Terms of Service Agreement

This Terms of Service Agreement (TOS) is a formal and legally binding agreement between Hartle Hosting (Hosting Company) and You, the service user (you, Subscriber). Use of our service constitutes acceptance and agreement to the TOS in full.

• Purpose and Overview of the TOS

  The TOS is provided to give our Subscribers and users a clear understanding of what we expect of them while using our services. All users of our services including those who access our services but do not have accounts, as well as those who pay a service fee to subscribe to the services, must comply with our TOS. 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 the content of any website, e-mail transmission, newsgroups, or other material created or accessible over or through the services, except for certain proprietary websites. However, in accordance with our TOS, we may remove any materials that, in our sole discretion, may be illegal, may subject us to liability, or which may violate the TOS. We may cooperate with legal authorities and/or third parties in the investigation of any suspected or alleged crime or civil wrongdoing. Your violation of the TOS may result in the suspension or immediate termination of your account without prior notice.

  The following are guidelines for the establishment and enforcement of the TOS:
  - Ensure reliable service to our customers
  - Ensure security and privacy of our systems and network, as well as the networks and systems of others
  - Comply with existing laws
  - Maintain our reputation as a responsible service provider
  - Encourage responsible use of the Internet and discourage activities which reduce the usability and value of Internet services
  - Preserve the value of Internet resources as a conduit for free expression and exchange of information
  - Preserve the privacy and security of individual users

• Specific Violations of the TOS

  By using our services you agree not to commit any of the following specific violation of the TOS. The following constitute specific violations of the TOS:
  - Unsolicited commercial e-mail/Unsolicited bulk e-mail (SPAM)
  - Copyright or trademark infringement
  - Network disruptions and unfriendly activity
  - Inappropriate Use of Software
  - IRC network
  - Anime websites
  - Adult websites

• Security

  By using our services you agree to adopt adequate security measures to prevent or minimize unauthorized use of your account. Your password provides access to your account. It is your responsibility to keep your password secure. Sharing your password and account access with unauthorized users is prohibited. You should take care to prevent others from using your account since you will be held responsible for such use.

• Network Performance

  By using our service you agree to abide by this policy. Our services operate on shared resources. Excessive use or abuse of these shared network resources by one customer 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 our systems or networks. This may include certain scripts or forums that put excessive use on the SQL server in a way which degrades performance for other users. We reserve the right to terminate or limit such activities. Additionally, if your account(s) becomes the target of denial-of-service (DOS or DDOS) or other malicious attacks against the server, we reserve the right to end your service. Accounts may not be used as a download distribution point for your bundled software. They are to be used for standard web practices only. This means that all content stored on an account must be used for “normal” website use. “Un-normal” usage is anything that a shared server would not be able to provide under standard circumstances. If your account requires resources that are not able to be provided by a shared server, we may require you to rent a dedicated server. If you are unsure of whether your account may violate this policy, please contact us prior to subscribing.

• Payment

  We require that all Subscribers use an automatically recurring payment subscription through a payment processor (currently Paypal) OR pay via cheque within 30 days of invoice. Your recurring subscription must remain active at all times for your account to remain activated. If a subscription becomes inactive and/or is cancelled, we will suspend the account and issue a warning to the Subscriber to their email address on file. If the subscription is not rectified within 7-days of the warning we will delete the account from the server.  Such termination or denial will not relieve Subscriber of responsibility for the payment of all accrued charges, plus reasonable interest and any collection fees. We may allow some users to purchase our services with a one-time payment or subscription that is not automatically recurring. Any such allowance does not forfeit our right to require any such user to activate a recurring subscription at any time.

• General Operations

  Subscriber acknowledges that the service provided is of such a nature that service can be interrupted for many reasons other than the negligence of the Company and that damages resulting from any interruption of service are difficult to ascertain. Therefore, Subscriber agrees that the Company shall not be liable for any damages arising from such causes. In no event shall the Company be liable for any special or consequential damages, loss or injury. Although many of our own network providers guarantee an uptime of 99% or more, we make no guarantees about uptime performance because we realize there are influencing factors that are outside of our control, and in most cases even outside the control of the data centers and network providers we work with.

• Violation Reporting

  By using our service you agree to report violations of the TOS to us. Anyone who believes that there is a violation of our TOS should direct such information to us by email immediately. If available, please provide the following information:
  >> The IP address used to commit the alleged violation
  >> The date and time of the alleged violation, including the time zone or offset from GMT
  >> Evidence of the alleged violation
  >> 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. We may take any one or more of the following actions in response to complaints:
  - Issue written or verbal warnings
  - Suspend the Subscriber's newsgroup posting privileges
  - Suspend the Subscriber's account
  - Terminate the Subscriber's account
  - Bill the Subscriber for administrative costs and/or reactivation charges
  - Bring legal action to enjoin violations and/or to collect damages, if any, cause by violations

• Violation Procedures

  We are under no duty to look at each Subscriber's or user's activities to determine if a violation of the TOS has occurred, nor do we assume any responsibility through our TOS to monitor or police Internet-related activities. First violation: Any Subscriber, which we determine to have violated any element of the TOS, shall receive an email, warning them of the violation. The service may be subject at our discretion to a temporary suspension pending a Subscriber's agreement in writing, to refrain from any further violations.

  Second Violation: Subscribers that we determine to have committed a second violation of any element of this Acceptable Use Policy shall be subject to immediate suspension or termination of service without further notice.

  Suspension of Service or Cancellation: We reserve the right to suspend network access to any Subscriber if in the judgment of the network administrators the customer's account is the source or target of the violation of the TOS or for any other reason which we choose. If inappropriate activity is detected, all accounts of the Subscriber in question will be deactivated until an investigation is completed. Prior notification to the Subscriber is not assured. In extreme cases, law enforcement will be contacted regarding the activity.

• Revisions

  We reserve the right to revise, amend, or modify the TOS at any time and in any manner. In such case the amended or revised TOS will be posted to our website. Subscriber understands that changes to the TOS shall not be grounds for early contract termination or non-payment.