TOS (Terms Of Service or Acceptable Use Policy)
GW Hosting's Acceptable Use Policy is provided to give our customers and users a clear understanding of what GW Hosting expects of them while using the service. All users of GW Hosting's Internet services: those who access some of our services but do not have accounts, as well those who pay a service fee to subscribe to the services, must comply with this Acceptable Use Policy.
Use of GW Hosting's Services constitutes acceptance and agreement to GW Hosting's Acceptable Use Policy as well as GW Hosting's Terms of Service (TOS).
Important Notice: Refunds will be given at discretion of GW Hosting Management. In the event of a breach of the Acceptable Use Policy refunds will NOT be provided.
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 content of any website, 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 Terms of Service (TOS), we may remove any materials that, in our sole discretion, may be illegal, may subject us to liability, may be detrimental to society, or which may violate this Acceptable Use Policy. GW 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 TOS may result in the suspension or immediate termination of either your GW Hosting account or other actions as detailed in Section 3 without prior notice.
This document is intended to provide a basic understand of GW Hosting's Acceptable Use Policy. The following are guidelines for the establishment and enforcement of GW Hosting's Acceptable Use Policy:
GW Hosting intends to provide its customers access to everything the Internet has to offer. While GW Hosting is firmly committed to the principles of free speech, certain activities that may be damaging to the resources of both the GW Hosting and the Internet and cannot be permitted under the guise of free speech. The resources of GW Hosting and the Internet are limited, and abuse of these resources by one user has a negative impact on the entire community.
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.
You may not use your virtual site to publish material, which GW Hosting determines, at its sole discretion, to be unlawful, indecent or objectionable. 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 GW Hosting account is used to violate the Acceptable Use Policy or our Terms of Service, we reserve the right to terminate your service without notice. We prefer to advise customers of inappropriate behavior 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 » Our Contact form.
Violations of GW Hosting's Acceptable Use Policy
The following constitute violations of this TOS:
Illegal use: GW Hosting's services may not be used for illegal purposes, or in support of illegal activities. GW Hosting reserves the right to cooperate with legal authorities and/or injured third parties in the investigation of any suspected crime or civil wrongdoing.
Harm to minors: Use of the GW Hosting's service to harm, or attempt to harm, minors in any way, including, but not limited to child pornography.
Pornographic Sites: Use of GW Hosting's service to offer pornographic material by free distribution or commercial for pay services. This rule may not apply to certain types of photographic sites or photographer's portfolios. The distinction of what constitutes a pornographic site shall be made at the sole discretion of GW Hosting.
Sites Supporting Terrorism: GW Hosting will not tolerate any site being hosted on its servers which supports or advocates terrorism whether foreign or domestic.
Threats: Use of the GW Hosting's service to transmit any material (by e-mail, uploading, posting or otherwise) that threatens or encourages bodily harm or destruction of property.
Harassment: Use of the GW Hosting's service to transmit any material (by e-mail, uploading, posting or otherwise) that harasses another.
Fraudulent activity: Use of GW Hosting's service 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 anonymous remailers or nicknames does not constitute impersonation.
Unsolicited commercial e-mail / Unsolicited bulk e-mail (SPAM) Use of the GW Hosting's service 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 GW Hosting account.
You may not use your account to send unsolicited bulk or commercial messages ("spam"). This includes, but is not limited to, bulk mailing of commercial advertising, informational announcements, charity requests, petitions for signatures, and political or religious tracts. Such messages may only be sent to those who have explicitly requested it.
Beginning Immediately, anyone hosting websites or services on our server that support spammers or cause any of our IP space to be listed in any of the various Spam Databases will have their server immediately removed from our network. The server will not be reconnected until such time that you agree to remove 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. Offenders will be charged at $300/hour for repair of damages related to Spam and having IP space listed in any Spam database. 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 GW Hosting account.
E-mail / Message Forging: Forging any message header, in part or whole, of any electronic transmission, originating or passing through the GW Hosting's service is in violation of this TOS.
Usenet SPAMing: GW 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 the GW Hosting's service to access, or to attempt to access, the accounts of others, or to penetrate, or attempt to penetrate, security measures of GW 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 GW Hosting account is subject to immediate termination.
Copyright, Intellectual Property or Trademark Infringement: Use of the GW Hosting's service to transmit any material (by e-mail, uploading, posting or otherwise) that infringes any copyright, intellectual property, 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.
Torrents: We allow the hosting of torrent tracker sites for legal content only. Any host found to be allow the tracking of copyright protected software applications or other data will face immediate suspension and account review. Please follow any request by copyright holders to remove links to downloadable files from your site. Ignoring these requests will only lead to them contacting our abuse department directly request immediate disconnection of your server. Hosting any kind of torrent services on a shared/reseller hosting account is prohibited.
Collection of personal data: Use of the GW Hosting's service to collect, or attempt to collect, personal information about third parties without their knowledge or consent.
Network disruptions and unfriendly activity: Use of the GW Hosting's service for any activity which affects the ability of other people or systems to use GW Hosting's 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 the Member's responsibility to ensure that their network is configured in a secure manner. A Subscriber may not, through action or inaction, allow others to use their network for illegal or inappropriate actions. A Subscriber 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. GW 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.
System Resources: Any one site found to be utilizing in excess of 5% of the system resources at any given time shall be suspended. Web hosting accounts are not to be used for storage purposes. We reserve the right to terminate such account if we see fit.
Fraud: Involves a knowing misrepresentation or misleading statement, writing or activity made with the intent that the person receiving it will act upon it.
Infringement of Copyright, Patent, Trademark, Trade Secret, or Intellectual Property Right: Distribution and/or posting of copyrighted or the aforementioned infringements will not be tolerated.
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 offense 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 GW Hosting's services could result in suspension service.
Third Party Accountability: GW Hosting's subscribers will be held responsible and accountable for any activity by third parties, using their account that violates guidelines created within the Acceptable Use Policy.
Violation of GW Hosting's Services: It is absolutely forbidden to host illegal pornographic content whereas the subjects are under the age of majority, or IRC related services on shared hosting accounts. Shared hosting accounts found hosting this material will be subject to immediate cancellation without refund.
IRC networks: IRC in any form is strictly prohibited on our network, unless otherwise stated.
Security
You are responsible for any misuse of your account, even if the inappropriate activity was committed by a client, 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.
Network Performance
GW Hosting's virtual sites operate on shared resources. Excessive use or abuse of these shared network resources by one customer (eg. in excess of 5% CPU usage) 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 GW Hosting's systems or networks. GW Hosting reserves the right to terminate or limit such activities.
Uptime Guarantee:
If your shared or reseller server has network downtime that is not within the 99.8% uptime you may receive a pro-rated refund up to or equal of one month of service. Network downtime does not include planned maintenance. Approval of the credit is at the discretion of GW Hosting dependant upon justification provided. The uptime of a server is defined as the reported uptime by the server's operating system. To request a credit, please submit a sales ticket. All requests must be made in writing via the Support Desk.
GW Hosting's staff members
Abuse of any kind in any communication between Client and Provider will not be tolerated. Provider reserves the right to Terminate Client Services for excessive abuse and the right to determine when to apply said Termination.
Billing and Overdue Accounts
Payments to GW Hosting are on a subscription basis, rebilling will occur on the anniversary date of the subscription. Where applicable, GW Hosting will automatically attempt to deduct the payment on the due date.
All invoices must be paid on or before the due date, failure to do so may result in suspension or termination of the Clients account at GW Hosting. It is the Client's responsibility to know when the invoice is due, and to pay it by the due date. If a client holds multiple services with GW Hosting, this is considered a single account, and all services may be suspended due to an overdue invoice.
Any invoice that is overdue for 14 days or more will be charged an additional $10 late fee. If GW Hosting fails to collect Clients debt at 30 days or past the invoice due date, we reserve the right to turn the account over to a third party (either a collections agency or attorney) for further action. All costs incurred through the debt collection process are billable to the Client.
Server Disconnections:
In the event of breach of GW Hosting's TOS by abuse or non-payment, customer must pay a reconnection fee of $35/server.
Remote Hands:
Remote hands are billed are charged at a rate of $80/hour for basic support, and $120/hour for advanced support.
Data Integrity:
You use at your own risk, GW Hosting is not responsible for files and/or data residing on your account. You agree to take full responsibility for files and data transferred and to maintain all appropriate backup of files and data stored on GW Hosting's servers.
Colocation:
Customer is allowed to remove their equipment from the facility if and only if they have paid all outstanding invoices.
Reporting Violations of GW Hosting's Acceptable Use Policy
GW Hosting requests that anyone who believes that there is a violation of this TOS direct the information to the Abuse Department at »Report Abuse Form.
If available, please provide the following information:
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. GW Hosting may take any one or more of the following actions in response to complaints:
Account Cancellations
All shared and reseller account cancellations must be submitted 7 days before the next billing cycle. Dedicated server and all other account cancellations must be made 14 days before the next billing cycle, failure to do so will result in service being billed for an additional cycle. Cancellations must be submitted via writing in the Contact Form, failure to submit the cancellation via the Client area will result in the cancellation not being processed. Cancellation requests must also include the domain name associated with the account if it is a shared or reseller account, and server IP address if it is a dedicated server. You may be contacted shortly after the submission of your cancellation request, you must respond to complete the cancellation process.
Revisions of the Acceptable Use Policy
GW Hosting reserves the right to revise, amend, or modify this TOS, our TOS (Terms of Service) and our other policies and agreements at any time and in any manner.