ACCEPTABLE USE POLICY

The Acceptable Use Policy (“AUP”) describes the types of activities that are not allowed on Sive.Host’s network and services, and forms part of Our Hosting Terms.

All services provided by Sive.Host may be used for lawful purposes only. The transmission, storage, publication, display, or presentation of any information, data, or material in violation of applicable law is prohibited. This includes, without limitation, copyrighted material, material that is threatening or obscene, and material protected by trade secret or similar law.

The subscriber agrees to indemnify and hold harmless Sive.Host, its employees, and its agents from any claims arising from the use of the service where such use causes loss or damage to the subscriber, another customer, or any third party.

This AUP is actively and strictly enforced. Offending content or users may be suspended from our network as soon as they are discovered. Where reasonably practicable, we will inform you when and why action has been taken.

Pornography is prohibited on all Sive.Host servers. This includes websites containing sexually explicit material, hardcore adult images, or adult advertising.

The subscriber acknowledges that services may be interrupted for reasons beyond the direct and exclusive control of Sive.Host, and that damages resulting from interruption of service may be difficult to determine. Accordingly, Sive.Host will not be liable for damages arising from causes beyond its direct and exclusive control.

The subscriber further acknowledges that Sive.Host’s liability for its own negligence, to the extent liability cannot lawfully be excluded, will in no event exceed an amount equal to the charges payable by the subscriber for the period during which the damages occurred. In no event shall Sive.Host be liable for any special or consequential damages, loss, or injury.

Illegal conduct in any form is prohibited, including but not limited to the unauthorised distribution or copying of copyrighted software or data, harassment, fraud, or trafficking in obscene material. 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, audio, and video downloads may only be hosted if you are the author and copyright owner of the material or otherwise have the right to distribute it. Accounts suspended due to content violations or AUP breaches are not entitled to refunds.

Sive.Host reserves the right to require changes to, suspend, disable, or remove any website, account, database, application, process, or other component that does not comply with this AUP or our policies, and may do so immediately in an emergency or where operationally necessary.

To meet the changing needs of our customers, our business, the Internet environment, and the legal landscape, this AUP may be revised from time to time. Customers are encouraged to review it regularly.

If you believe that you have discovered a violation of any part of this AUP, please report it to abuse@webuyname.co.za.

1. SPAM and Unsolicited Email

Last updated: February 2016

Sending unsolicited commercial communication, including but not limited to email, instant messaging, SMS, chat rooms, discussion boards, and newsgroups, is not permitted via Sive.Host’s network.

Regardless of how the recipient’s email address was obtained, if email communication was not explicitly requested or consented to by the recipient, or if the recipient would not reasonably expect to receive it as a result of an existing relationship, the communication is considered unsolicited. This applies to both personal and business email addresses (for example: sales@companyxyz). Email communication that does not clearly originate from a consensual sender, or appears to come from a third party or affiliate without proper consent, is also considered unsolicited.

Examples of unsolicited communication include:

  • Purchased mailing lists, “safe lists”, scraped lists, or harvested email addresses where recipients did not explicitly agree to receive communication from a specified sender.
  • Emails where the recipient must opt out of future communication that they did not originally request.
  • A once-off invitation to receive further information where that invitation itself was not requested or consented to.
  • Mailing list communication sent to unwilling recipients or to recipients who asked to be removed but continue to receive messages after a reasonable period.

Mailing list operators should maintain meaningful records of recipient requests and consent, and every mailing list should include a working option to unsubscribe from future communication.

When Sive.Host receives a spam complaint, we may require you to prove that the recipient agreed to receive communication from you, and to show when, where, and how that consent was recorded.

Sive.Host reserves the right to suspend or terminate the account of any user who sends unsolicited email, with or without notice, in accordance with our Hosting Terms.

If you breach this policy, you may be held liable for any costs incurred by Sive.Host, including monetary losses, reputational harm, clean-up costs, or blacklist removal costs. Sive.Host reserves the right to charge a clean-up fee or recovery fee in its discretion.

The use of any other service for the purpose of sending spam with reference to Sive.Host services, including but not limited to mailboxes, autoresponders, or web pages, is also grounds for suspension or termination. Where a website is compromised and exploited for spam without your knowledge, Sive.Host may be more lenient for a first incident if you cooperate and remediate promptly. Repeat exploitations of the same website or customer account may result in suspension or termination.

2. Offensive Content

Last updated: February 2016

Sive.Host does not allow any of the following content, or links to such content, to be published on its hosting systems:

  1. Content of a pornographic, sexually explicit, or violent nature.
  2. Hate sites or content that could reasonably be considered discriminatory, including discrimination based on sex, race, age, or similar grounds.
  3. Illegal content, including stolen copyrighted material.
  4. Content that is defamatory or violates a person’s privacy.
  5. Content involving theft, fraud, drug trafficking, money laundering, or terrorism.
  6. Pirated software websites.
  7. Illegal gambling websites.

If Sive.Host, in its sole discretion, determines that customer content violates any law or this policy, it may:

  1. require the customer to remove the content immediately;
  2. require the customer to modify the content;
  3. suspend or terminate access to any service without notice;
  4. delete the offending content without notice; and/or
  5. notify relevant authorities, preserve backups or archives, disclose data as required by law, and take further steps as required or requested by such authorities.

3. Misuse of Account Features

Last updated: February 2016

  1. Operating any service which makes an account feature available to third parties for any use other than normal access to that account’s website is prohibited. Operating any service which enables or assists anonymous or abusive behaviour by third parties is prohibited. Operating any service that affects the stability or reliability of any Sive.Host server or network component, negatively impacts other users or Sive.Host, or degrades quality of service is prohibited. All account features are to be used solely to develop and implement the website or websites associated with that account.
  2. Reselling Multiple Domains on Sive.Host’s Web Hosting packages to a third party is not allowed. Multiple Domains are to be used solely for the Profile Owner’s own websites.

4. Shared Systems and Resource Usage

Last updated: February 2016

Customers using our shared environment may not use any shared system provided by Sive.Host in a way that interferes with normal operation, or that consumes a disproportionate share of system resources. Excessive server hits, excessive bandwidth usage, excessive disk usage, inefficient scripts, or inefficient database queries may negatively affect other users. Sive.Host is authorised to suspend an account where excessive resource usage negatively impacts other customers. Unless expressly stated, the examples below do not generally apply to dedicated servers.

  1. Users may not, through a cron job, CGI script, interactive command, or other means, initiate the following on Sive.Host’s shared servers:
    1. Run any process that requires more than 50MB of memory space.
    2. Run any program that requires more than 30 CPU seconds.
    3. Run more than 10 simultaneous processes.
    4. Send mail to more than 500 recipients within one hour. This may include one email to 500 recipients, 500 separate emails, or any combination thereof.
    5. Send or receive any email attachment larger than 20MB.
  2. If we discover that a customer is performing bulk mail runs on our shared systems exceeding the above limit, regardless of whether the activity constitutes spam, Sive.Host may deactivate the user’s account.
  3. Custom server-side CGI scripts may only be run by users with the appropriate package type (in Sive.Host’s case, the Web Hosting Basic package or higher). No user may run CGI scripts for the benefit of external websites or services.
  4. Interactive web applications commonly known as “chat” are not allowed on Sive.Host’s shared systems. These applications are better suited to dedicated servers.
  5. MySQL databases are provided to users of the Web Hosting StartUP plan and higher:
    1. Each qualifying package is limited to the allocated quota as published in the product matrix.
    2. Each individual database is limited to a maximum of 500 MB disk space.
    3. Databases may not be used to circumvent package disk allowances by storing websites in the database.
    4. Databases may only be used in conjunction with Sive.Host hosted packages. Access from outside our local network is provided strictly for site and database development.
    5. Only 10 concurrent MySQL connections per database user are allowed.
    6. Databases may not be used to store binary files including image and application files. Such files should be stored within the account and referenced by link.
    7. Sive.Host reserves the right to require changes to databases or database usage that adversely affect database server performance or other users. In extreme cases, Sive.Host may move or disable a database determined to be harming performance.
  6. Cron jobs are permitted on Sive.Host servers subject to the following:
    1. They may only be used by customers of the Web Hosting StartUP plan and higher.
    2. The job must not execute more often than every two hours.
    3. If a cron job is likely to consume excessive CPU, it should be assigned a lower CPU priority.

Resource limits are enforced by automated monitoring systems. These limits do not apply to Fully Managed Dedicated Servers, provided such usage does not interfere with Sive.Host’s ability to manage the server on the customer’s behalf.

5. Server Side Processes

Last updated: February 2016

  1. The installation or operation of any stand-alone, unattended server-side process (daemon) on Sive.Host shared servers, other than permitted cron jobs, is not allowed. Violation of this policy may result in immediate account termination without warning. This restriction does not apply to dedicated servers where such processes do not interfere with Sive.Host’s ability to manage the server on the customer’s behalf.
  2. This policy exists:
    • to protect the CPU and memory resources available on each server; and
    • to protect and enhance system security by not allowing unapproved third-party programs to accept outside connections.

6. Internet Abuse

Last updated: February 2016

You may not use our network to engage in illegal, abusive, or irresponsible behaviour, including:

  1. Unauthorised access to or use of data, services, systems, or networks, including attempts to probe, scan, or test vulnerability without express authorisation.
  2. Monitoring data or traffic on any network or system without authorisation.
  3. Interference with service to any user, host, or network, including mail bombing, flooding, deliberate overloading, or broadcast attacks.
  4. Use of an Internet account or computer without the owner’s authorisation.
  5. Collecting information by deceit, including scamming, password theft, phishing, security hole scanning, and port scanning.
  6. Use of Sive.Host’s service to distribute software that covertly gathers or transmits information about a user.
  7. Any activity likely to result in retaliation against our network.
  8. Any activity likely to breach applicable laws, regulations, or codes.
  9. Knowingly introducing any virus or contaminating program into Sive.Host’s service, or failing to use up-to-date virus scanning on downloaded materials.
  10. Forging email or other messages, trafficking in pirated software, port scanning, or use of similar tools.
  11. Using Sive.Host services to publish or disseminate information about the availability of pirated software or other illegal material, including lists of links to such material.

You must also comply with the acceptable use policies of any network or system you connect to through our services. If inappropriate activity is detected, accounts may be deactivated until investigation is complete. Prior notice is not guaranteed. In severe cases, law enforcement may be contacted.

7. Security

Last updated: February 2016

Sive.Host customers must take reasonable security precautions. Negligence may result in hacked websites, compromised mailboxes, blacklisting, phishing, spam, or other harm to the network and other customers.

  1. It is the customer’s responsibility to ensure that scripts and programs installed under their account are secure, up to date, and properly permissioned, regardless of the installation method. Users are ultimately responsible for all actions taken under their account, including compromise of usernames and passwords. Customers must use secure passwords. If a password is found to be weak, Sive.Host may notify the user and require it to be changed. Failure to change a weak password that contributes to compromise may result in suspension or termination.
  2. Passwords should consist of at least 11 mixed alphanumeric characters with case variation. Customers should not use common words as passwords and should change passwords regularly. In the event of abuse, Sive.Host reserves the right to reset passwords.

For further information, please refer to our FAQ or guidance on secure passwords where available.

8. Disk Usage

Last updated: June 2021

  1. Accounts with very large numbers of files may adversely affect server performance. Sive.Host applies the following inode limits: 100,000 files per account (for example emails, webpages, image files, folders, etc.) or 25,000 files per folder. Accounts exceeding these limits may have the affected files or folders excluded from our backup system. Shared and reseller servers allow 100,000 inodes per cPanel account as a soft limit. Uploads may still be possible after reaching that threshold, but once the account exceeds 100,000 inodes, it may no longer be included in weekly backups. If the account exceeds 250,000 inodes, it may be flagged for review and/or suspension under this AUP. Inode violations may include the creation and deletion of large volumes of files on a regular basis, file system damage, or exceeding 250,000 inodes. VPS packages are each limited to one million inodes. A VPS server reaching its inode limit may become inaccessible until inode usage is reduced.
  2. Using our servers as a personal storage facility is not permitted. Stored content must be directly related to the website or websites in question.
  3. Mailboxes that accumulate large volumes of email without being accessed are not allowed, including catch-all mailboxes or bounce mailboxes.
  4. Email older than five years may not be stored on the server.
  5. Individual emails of 25MB or larger may not be stored on the server for more than one month.
  6. Sive.Host applies disk usage quotas to its Web Hosting packages. Where applicable, customers may receive monthly notifications of domains that exceeded allocated quota, giving them an opportunity to reduce usage or upgrade to a higher package to avoid unnecessary charges. Customers may monitor disk usage through the webuyname.co.za Client Area.
  7. To improve efficiency and give customers more control over disk usage, an automated system may track, notify, and charge for over-usage. We do not enforce a specific inode limit on dedicated servers, but excessive inode counts on any server may negatively affect performance.

9. Web Hosting Traffic Usage

Last updated: February 2016

  1. Our Web Hosting packages do not necessarily have a fixed traffic quota because we want customers to have resources to build and grow an online presence. However, all usage remains subject to this Acceptable Use Policy and reasonable use principles designed to preserve server and network performance for all customers. Web Hosting plans are not intended for the sustained demand of large enterprises, and in such cases a dedicated server may be more appropriate.
  2. Using a Web Hosting plan primarily for online file storage or archiving electronic files is not permitted.
  3. Excessive video streaming or music hosting on a Web Hosting plan is prohibited.

For more information, please see our unlimited traffic policy.

10. Combining Traffic Quotas Across Multiple Servers

Last updated: February 2016

The generous quotas offered by hosting providers are generally based on an aggregated usage model. In practice, most customers use only a fraction of their quota, while a small number of customers are high users. This makes it commercially possible to offer generous quotas without raising prices for everyone.

In the case of dedicated servers that are combined to deliver a single service, the aggregated usage principle may not apply. Where multiple servers are effectively combined to act like a single large service platform, the individual quotas of those servers cannot automatically be pooled into one large quota. In such a case, the combined setup may be treated as a different product with different characteristics.

Traffic generated from a Colocation network and destined for the Internet should not be routed via a Dedicated Hosting server or network unless expressly agreed.

Examples include:

  • a video processing system requiring many servers for processing, databases, backups, and redundancy;
  • very popular websites (for example PaaS.Africa);
  • large SaaS implementations;
  • servers used for mass download purposes or caching proxies;
  • mass mail services;
  • shared hosting platforms; and
  • cloud hosting platforms.

In practice, most customers with clustered servers remain within acceptable usage patterns. A small number of customers may be contacted to discuss a more suitable quota model. If you are not contacted, it is generally not a concern. If you are concerned or want greater predictability, please contact help@webuyname.co.za.