Terms of Service (TOS) and Acceptable Use Policy (AUP)

Customers may not access or use any Services unless you agree to abide by all of the terms and conditions in this Agreement. Customers with questions about the following policies should contact Black Rock Hosting prior to signing up.  

Terms of Service Quick Reference Guide

Cancellations/Refund Policy: If a Customer cancels within 24 hours of registration, Customer is entitled to a full refund of all fees paid in connection with the registration. Cancellations prior to renewal date are not eligible for refunds. Black Rock Hosting has implemented a 6 month restriction on billing corrections. At no point will Black Rock Hosting seek adjustments or provide adjustments past a 6 month window regardless of circumstance (debits or credits). 

Abuse:  Any dedicated server hosting Customer in violation of system or network security will be subject to criminal and civil liability, as well as immediate account termination. Examples of abuse include but are not limited to unauthorized access, service interference, broadcast attacks, data interception, destructive computer programs and fraud.

Spam: Black Rock Hosting has a zero-tolerance spam policy and will address each case independently, swiftly and appropriately.

Inappropriate or Unlawful Content: Customers may not post or link to content that is defamatory, abusive or obscene, violates a person's reputation/privacy, is reasonably deemed offensive by the web community, or anti-human rights, or contains any type of threatening or hate speech, encourages harassment or physical harm to any group or individual, or is otherwise malicious/fraudulent.

 

Terms of Service

Black Rock Hosting ("Company") agrees to provide services to the Subscriber ("Customer") subject to the following Terms of Service.

1. Services: Black Rock Hosting will provide the hardware, operating system (OS), system software and internet connectivity as specified in the specific Customer plan. Black Rock Hosting will provide the Customer with root level access via “sudo” for the assigned server. If the plan includes "Managed Services," Black Rock Hosting will maintain the hardware, operating system, system software and internet connectivity.
2. Excluded Services: The following items/services are excluded unless otherwise specified by the plan: custom or third party software installation, software maintenance and troubleshooting, software patches, upgrades and custom scripts. Consulting services are available based on hourly rates and physical security.
3. Acceptable Use Policy (AUP):  Service constitutes acceptance of agreement to Black Rock Hosting Acceptable Use Policy (AUP). AUP is available online at https://www.blackrockhosting.com/TOS. 
4. Non-Payment: Services will not be activated until the initial payment and executed agreement are received and processed by Black Rock Hosting. Thereafter, services will be paused if Customer defaults per plan agreement. It is the Customer’s responsibility to ensure prompt payment. Rejected payments will result in an immediate service disruption. Service will be re-activated only after outstanding balance is resolved. If payment is not received within 10 days, the account and associated services will be terminated.

6. Cancellations and Refunds:  Black Rock Hosting provides a money-back guarantee for new hosting account registrations, subject to the following terms and conditions:

1. Cancellations within the first 24 hours of Registration: If a Customer cancels within 24 hours of registration, Customer is entitled to a full refund of all fees paid in connection with the registration.  
2. Early cancellations prior to renewal date:  If Customer cancels prior to the renewal date, refunds will not be given.
3. Cancellation after renewal: Product cancellations made after a renewal payment will not be refunded. All cancellations must be made prior to the monthly renewal.
4. Cancellation due to abuse: No refund or credit will be given for any product terminated due to abuse complaints.
5. Notice of Cancellation: To verify ownership of the server, service or account, the customer agrees to cancel products and services via Customer portal. Servers, services and accounts may not be cancelled via email. Customer understands that cancelling will delete all data from the server or service.  
6. Chargebacks and Reversals:  If Customer initiates a chargeback or reversal of charges without following the aforementioned cancellation procedures, the Customer will be responsible for a $25.00 billing service fee. Server accounts with an open dispute may be disabled for security purposes.
7. Black Rock Hosting has implemented a 6 month restriction on billing corrections. At no point will Black Rock Hosting seek adjustments or provide adjustments past a 6 month window regardless of circumstances (debits or credits).

7. Limited Liability: PROVIDER SHALL NOT BE LIABLE UNDER ANY CIRCUMSTANCES FOR ANY SPECIAL, CONSEQUENTIAL, INCIDENTAL OR EXEMPLARY DAMAGES ARISING OUT OF OR IN ANY WAY CONNECTED WITH THIS AGREEMENT OR THE PRODUCT, INCLUDING BUT NOT LIMITED TO DAMAGES FOR LOST PROFITS, LOSS OF USE, LOST DATA, LOSS OF PRIVACY, DAMAGES TO THIRD PARTY EVEN IF PROVIDER HAS BEEN ADVISED OF THE POSSIBILITY OF SUCH DAMAGES. THE FOREGOING LIMITATION OF LIABILITY SHALL APPLY WHETHER ANY CLAIMS BASED UPON PRINCIPLES OF CONTRACT, WARRANTY, NEGLIGENCE OR OTHER TORT, BREACH OF ANY STATUTORY DUTY, PRINCIPLES OF INDEMNITY OR CONTRIBUTION, THE FAILURE OF ANY LIMITED OR EXCLUSIVE REMEDY TO ACHIEVE ITS ESSENTIAL PURPOSE OR OTHERWISE.  CUSTOMER IS RESPONSIBLE FOR USAGE AND RELATED CONSEQUENCES ASSOCIATED WITH ACCOUNT.
8. Technical Support:  Black Rock Hosting provides front line technical support via [e-mail].  Support is limited exclusively to hardware. Operating system or application setup assistance requires a support contract.  Installation and setup of the Operating System will incur a $50 charge unless hardware failures or errors are attributed to Black Rock Hosting. This fee may be waived at the discretion of Black Rock Hosting.
9. Excluded Support:  Black Rock Hosting only supports account-holding Customers. Black Rock Hosting does not support software applications or provide training, configuration or administration assistance.
10. Anti-Spam Provision:  Black Rock Hosting maintains a strict No Spam policy. The sending of any unsolicited e-mail advertising messages from, to, or through Black Rock Hosting's services may result in the imposition of civil liability against the sender, in accordance with local and federal law. Unsolicited bulk messages include, but are not limited to, commercial advertising, informational announcements and political or religious tracts. Black Rock Hosting reserves the right to audit all known commercial and public databases for information regarding prior history of unsolicited mail sending and may choose to deny or terminate services based on prior history. Individuals identified as ROKSO-level abusers will be denied service immediately.
11. Data Transfer Usage:Each Black Rock Hosting server has a dedicated network port with 1TB of outbound Data Transfer included. Outbound Data Transfer in excess of 1TB per month will result in additional charges.
12. Indemnification: Customer shall indemnify, defend by counsel reasonably accepted by Black Rock Hosting, protect and hold Black Rock Hosting and its directors, officers, employees, and agents from and against any and all claims, liabilities, losses, costs, damages, expenses, including attorneys, fees and court costs, demands or judgments directly or indirectly arising out of or related to the services.
13. System and Network Security: Security is key for information technology and Black Rock Hosting employs updated and secure procedures to protect Customer data.  Each server is built using the latest operating system builds and with the latest vendor-supplied patches.

1. Black Rock Hosting does not maintain control over operating systems and does not assume responsibility for Customer server security. Customer is wholly responsible for keeping server security protocols current. The exception is for servers directly maintained by Black Rock Hosting. Black Rock Hosting will maintain the security on directly managed servers and backup services.  
2. In the event of a system compromise on a host not maintained by Black Rock Hosting, Customer is responsible for data backup and notifying Black Rock Hosting of the issue.  
3. Black Rock Hosting reserves the right to take immediate action regarding security violations. This may include the immediate disconnection of servers without notice or termination of services.

14. Content: Customer is solely responsible for the content on the server(s) subject to the services.

 

SPAM Policy

What is spam?

In the context of electronic messaging, spam refers to unsolicited, bulk or indiscriminate messages, typically sent for a commercial purpose. It violates most acceptable use policies and is illegal to send from many places.

Have you received spam from Black Rock Hosting?

Please forward any details and the offending message to the abuse department. Black Rock Hosting has a zero-tolerance spam policy and will address each case independently.

Has your server been turned off due to sending spam?

Failure to respond to the abuse department may result in server disablement. No refunds will be given for outage time when there is verified unsolicited mail sending. Please respond to Black Rock Hosting’s abuse department notices with the specific details outlining prevention of future spam as well as steps taken to rectify the current issue.

Will my email be classified spam?

Black Rock Hosting does not classify email. Black Rock Hosting will act based upon complaints from major mail and network providers. Sending email using "best practices" will prevent mail from being classified as spam.

What are email "best practices"?

Please abide by standard email practices found in this document. Please note when Port 25 is opened, a valid rDNS submission is necessary.

What are the consequences of abuse complaints?

Every abuse complaint will be processed individually with expectation of the client resolving the matter and stopping spam/abuse complaints. Excessive complaints will result in service disruption, fine, and/or server or account termination. Contributing to an IP being blocklisted will result in removal of the IP and a fine. Repeat subscriber complaints will result in a fine.

Acceptable Use Policy

An Acceptable Use Policy (AUP) is a set of rules and conditions systematized by a network, system or a website owner that define and restrict the ways in which the network, system or website may be utilized. The AUP for dedicated servers of Black Rock Hosting is aimed at explicitly outlining the purposes for which Customers CANNOT use dedicated hosting services and position data on network servers.

This Acceptable Use Policy (AUP) is accepted as part of the Terms of Service each user agrees to abide by when signing up for a dedicated server account with Black Rock Hosting. Any violation of these AUP terms will be considered a violation of Terms of Service.

Black Rock Hosting shall be the final party to determine whether an act constitutes a violation of the AUP and misuse of provided services. Black Rock Hosting reserves the right to respond accordingly and/or immediately terminate the provision of the services upon discovery of any prohibited conduct outlined in AUP or any other action threatening the secure environment and/or network of servers. Black Rock Hosting is the sole arbiter in determining the sufficiency of the present evidences.

To protect company reputation and responsibilities and guarantee robust and reliable hosting service to all Customers as well as the privacy and security of all individual users, Black Rock Hosting hereby states the following AUP conditions to come into force for each user signing up for a dedicated server hosting account:

LEGAL COMPLIANCE

The Customer shall not post, transmit, re-transmit or store material on or through any of the Services or Products which, in the sole judgment of the Company (i) is in violation of any local, state, federal or non-United States law or regulation, (ii) threatening, obscene, indecent, defamatory or that otherwise could adversely affect any individual, group or entity (collectively, "Persons") or (iii) violates the rights of any person, including rights protected by copyright, trade secret, patent or other intellectual property or similar laws or regulations including, but not limited to, the installation or distribution of "pirated" or other software products that are not appropriately licensed for use by the Customer. The Customer shall be responsible for determining what laws or regulations are applicable to the use of the Services and Products.

CUSTOMER SECURITY OBLIGATION

Each Customer must take reasonable care to keep each server or network device up-to-date and patched with current security updates. Failure to protect a server may result in an external security compromise. The Company is not responsible for Customer server-level security unless a security administration package, a firewall security administration package or a fully managed operating system package is contracted for and maintained. A compromised server creating network interference will result in immediate Customer notification and will be disconnected from the network immediately. No service credits will be issued for outages resulting from disconnection due directly to breached server security. The Customer is solely responsible for any breaches of security affecting servers under Customer control, including repairing the system, terminating the account(s) of the abusive user(s), and reporting occurrence of the issue to [e-mail]. If a Customer intentionally creates a security breach, the cost to resolve any damage to the Customer's server or other servers will be charged directly to the Customer. The labor used to resolve such damage is categorized as emergency security breach recovery and will be charged $200.00 USD per hour.

SYSTEM ABUSE

Any dedicated server hosting Customer in violation of system or network security will be subject to criminal and civil liability, as well as immediate account termination. Examples include but are not limited to the following:

1. Unauthorized access, use, probe or scan of system security, authentication measures, data or traffic. Interference with the service to any user, host or network including, but not limited to: e-mail bombing, flooding, deliberate attempts to overload the system and broadcast attacks, forging of any TCP/IP packet header or any part of the header information in an e-mail or newsgroup posting.
2. Any attempt at harming a server or a Black Rock Hosting Customer
3. Black Rock Hosting will immediately and resolutely react to any attempt at misuse of an internet account or computer, or any attempt to gain access to an internet account or computer by a dedicated server hosting Customer unauthorized by the account/computer owner. Such attempts include, but are not limited to: 'Internet scamming' (tricking individuals into releasing sensitive information, etc.), password robbery, security hole scanning, running proxies (proxy lists and any kind of proxy scripts including, but not limited to php proxy and nph proxy), introduction of any destructive computer programs (viruses, Trojan horses, trap doors, back doors, worms, time bombs, packet bombs, cancel bots, etc.) that are intended to negatively interfere with, intercept, irreversibly damage or take hold of any system, data or personal information. It is irrelevant whether the attacked account or computer belongs to Black Rock Hosting or another customer. The fraud will be subject to actions based on the very nature of the attack and those may represent a warning, an account suspension or cancellation, and/or civil or criminal legal actions.
4. Executing any form of network activity that intercepts data not intended for the Customer's server will result in account termination.
5. Interfering with or denying service to any user, host, or network other than the Customer's host (example: denial of service attack or distributed denial of service attack) will result in account termination.
6. Conduct designed to avoid restrictions or access limits to specific services, hosts, or networks, including but not limited to the forging of packet headers ("spoofing") or other identification information will result in account termination.
7. Violators of the policy are responsible, without limitations, for the cost of labor to correct all damage to the operation of the network and business operations supported by the network. Such labor is categorized as an emergency security breach recovery and is currently charged at $500.00 USD per hour. Network interference by any Customers that may cause or is currently causing network interference with another Customer will be disconnected immediately. No service credits will be issued to Customers disconnected for network violations.

EMAIL POLICIES

SPAMMING IS PROHIBITED. Users MAY NOT utilize dedicated server hosting services to transmit, distribute or deliver any unsolicited bulk or commercial messages over the Internet (an action known as "spam" or "spamming").

Spamming is a violation of ethical standards and will be interpreted as an infringement. Black Rock Hosting does not tolerate the sending of unsolicited bulk or commercial messages through dedicated server hosting services, as well as through another service that references (in any way), Customer's domain name or implies the utilization of Black Rock Hosting’s server network or e-mail services for sending unsolicited bulk or messages.

SPAMVERTISING IS PROHIBITED. 'Spamvertizing' refers to the practice of sending unsolicited spam messages for the purpose of advertising.

If such e-mails are relayed through third party (e-mail spoofing) and/or are promoting a domain hosted on Black Rock Hosting’s servers, this will result in immediate account suspension unless an evidence of legitimacy for non-involvement of the domain owner in the particular illegal action is provided.

'E-mail spoofing' is a fraudulent e-mail activity in which the sender's (3rd party) e-mail address and other parts of the e-mail header are changed so as to appear that the e-mail has been sent from a different source (e-mail address owner/server).

'Unsolicited message' is a message that is sent against the privacy policy of a newsgroup, or is sent to a recipient without their explicit permission. Black Rock Hosting shall solely determine whether messages are spamvertizing. Spamming generally includes, but is not limited to the following:

1. Sending of unsolicited messages in bulk, or sending of unsolicited e-mails, which provoke complaints from recipients
2. Sending of junk mail
3. Use of distribution lists including people who have not given prior explicit permission to be involved in such a distribution process
4. Posting commercial ads to USENET newsgroups in violation of their TOS
5. Posting articles containing binary encoded data to non-binary newsgroups
6. Excessive and repeated posting of off-topic messages to newsgroups
7. Excessive and repeated cross-posting
8. E-mail harassment of another internet customer(s) including but not limited to, transmitting of any threatening, libellous or obscene material, or material of any nature that may be deemed offensive
9. E-mailing of age-inappropriate communications or content to anyone under the age of 18. BLOCK REMOVAL: If Customer actions have caused Company mail servers or Company IP address ranges to be placed on Block and/or Black Hole lists and other mail filtering software systems used by companies on the Internet, the Customer will incur a $200 charge and be charged $200 per hour remove and protect mail servers and IP ranges.
10. Drop-Box Accounts - Using this network for the receipt of replies to unsolicited mass email (spam) sent from a third-party network is prohibited.
11. Header Forgery: Forgery of email headers (including spoofing) is prohibited.
12. Proxy Spamming: Spamming via third-party proxy, aggregation of proxy lists, or installation of proxy mailing software is prohibited.
13. Relaying. Configuration of a mail server to accept and process third-party messages for sending without user identification and authentication is prohibited.

MASS MAILINGS: Sending mass unsolicited email is considered spam. Unsolicited email is defined as email sent to a recipient who has not double-opted in to mailings from the Customer. Senders of mass mailings must maintain complete and accurate records of all opt-ins, including the email and its headers if applicable, and provide such records to the Company upon request. If positive and verifiable proof of opt-in cannot be provided, complaints from recipients of the mailing are considered proof they did not subscribe and the mailing is unsolicited.

MAILING LISTS: Company's mass mailing rules also apply to mailing lists, list servs, or mailing services contracted for by the Customer. The policy is stated as follows: An acceptable mailing list will be focused at a targeted audience that has voluntarily signed up for email information using a double opt-in process or that has made their e-mail address available to the Customer for distribution of information. The list must also allow for automatic removal by all end Customers with non-distribution in the future.

IP ALLOCATION

The Company administers an Internet servicing multiple Customer servers. Customers shall NOT use IP addresses that were not assigned to them by the NOC staff or network administrators. Any server utilizing IP addresses outside of the assigned range will be suspended from network access until the IP addresses overlap can be corrected. Use of an unauthorized IP address will result in a charge of $20 per IP. Use of an unauthorized IP address creating a third party Customer outage will result in a $200 charge and termination of service until the IP allocation is resolved.

INAPPROPRIATE OR UNLAWFUL CONTENT

Content published or transmitted via Black Rock Hosting's dedicated server hosting services includes website content, email content, forum/blog postings, chat content, and/or any other type of content hosted on dedicated servers, published online or transmitted through Black Rock Hosting’s network services.

The user(s) of dedicated server hosting services are NOT permitted to post online content or have links to content that:

1. is defamatory, abusive or obscene, violates a person's reputation/privacy, is reasonably deemed offensive by the web community, or anti-human rights, or contains any type of threatening or hate speech, encourages harassment or physical harm to any group or individual, or is otherwise malicious/fraudulent and may result in complaints/liabilities/or retaliation against Black Rock Hosting by offended viewers.
2. promotes or encourages illegal activities (e.g. illegal drugs, illegal gambling, arms trafficking, etc.) or violates any applicable law, statute, ordinance or regulation, including but not limited to the laws and regulations governing export control, unfair competition, false advertising, consumer protection, etc.
3. represents illegal pornography - any type of pornographic/adult material, including child pornography, or advertisements of pornographic websites deemed illegal.
4. represents infringement on copyright, patents, trademarks, trade secrets, or third party's intellectual property or proprietary rights, including pirated computer programs, hacking/phreaking software, warez or any type of software/content (including also ROMs, ROM Emulators, media files - MP3, AVI, .RM, etc., torrent files, and others) that is copyrighted, is NOT uploaded in compliance with its license agreement or is NOT freely available for distribution.

COPYRIGHTS

Copyrighted material must not be placed on Customer’s dedicated server hosting accounts without the explicit permission of the copyright owner or person specifically authorized to give such permission. Upon receipt of a claim for copyright infringement, or a notice of such violation, Black Rock Hosting will immediately run a full investigation and promptly remove the infringing material. Further procedures (in accordance with stated corrective measures) will be executed if necessary.

Black Rock Hosting assumes no liability to any Customer of dedicated server hosting services for the removal of any such material. Repeated violations of Black Rock Hosting's Copyright Infringement Policy may result in account termination.

CORRECTIVE ACTIONS

Black Rock Hosting reserves the right to be the sole arbiter in determining the severity of each infringement and to take immediate corrective actions.

Black Rocking Hosting will disable the Customer's dedicated server hosting account if deemed necessary. Upon closing of the Customer's account, an email notification to the Customer, stating the reason for the termination and associated Terms of Service violation will be sent. The Customer will be given an opportunity to respond and take measures to remedy the situation should he/she consider him/herself abused by a third party. Upon fulfillment of this obligation, Black Rock Hosting may re-activate the Customer's account if sufficient evidence is present.

Closed accounts due to repeated violations will not be re-activated.

REPORTING VIOLATIONS

Report an AUP violation to Black Rock Hosting immediately.  Black Rock Hosting will fully investigate the situation and provide professional assistance.

POLICY FOR HOSTING RESELLERS

If using dedicated server for reseller hosting purposes, Customer is responsible for the conduct of their Customers and in accordance with this AUP, acknowledge user adherence to the AUP. Hosting resellers should notify prospective Customers aware of the AUP and the consequences for violation.

REVISIONS

Black Rock Hosting reserves the right to change the AUP at any time without prior notice.  Black Rock Hosting encourages Customers to periodically review the Acceptable Use Policy and the dedicated Terms of Service. Current Revision September 2020.