Terms of Service / Acceptable Use Policy

kaijuinc

New member
For new businesses, how do you form your terms of service and acceptable use policies?

Get a lawyer?
Copy somebody else's and change the words? Not advocating this, but we all know it happens!
Write it yourself with the influences of other ToS / AUP documents?

And do you keep it simple and open for interpretation, or do you get very specific?

I personally have adapted a generated policy from the Spamhaus AUP Builder, located at https://www.spamhaus.org/isp/aup_builder/

Here is my adapted AUP. Not necessarily looking for suggestions, as I'd like to keep the topic to how you come up with your AUP and not just "what is wrong with mine". I'm sure there's plenty wrong with mine.

ACCEPTABLE USE POLICY

This Acceptable Use Policy document, including the following list of Prohibited Activities, is an integral part of your Hosting Agreement with $COMPANY, INC. If you engage in any of the activities prohibited by this AUP document $COMPANY, INC may suspend or terminate your account.

$COMPANY, INC's Acceptable Use Policy (the “Policy”) for $COMPANY, INC Services is designed to help protect $COMPANY, INC, $COMPANY, INC's customers and the Internet community in general from irresponsible or, in some cases, illegal activities. The Policy is a non-exclusive list of the actions prohibited by $COMPANY, INC. $COMPANY, INC reserves the right to modify the Policy at any time, effective upon posting at {url removed} .

Prohibited Uses of $COMPANY, INC Systems and Services:

1. Transmission, distribution or storage of any material in violation of any applicable law or regulation is prohibited. This includes, without limitation, material protected by copyright, trademark, trade secret or other intellectual property right used without proper authorization, and material that is obscene, defamatory, constitutes an illegal threat, or violates export control laws.
2. Sending Unsolicited Bulk Email ("UBE", "spam"). The sending of any form of Unsolicited Bulk Email through $COMPANY, INC's servers is prohibited. Likewise, the sending of UBE from another service provider advertizing a web site, email address or utilizing any resource hosted on $COMPANY, INC's servers, is prohibited. $COMPANY, INC accounts or services may not be used to solicit customers from, or collect replies to, messages sent from another Internet Service Provider where those messages violate this Policy or that of the other provider.
3. Running Unconfirmed Mailing Lists. Subscribing email addresses to any mailing list without the express and verifiable permission of the email address owner is prohibited. All mailing lists run by $COMPANY, INC customers must be Closed-loop ("Confirmed Opt-in"). The subscription confirmation message received from each address owner must be kept on file for the duration of the existence of the mailing list. Purchasing lists of email addresses from 3rd parties for mailing to from any $COMPANY, INC-hosted domain, or referencing any $COMPANY, INC account, is prohibited.
4. Advertising, transmitting, or otherwise making available any software, program, product, or service that is designed to violate this AUP or the AUP of any other Internet Service Provider, which includes, but is not limited to, the facilitation of the means to send Unsolicited Bulk Email, initiation of pinging, flooding, mail-bombing, denial of service attacks.
5. Unauthorized attempts by a user to gain access to any account or computer resource not belonging to that user (e.g., "cracking").
6. Obtaining or attempting to obtain service by any means or device with intent to avoid payment.
7. Unauthorized access, alteration, destruction, or any attempt thereof, of any information of any $COMPANY, INC customers or end-users by any means or device.
8. Knowingly engage in any activities designed to harass, or that will cause a denial-of-service (e.g., synchronized number sequence attacks) to any other user whether on the $COMPANY, INC network or on another provider's network.
9. Using $COMPANY, INC's Services to interfere with the use of the $COMPANY, INC network by other customers or authorized users.

Customer Responsibility for Customer's Users

Each $COMPANY, INC customer is responsible for the activities of its users and, by accepting service from $COMPANY, INC, is agreeing to ensure that its customers/representatives or end-users abide by this Policy. Complaints about customers/representatives or end-users of an $COMPANY, INC customer will be forwarded to the $COMPANY, INC customer's postmaster for action. If violations of the $COMPANY, INC Acceptable Use Policy occur, $COMPANY, INC reserves the right to terminate services with or take action to stop the offending customer from violating $COMPANY, INC's AUP as $COMPANY, INC deems appropriate, without notice.

Last Modified: Tue, 20 Sep 16 12:37:06 +0000
 
Hello there,

Most people will say to get a lawyer, the reality is that most people start out with a template of some kind and modify it overtime to suit their business.

When I first started I was with HostGator and asked them if I could use their AUP/TOS and they allowed me to. Since then i've modified it as my business has evolved.

Regards,
Jack
 
depends what you are doing.

If you get a reseller account, VPS or Dedicated Server then you have to comply to that providers TOS etc. Anyone you provide hosting too also needs to comply with these, so it makes sense for you to just copy and paste the TOS etc. that you have to comply with and just adapt them to your business name etc.
 
Some reseller companies like innohosting for example will provide free ToS templates.

but a lot will just use these sorts of template without changing them, which causes issues.

and example is

say you have a VPS and one of the Terms you must adhere too is

'You must not allow unlimited plans on your server'

now you have 100 resellers on your server, each of these resellers must also adhere to that term of 'You must not allow unlimited plans on your server', so basically the terms you must follow are the same terms all your clients must also adhere too, so the best way is to copy and use the terms you have to adhere too ( but amend to using your company details), but also make sure that your terms comply with any current legislation in the country where your servers are based.
 
If I am not mistaken I think innohosting has compatible ToS
But ya the 100% thing to do is get a lawyer

Trading Standards here in the UK check mine.

This has been the case since i started in 1999 when i knew the manager of our local office on a personal level and asked his advice on a clause i had added.
He asked me to send over a full printout of all my legal policies and he would get someone from their legal dept to look over them.

The come back and my privacy policy was OK apart from me not being registered under the Data Protection Act, so that costs me £35 a year. My AUP was fine, but my TOS was like a total rewrite, bits removed, bits added and bits changed etc.
Now if i need to make a change i check with them first before adding the change
 
well, Starter companies never paid fees for advocates to provide legal terms and documents because it not necessary because starters haven't much customers and they don't have much budget as well to handle such acitivities. The best option for starters has to wait for the success and then they can update their TOS/Policy etc. I am sure there are also plenty of cheap service which provides custom written tos/policy for the companies. you can find on the fiverr and some other market places.
 
well, Starter companies never paid fees for advocates to provide legal terms and documents because it not necessary because starters haven't much customers and they don't have much budget as well to handle such acitivities. The best option for starters has to wait for the success and then they can update their TOS/Policy etc. I am sure there are also plenty of cheap service which provides custom written tos/policy for the companies. you can find on the fiverr and some other market places.

TOS/AUP/PP should all be relevant to YOUR business, so no good going to fiverr and purchasing a set.

starter or experienced startup we all have TOS we have to follow

1) You start as a reseller you have a set of TOS etc. that you have to follow from your provider - All the clients you take on must also adhere to the same policies, so it is best practice that you copy these same policies and just change the company name to suit your business.

2) You rent a VPS/Dedicated Server you have a set of TOS etc. that you have to follow from your provider - All the clients you take on must also adhere to the same policies, so it is best practice that you copy these same policies and just change the company name to suit your business.

3) You Colo you have a set of TOS etc. that you have to follow from the Datacentre - All the clients you take on must also adhere to the same policies, so it is best practice that you copy these same policies and just change the company name to suit your business.

3) You purchase a Dedicated Server you have a set of TOS etc. that you have to follow from the Datacentre - All the clients you take on must also adhere to the same policies, so it is best practice that you copy these same policies and just change the company name to suit your business.
 
When I first started I was with HostGator and asked them if I could use their AUP/TOS and they allowed me to. Since then i've modified it as my business has evolved.

TOS/AUP/PP should all be relevant to YOUR business, so no good going to fiverr and purchasing a set.

starter or experienced startup we all have TOS we have to follow

1) You start as a reseller you have a set of TOS etc. that you have to follow from your provider - All the clients you take on must also adhere to the same policies, so it is best practice that you copy these same policies and just change the company name to suit your business.

2) You rent a VPS/Dedicated Server you have a set of TOS etc. that you have to follow from your provider - All the clients you take on must also adhere to the same policies, so it is best practice that you copy these same policies and just change the company name to suit your business.

3) You Colo you have a set of TOS etc. that you have to follow from the Datacentre - All the clients you take on must also adhere to the same policies, so it is best practice that you copy these same policies and just change the company name to suit your business.

3) You purchase a Dedicated Server you have a set of TOS etc. that you have to follow from the Datacentre - All the clients you take on must also adhere to the same policies, so it is best practice that you copy these same policies and just change the company name to suit your business.

If you get a reseller account, VPS or Dedicated Server then you have to comply to that providers TOS etc. Anyone you provide hosting too also needs to comply with these, so it makes sense for you to just copy and paste the TOS etc. that you have to comply with and just adapt them to your business name etc.


As simple as the statements above. If the parent host or provider puts you can only do ABC with your account, then you can only allow ABC to your customers. If you give customers the ability to do DEF, then you've broken the rules set between you and the provider...which is not wise.

I too used my providers TOS in the past, BUT I asked them beforehand and they had no problem with it as long as it reflected my business and had my name on it. They quickly looked it over and approved, and then I also had it looked over legally. No point reinventing a wheel that was already worked.
 
I too used my providers TOS in the past, BUT I asked them beforehand and they had no problem with it as long as it reflected my business and had my name on it. They quickly looked it over and approved, and then I also had it looked over legally. No point reinventing a wheel that was already worked.

Yes always ask first and any good host will have no problem in you using their policies.
Having them legally checked is also a wise move, when i started in 1999 i knew the manager of our local Trading Standards Dept. personally and i asked his advise on a point i wanted to add regarding terminations and no refunds. he told me he would get one of the team look over them fully and check they complied with current legislation. they come back within a week and then amount of work i had to do it was like a rewrite, with bits removed, bits added , wording changed, but at least i knew they we legally correct, now if i need to make any amendments i just email them over to them and they give me a yes or no or a better way of putting it.
 
With a bit of research you can find TOS generators which ask you a few questions and generate a basic TOS policy which you could edit at your own discretion, i cant think of any at the moment but a basic google search should have you on your way in no time!
 
With a bit of research you can find TOS generators which ask you a few questions and generate a basic TOS policy which you could edit at your own discretion, i cant think of any at the moment but a basic google search should have you on your way in no time!

these generators are useless as the questions they ask dont reflex any sort of business. As i stated earlier the best TOS to use is the ones that you have to adhere too as these are the same ones you must have your clients adhere too
 
nice info

resellers usually copy their provider TOS/AUP, since they use the provider server, of course edit as much as you need

Yes that what i stated earlier. as a reseller you are bound by your providers TOS/AUP along with any client you take on they are bound by the same TOS/AUP, so you just need to amend these to suit your business details
 
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