This Acceptable Use Policy (“AUP”) describes what is and is not allowed on Maxinames services. It applies to every person who uses our network, including end-users of sites we host. The AUP is part of our Terms of Service; you accept it when you accept the Terms.
We update the AUP from time to time as the threat landscape changes. The current version is always at this URL. Material changes are notified by email at least 30 days in advance unless a shorter period is required by law or to address an urgent risk.
1. Prohibited content
You must not use the Services to host, link to, transmit, or make available any of the following:
- Child sexual abuse material (CSAM)— zero tolerance, immediate termination, mandatory reporting to NCMEC and relevant authorities.
- Content that promotes, incites, or facilitates terrorism, mass-casualty violence, or violent extremism.
- Content that infringes copyright, trademark, trade-secret, or other intellectual-property rights, including pirated software, films, music, and counterfeit goods.
- Phishing pages, fake-login pages, fraudulent invoices, impersonation of any brand or person, and other deceptive content.
- Malware in any form — viruses, worms, trojans, ransomware, spyware, exploit kits, command-and-control infrastructure, droppers, or pages serving any of the above.
- Sites soliciting unlawful activity, including the sale of controlled substances, illegal weapons, stolen credentials, or counterfeit identification.
- Content that violates the privacy or publicity rights of an individual, including non-consensual intimate imagery and doxxing material.
- Content prohibited by the laws of the United Kingdom or your country of residence.
2. Prohibited network activity
- Port scanning, vulnerability scanning, brute-force attempts, or any unauthorised probing of systems — including your own systems hosted with us — without prior written consent from Maxinames.
- Launching, participating in, or facilitating denial-of-service attacks, including reflection / amplification attacks.
- Operating open mail relays, open proxies, or anonymisation services that enable abuse from third parties.
- Operating Tor exit nodes on shared infrastructure (Tor relays and bridges are permitted on dedicated VPS, with notification and within reason).
- Falsifying packet headers, source IP addresses, or any part of an email header, DNS record, or other internet identifier.
- Cryptocurrency mining or other consistently CPU-intensive non-web workloads on shared hosting (permitted within reason on dedicated VPS where you bear the cost).
- Any activity that violates a third party's acceptable use policy or the policies of an upstream network.
3. Email and bulk messaging
- No spam. Unsolicited bulk email is prohibited, whether sent directly through our SMTP servers or relayed via a third-party service.
- Confirmed opt-in only. Mailing lists must be built from confirmed opt-in subscribers. Purchased, scraped, harvested, or appended lists are not permitted.
- Honour unsubscribes. Every commercial message must contain an accurate sender identity, a physical postal address (where required by law), and a working unsubscribe mechanism that is processed within ten days.
- SMTP limits. Shared hosting plans are subject to per-hour outbound mail limits. For high-volume campaigns, use a dedicated transactional email provider (Postmark, SendGrid, Amazon SES, etc.).
- SPF / DKIM / DMARC. You are responsible for publishing valid SPF, DKIM, and DMARC records for any domain you send mail from.
4. Resource use
Shared hosting plans share CPU, memory, disk I/O, inodes, and bandwidth among many customers. Your plan describes the allowance. You agree to:
- Use the Services for normal website serving. Sustained high-CPU background processes (mass image processing, batch jobs, search-engine crawlers indexing your own content, constantly-running queue workers) are reasons to upgrade to a VPS.
- Refrain from storing files unrelated to your website — off-site backups of unrelated systems, video / media archives, file dumps, or any kind of file-distribution use.
- Keep your CMS, themes, and plugins fully patched. Compromised sites that consume excessive resources or send abuse traffic will be suspended for cleanup.
- Avoid running scripts that fork unbounded sub-processes, consume all available file handles, or otherwise destabilise the shared environment.
5. High-risk industries and special-category content
Some content is permitted only with prior written approval from our trust & safety team:
- Adult content. Lawful adult content is permitted on dedicated VPS plans only, and must be age-gated, must comply with all applicable record-keeping requirements (e.g. 18 U.S.C. §2257), and must not appear on shared hosting.
- Online gambling. Permitted only with valid licences for every jurisdiction in which the site operates.
- Cryptocurrency exchanges, mixers, and high-risk financial services. Subject to enhanced due diligence.
- Pharmaceutical sales. Permitted only for licensed pharmacies operating within their jurisdiction.
6. Intellectual property and DMCA
We respect intellectual-property rights and respond to valid take-down notices.
To submit a notice under the U.S. Digital Millennium Copyright Act (DMCA) or an equivalent national law, send the following to abuse@maxinames.com: a description of the copyrighted work, the URL of the allegedly infringing material, your contact details, a good-faith statement that you believe the use is unauthorised, a statement under penalty of perjury that the notice is accurate and that you are authorised to act on behalf of the rights holder, and your physical or electronic signature.
We will forward valid notices to the affected customer and remove the material in line with the applicable safe-harbour process. Counter-notices follow the same submission requirements and are handled in line with the same statute. Repeat infringers will have their accounts terminated.
7. Scraping, automated access, and AI training
You must not use the Services to scrape, harvest, or otherwise collect data from third-party sites in violation of the source site's terms or robots.txt, or in a way that places undue load on the source. Hosting an AI training pipeline is permitted, but you are responsible for the lawfulness of your inputs.
8. Account use
- One person or organisation per account. Account sharing among unrelated parties is not permitted; use sub-accounts to grant controlled access to teammates and contractors.
- Reselling Services to third parties requires a reseller plan. You may host a finite number of client sites under your own account but you remain solely responsible for those sites' compliance with this AUP.
- You must not attempt to access another customer's account or data, reverse-engineer the Services, or interfere with their delivery to other customers.
9. Cooperation with investigations
If we receive a complaint, observe abuse, or are required to act by law or regulation, we may investigate. You agree to cooperate in good faith, including by providing access to relevant configuration, logs, and contact information. We may share information about the investigation with affected third parties and authorities to the extent permitted or required by law.
10. Enforcement
Where the violation is curable and not urgent, we will give you notice and a reasonable opportunity to remedy. Where the violation is severe, urgent, or repeated, we may take immediate action without notice, including:
- Removing or disabling the offending content.
- Suspending the affected Service or the entire account.
- Terminating the account.
- Reporting the matter to law enforcement.
- For domain registrations: locking, suspending, or cancelling the registration in line with ICANN, registry, and anti-abuse policies.
Termination for AUP violation is not eligible for a refund.
11. Appeals
If you believe an enforcement action against you is mistaken, email abuse@maxinames.com within fourteen days with the affected URL or account, the enforcement reference (where given), and the basis for your appeal. We will review and respond within seven business days.
12. Reporting abuse
To report content or activity on a Maxinames-hosted site that violates this AUP, email abuse@maxinames.com. Include the full URL, a clear description of the violation, and any evidence (screenshots, message headers, log excerpts). We acknowledge receipt within one business day, and resolve or escalate within five business days for routine matters — faster for issues involving CSAM, active phishing, or active malware distribution.
This document is provided for informational use and does not constitute legal advice. Have qualified counsel review it before relying on it for your specific situation.