalf. Cloud Tree must be notified immediately if they are compromised. If someone were to gain access to a customer’s account password, they could tamper with files held on the customer’s server.
The customer is ultimately responsible for ensuring that their site is suitably backed-up.
If the account is suspended for any reason, such as non-payment, access to the server may be suspended.
On closing an account, the data on the dedicated or virtual private server will be deleted.
Firewalls
Cloud Tree’s Firewall service is capable of being attached to an individual server however, Clients are able to create rules for as many Internet Protocol addresses (IP’s) that they have within that individual server.
Clients are advised that hardware Firewalls will block access to ports on an individual server however, it will not protect against viruses running on services active on the individual server. For the avoidance of all doubt the relevant Firewall provided by Cloud Tree is a security barrier it does not protect against viruses and or spyware.
Virtual Private Networks (VPNs) are not supported on this Cloud Tree Firewall platform.
The disabling of the Firewall is not permitted.
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 program that monitors network packet data or any program that compromises the privacy of network traffic.
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
Customers may not mount an attack, by whatever means, against our system, or any other systems. Customers may not run unauthorised mailing lists from or through any of our machines or mail servers.
Any IP addresses assigned to customers are owned by Cloud Tree.
When using a quota-based service, it is the customer’s responsibility to remain within their usage quota. In regards to bandwidth any use over or above your stipulated level will result in a charge of £0.005 per every Mega Byte (MB) you exceed. Cloud Tree reserve the right to delete files for over-quota users if disk space is affecting the normal running of the server.
Using the Services for any activity which adversely affects the ability of other people or systems to use Cloud Trees 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, network services or network equipment is prohibited. It is the Customers responsibility to ensure that their network is configured in a secure manner. A Customer may not, through action or inaction, allow others to use their network for illegal or inappropriate actions. A 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.