Cognent Acceptable Use Policy (AUP)

By using our web hosting and email services, you agree to comply with our policies. You are expected to use the Internet with respect, courtesy, and responsibility, giving due regard to the rights of other Internet users. We expect you to have a basic knowledge of how the Internet functions, the types of uses that is generally acceptable, and the types of uses that are to be avoided. Common sense is the best guide as to what is considered acceptable use.

The following are unacceptable uses:

Illegal Activities: Illegal activities in any form, including but not limited to activities such as unauthorized distribution or copying of copyrighted software, violation of U.S. export restrictions, harassment, fraud, trafficking in obscene material, drug dealing, and other illegal activities is expressly prohibited.

Interpretation: The provisions of this Policy are intended as guidelines and are not meant to be exhaustive. Generally, conduct that violates law, regulation, or the accepted norms of the Internet community, whether or not expressly mentioned in this Policy, is prohibited. Cognent, Inc. reserves the right at all times to prohibit activities that may damage its commercial reputation and goodwill. 

Illegal Use: Cognent, Inc. servers may be used only for lawful purposes. Transmission, distribution or storage of any material in violation of any applicable law or regulation is prohibited. This includes, without limitation, material protected by copyright, trademark, trade secret or other intellectual property rights used without proper authorization, and material that is obscene, defamatory, constitutes an illegal threat, or violates export control laws. Examples of non-acceptable content or links are "Pirated software", "Hackers programs or archives", "Warez Sites", "Irc Bots" and "Mp3". Cognent, Inc. will be the sole arbiters as to what constitutes a violation of this provision.

System and Network Security: Violations of system or network security are prohibited and may result in criminal and civil liability. Examples include, but are not limited to the following: unauthorized access, use, probe, or scan of a systems security or authentication measures, data or traffic. Interference with service to any user, host or network including, without limitation to mail bombing, flooding, deliberate attempts to overload a system and broadcast attacks. Forging of any TCP/IP packet header or any part of the header information in an e-mail or a newsgroup posting is expressly prohibited. It is a violation for anyone to employ posts or programs that consume excessive CPU time or storage space, permits the use of mail services, mail forwarding capabilities, POP accounts, or auto responders other than for their own account; or resells access to CGI or other scripts installed on our servers.

Tortious Conduct: No one shall post defamatory, scandalous, or private information about a person without their consent, intentionally inflicting emotional distress, or violating trademarks, copyrights, or other intellectual property rights.

Spamming: Sending unsolicited mail messages, including, without limitation, commercial advertising and informational announcements, is expressly prohibited. A user shall not use another site's mail server to relay mail without the express permission of the site or distribute advertising or promoting software or services that have the primary purpose of encouraging or facilitating unsolicited commercial E-mail or spam. It is contrary to our policy for customers to use our servers to effect or participate in any of the following activities: To send unsolicited mass e-mailings, if such unsolicited e-mailings provoke complaints from the recipients; To engage in any of the foregoing activities using the service of another provider, but channeling such activities through our servers, or using a Cognent provided server as a mail drop for responses; To falsify user information provided to us or to other users of the service in connection with use of a Cognent, Inc. service. When Cognent, Inc. becomes aware of an alleged violation of its Acceptable Use Policy, we will initiate an investigation (within 24-48 hours). During the investigation, we may restrict Customer's access in order to prevent further possible unauthorized activity. If the Customer is found in violation of our SPAM policy, we may, at our sole discretion, restrict, suspend, or terminate Customer's account and/or pursue other civil remedies. In addition, we reserve the right to pursue civil remedies for any costs associated with the investigation of a substantiated policy violation. If such violation is a criminal offense, we will notify the appropriate law enforcement of such violation. We do not issue service credits for any outages incurred through service disablement resulting from Policy violations. The Customer shall be held liable for any and all costs incurred by us because of the customer's violation of these terms and conditions. This is including, but is not limited to, attorney fees and costs resulting from Postmaster responses to complaints from and the cleanup of unsolicited commercial mailings and/or unauthorized bulk mailings and/or news server violations. First violations will result in a Cleanup Fee of $250 and the customer’s account will be reviewed for possible immediate termination. A second violation will result in a Cleanup Fee of $500 and immediate termination of the customer’s account. The Customer who violates this policy agrees to pay Investigation Fees of no more than $125 per hour that our personnel must spend to investigate any violations.

Modification: Cognent, Inc. reserves the right to add, delete, or modify any provision of this Policy at any time without notice.