Acceptable Use Policy

Article I: General Principles

Blue Arctic provides hosting services for legitimate business and personal use on infrastructure we own and operate. All users of Blue Arctic’s Services (“Clients”), including the Client’s end users, customers, reseller accounts, and any person or system accessing the Services through the Client’s account, must use the Services in a lawful manner and in accordance with applicable laws, regulations, and industry standards. This Acceptable Use Policy (“AUP”) establishes baseline standards for acceptable conduct and prohibits activities that could harm Blue Arctic’s network, infrastructure, reputation, or other customers.

The Client is responsible for all activity on the Client’s account, whether performed by the Client, the Client’s employees, contractors, end users, or any third party who gains access to the account, whether authorized or unauthorized. If the Client provides hosting, email, or other services to third parties (reselling), the Client is responsible for ensuring that all downstream users comply with this AUP.

Article II: Prohibited Conduct

The following uses of Blue Arctic’s Services are strictly prohibited:

Illegal Activity

• Using Services for any unlawful purpose or in violation of local, state, national, or international law
• Facilitating fraud, money laundering, identity theft, or other criminal activity
• Selling or distributing illegal drugs, controlled substances, weapons, explosives, or other contraband
• Child exploitation, child sexual abuse material (CSAM), or abuse of minors in any form
• Operating illegal gambling operations

Intellectual Property Violations

• Copyright infringement, including unauthorized distribution of copyrighted music, software, movies, images, or other protected content
• Trademark infringement or unauthorized use of protected marks
• Counterfeit goods or services
• Patent infringement or violation of trade secrets

Copyright infringement claims are handled under the DMCA process described in Article V of this policy and Terms of Service, Section 11.

Network Abuse and Security Threats

• Distributed Denial of Service (DDoS) attacks or other attacks on network infrastructure
• Port scanning, vulnerability scanning, or penetration testing without written authorization from the target and from Blue Arctic
• Unauthorized access to systems, accounts, or networks belonging to Blue Arctic or third parties
• Distribution of viruses, malware, trojans, worms, ransomware, keyloggers, or other malicious code
• Intentional system overload or resource exhaustion
• Phishing, spoofing, credential harvesting, or social engineering attacks
• Operating botnets or command-and-control infrastructure

Spam and Unsolicited Communications

• Sending unsolicited bulk email (spam) or other unsolicited commercial messages in violation of the CAN-SPAM Act or applicable anti-spam laws
• Email sending limits: 300 emails per hour maximum on shared, WordPress, and Drupal hosting accounts (as set forth in the Terms of Service, Section 7)
• Operating open mail relays or mail forwarders that facilitate spam
• Harvesting email addresses from websites or directories without consent
• Spoofing sender addresses, headers, or envelope information

Proxy and Anonymization Services

• IRC (Internet Relay Chat) bots or servers
• SOCKS proxy servers or HTTP proxy services
• Tor exit nodes or other anonymization network endpoints
• Squid proxy or other caching/proxy software used for circumventing network restrictions
• VPN services operated for the purpose of facilitating illegal activity or enabling third parties to circumvent legal restrictions

Excessive Resource Usage

• Using excessive CPU, memory, disk space, or bandwidth that degrades service for other customers on shared infrastructure
• Mining cryptocurrencies or performing other computationally intensive non-hosting activities
• Running background daemons, processes, or scripts that consume unreasonable system resources on shared hosting plans
• Overloading databases or executing inefficient queries that impact server performance
• Using hosting accounts primarily for file storage, backup, archiving, or content distribution rather than serving websites

Harassment and Harmful Content

• Hosting or distributing threatening, defamatory, abusive, or harassing content
• Coordinated harassment campaigns or targeted attacks against individuals
• Doxxing or publishing private personal information without consent
• Impersonation or misrepresentation of identity for deceptive purposes

Article III: Monitoring and No Obligation to Monitor

Blue Arctic does not routinely monitor the content of Client Data and assumes no obligation to do so. Blue Arctic may, however, monitor network traffic patterns, resource usage, and system logs for the purpose of maintaining network performance, enforcing this AUP, and protecting the security and integrity of its infrastructure and the Services of other customers.

Blue Arctic is not liable for any Client Data or third-party content hosted on or transmitted through its Services. The Client acknowledges that Blue Arctic acts as a passive conduit and hosting provider and does not exercise editorial control over Client Data.

Article IV: Enforcement and Remedies

Upon detection of suspected policy violations, Blue Arctic may take any or all of the following actions at its sole discretion, based on the severity and nature of the violation:

Graduated Enforcement

• Warning: For first-time minor violations (e.g., unintentional resource overuse, misconfigured scripts), Blue Arctic will issue a written notice via email or support ticket. The Client will have 24 hours to acknowledge the notice and 48 hours to remedy the violation, unless the violation poses an immediate threat to network integrity or other customers.
• Suspension: If the Client fails to remedy a warned violation within the specified timeframe, or if the violation is sufficiently severe to warrant immediate action (e.g., active malware distribution, spam, DDoS origination, CSAM), the account or affected Services may be suspended immediately. The Client will be notified of the suspension and the required remediation steps.
• Termination: Accounts engaged in severe, repeated, or willful violations may be terminated immediately without prior warning and without refund. Severe violations include but are not limited to: CSAM, active cyberattacks, repeat infringement, and willful fraud.

Additional Remedies

• IP Null-Routing: IP addresses associated with abuse may be blocked from the Blue Arctic network
• Content Removal: Blue Arctic may remove or disable access to specific content that violates this AUP
• Legal Action: Blue Arctic may pursue civil or criminal legal proceedings where appropriate
• Administrative Fees: Clients may be charged reasonable administrative fees for the actual costs incurred by Blue Arctic in investigating and remediating policy violations. Administrative fees will not exceed $250 per incident unless the violation requires extraordinary remediation (e.g., forensic analysis, legal response, third-party notifications), in which case Blue Arctic will provide the Client with a written cost estimate before incurring additional fees.
• Reporting: Blue Arctic may report violations to law enforcement, relevant authorities, affected third parties, or abuse clearinghouses (e.g., Spamhaus, SURBL) as appropriate

Appeals

The Client may appeal a suspension or termination decision by submitting a formal written request to abuse@bluearctic.com within 14 days of the enforcement action. The appeal must include a detailed explanation of why the Client believes the action was taken in error, along with evidence demonstrating compliance with this AUP. Blue Arctic will review appeals and respond within 10 business days. Enforcement decisions are made at Blue Arctic’s sole discretion and are presumed valid unless the Client demonstrates clear error.

Article V: Copyright and DMCA

Blue Arctic complies with the Digital Millennium Copyright Act (17 U.S.C. § 512). The complete DMCA notice-and-takedown procedure, counter-notification procedure, and repeat infringer policy are set forth in the Terms of Service, Section 11. Copyright infringement reports should be submitted to abuse@bluearctic.com or through the Abuse Reporting page.

Article VI: Liability and Indemnification

Violation of this Acceptable Use Policy does not relieve the Client of payment obligations for Services. Suspended or terminated accounts remain responsible for all charges incurred up to the effective date of suspension or termination. If an account is terminated due to an AUP violation, no refunds will be issued for the current or any prior billing period.

The Client agrees to indemnify and hold harmless Blue Arctic from any third-party claims, damages, liabilities, costs, and expenses (including reasonable attorneys’ fees) arising from the Client’s violation of this AUP. This includes, but is not limited to, claims from other customers, intellectual property holders, law enforcement investigations, or regulatory actions. The indemnification obligations set forth in the Master Service Agreement, Section 10, apply in full to AUP-related claims.