Acceptable Use Policy

1. Introduction & Purpose

This Acceptable Use Policy ("AUP") sets out what you may and may not do with SilentHosts services. It applies to every Account, every Service, and every individual or entity acting through them.

1.1 Why this AUP exists

Offshore hosting is a legitimate market. The misperception that offshore = lawless damages every honest customer in the niche. We publish a clear, enforceable AUP because we want our customers — journalists, pseudonymous publishers, fair-use creators, privacy-conscious commercial operators — to operate with confidence that bad-faith neighbours will not be allowed to compromise the platform's integrity.

1.2 Relationship to other documents

This AUP is incorporated by reference into the Terms of Service. Where the AUP and Terms of Service overlap, the more restrictive provision applies. The AUP is enforced through the procedure set out in Section 13 below.

1.3 No safe harbour for illegal content

Hosting outside the United States does not place a customer above local law. We follow the law of each jurisdiction in which we operate. The "DMCA-resilient" framing described on /features/dmca-ignored is a defence against bad-faith takedown abuse, not an invitation to host illegal material.

2. Strictly Prohibited Content

The following categories are prohibited absolutely. Substantiated complaints in any of these categories result in immediate suspension and, after verification, termination without refund and reporting to relevant authorities where applicable.

2.1 Child sexual abuse material (CSAM)

Zero tolerance. We report all credible reports of CSAM to the National Center for Missing & Exploited Children (NCMEC) where the customer or content has US nexus, and to the equivalent national agency or INTERPOL otherwise. Hashes from PhotoDNA and similar industry blocklists are part of our abuse-handling process. There is no appeal procedure for confirmed CSAM-related terminations.

2.2 Terrorism and incitement to violence

Content meeting the EU Directive 2017/541 definition of terrorism content, content of a kind designated under United Nations Security Council resolutions on counter-terrorism, or content that constitutes incitement to imminent violence under the law of the jurisdiction in which the affected Service is hosted.

2.3 Malware command-and-control infrastructure

Servers operating as command-and-control nodes for botnets, ransomware, banking trojans, info-stealers, or comparable malware families. Hosting or exfiltration endpoints for stolen data are within the same prohibition.

2.4 Phishing kits and infrastructure

Phishing kits, lookalike-domain infrastructure designed to harvest credentials, credential-stealing landing pages, and the operational backends used to monetise stolen credentials.

2.5 Fraud-related infrastructure

SMS pumping schemes, telecom-arbitrage fraud, counterfeit-goods storefronts, document-forgery services, identity-credential forgery, and markets for stolen payment cards or government-issued identity documents.

2.6 Sale of stolen credentials and accounts

Services whose primary purpose is the sale, exchange, or distribution of stolen credentials, account-checker infrastructure, or compromised-account marketplaces.

2.7 Non-consensual intimate imagery

Hosting, distribution, or facilitation of non-consensual intimate imagery, including but not limited to so-called "revenge pornography" and AI-generated non-consensual sexual imagery of real persons.

3. Strictly Prohibited Activities

3.1 Network attacks

Distributed denial-of-service ("DDoS") attacks, packet floods, reflection-amplification campaigns, or any other deliberate network abuse against systems you do not own or for which you do not have unambiguous written authorization.

3.2 DDoS-as-a-service

Operation of, or sale of access to, "stresser" or "booter" services. Operating any infrastructure designed to facilitate third-party DDoS attacks is grounds for immediate termination.

3.3 Unauthorized scanning and intrusion

Port scanning, vulnerability scanning, brute-force authentication attempts, or active intrusion against systems you do not own or for which you do not have written authorization. Authorized penetration testing is permitted; you must be able to produce the engagement letter or scope of work on request.

3.4 Credential stuffing and account takeover

Operation of credential-stuffing infrastructure, account-checker tooling at scale, or any service whose primary purpose is account takeover.

3.5 Tor exit-traffic abuse

Operating Tor exit nodes is permitted under Section 8 below; abuse of Tor exit traffic for any of the activities prohibited in this Section 3 is not, and the protections in Section 8 do not apply when the operator is the source of the abuse.

4. Email & SMTP Policies

4.1 Cold email and bulk sending

Cold email is permitted only with explicit recipient opt-in or a clearly demonstrable lawful basis under the recipient's jurisdiction (notably Article 13 of EU Directive 2002/58/EC for B2B with prior business relationship). Purchased lists are not a basis for sending. Opt-out mechanisms must be one-click and honoured immediately.

4.2 Mandatory headers

All bulk-sent commercial messages must carry a working List-Unsubscribe header (RFC 2369) and the equivalent List-Unsubscribe-Post header (RFC 8058) where supported by recipient mailbox providers. Senders must comply with the SPF, DKIM, and DMARC posture documented in their domain DNS.

4.3 No bypass of recipient policies

You may not configure your sending infrastructure to bypass, evade, or otherwise circumvent recipient mail-server policies. Operating multiple sending IPs to evade reputation-based blocking by recipient providers is a violation.

4.4 SMTP plan tier discipline

SMTP plans documented at /smtp carry per-tier daily and per-month volume caps. Sustained sending above the cap, or attempts to obtain higher volumes by purchasing multiple smaller plans, is a violation.

5. Adult Content

5.1 Permitted in compliant jurisdictions

Adult content is permitted on Services where the hosting jurisdiction allows it and the content is created and distributed in compliance with local age-of-consent and record-keeping laws. The detailed operational pattern is documented at /use-cases/adult.

5.2 Record-keeping obligations

If applicable law in the customer's or audience's jurisdiction requires record-keeping (notably 18 U.S.C. § 2257 for US-nexus performers and audiences), the customer is responsible for maintaining the required records. We do not maintain such records on customers' behalf.

5.3 Age-verification compliance

EU customers serving EU audiences must comply with the age-verification requirements imposed by national law in the destination Member State. UK customers must comply with the Online Safety Act 2023. Customers operating in jurisdictions with explicit age-verification mandates are responsible for the technical and procedural implementation; we do not provide age-verification services.

6. Streaming and IPTV

6.1 Broadcast rights

You are responsible for the broadcast rights of every piece of content you serve. Operating an IPTV or streaming service requires that you hold the relevant rights, license, or authorization in the jurisdiction where the content is consumed. The general pattern is documented at /use-cases/streaming and /use-cases/iptv.

6.2 Substantiated rights claims

We act on substantiated claims of unauthorized broadcast under the law of the jurisdiction where the server is hosted. We do not process U.S. DMCA-format notices — the DMCA has no legal force in any of our operating jurisdictions. Substantive complaints citing local law (Iceland's Copyright Act, Switzerland's URG, Romania's Law 8/1996, the EU DSA Article 16 procedure where applicable, etc.) are reviewed and forwarded to the customer with a 14-day response window. Boilerplate or jurisdiction-mismatched notices are rejected.

7. P2P and File-Sharing

7.1 Permitted where legal

P2P and file-sharing applications are permitted where the activity is legal in the jurisdiction in which the Service is hosted. Most of our jurisdictions permit P2P traffic; the precise legal posture per location is documented on each location page.

7.2 Liability for shared files

You remain liable for the legality of files you seed or share. Hosting infringing material on a P2P node is a violation of this AUP regardless of the protocol used.

8. Tor Relays and Exit Nodes

8.1 Tor relays are permitted

Operating a Tor middle relay or guard relay is explicitly permitted on all Services where bandwidth allocation supports it. See /use-cases/tor-relay for the typical setup.

8.2 Tor exit nodes are permitted with conditions

Operating a Tor exit node is permitted with the following conditions: (a) the exit node contact information must be registered in the Tor network's public metadata so that abuse mail is forwarded correctly; (b) an exit policy must be configured to comply with the law of the jurisdiction where the Service is hosted; (c) the customer agrees to receive forwarded abuse correspondence and respond within forty-eight (48) hours.

8.3 Forwarded abuse correspondence

When we receive abuse correspondence pertaining to traffic exiting from a customer's Tor exit node, we will forward the correspondence to the customer's registered contact. The customer is responsible for the substantive response. We do not auto-suspend Tor exit nodes on receipt of abuse correspondence pertaining to forwarded traffic.

9. Cryptocurrency Mining

9.1 Permitted on dedicated, GPU, and Storage tiers

Cryptocurrency mining is permitted on dedicated servers, GPU plans, and storage plans where you are the sole customer of the underlying hardware.

9.2 Banned on shared, cPanel, VPS, and RDP unless explicit

Cryptocurrency mining is banned on shared, cPanel, VPS, and RDP plans unless explicitly purchased as a mining-tier configuration. The economic and noisy-neighbour impact on shared resources makes generic mining incompatible with these tiers.

9.3 Energy and abuse

Mining workloads must comply with the power-budget allocation of the plan. Sustained energy use above the documented allocation will trigger a paid upgrade conversation, not surreptitious throttling.

10. Resource Abuse

10.1 Shared and cPanel limits

Sustained CPU consumption above eighty-five percent (85%) of the allocated quota for more than twenty-four (24) consecutive hours, sustained memory pressure causing swap use across the shared host, or sustained I/O patterns degrading shared-tier neighbours is a form of resource abuse.

10.2 Bandwidth misuse

Mismatched bandwidth use — for example, a customer purchasing a low-bandwidth tier and routing high-bandwidth traffic through it — is a violation. We will surface the mismatch in the customer panel and propose an upgrade before any disruptive action.

10.3 Storage misuse

Storage plans are intended for backup, archival, and bulk-storage workloads. Operating high-traffic dynamic websites on storage tiers is a form of resource abuse.

11. DMCA-Resilient ≠ Exempt from Local Law

The "DMCA-resilient" feature documented at /features/dmca-ignored is a posture against US-style takedown abuse — boilerplate notices, copyright-troll campaigns, fair-use challenges, and automated bots. It is not an exemption from local law in the jurisdictions in which we operate.

We follow the law of each jurisdiction in which our infrastructure resides. Substantiated complaints are processed under local procedure. Court orders from local courts are honoured. The posture against bad-faith takedowns does not extend to genuinely infringing material once a substantiated and properly served complaint reaches us.

12. Reporting Violations

To report a violation of this AUP, send an email to abuse@silenthosts.io with the following information:

• The IP address, hostname, or URL associated with the alleged violation
• A description of the activity, including dates and times where relevant
• Your contact information and capacity (rights-holder, victim, third party, government authority)
• Any supporting evidence (screenshots, headers, log excerpts, court documents)
• A statement that the report is accurate to the best of your knowledge

Anonymous reports are accepted but processed at lower priority unless the alleged violation is in one of the Section 2 categories.

13. Our Enforcement Process

13.1 Investigation

On receipt of a report, we acknowledge within the timelines set out in Section 14. Our abuse team investigates the report, confirms the affected Service, and determines whether the report is substantiated.

13.2 Notification

If the report is substantiated, we notify the customer through the billing email with the substance of the complaint and a deadline by which the customer must respond. The default response window is five (5) business days unless the violation falls in Section 2 (in which case Section 13.4 applies).

13.3 Suspension and termination

If the customer does not respond within the deadline, or if the response is non-responsive or incomplete, we may suspend the Service. Termination follows after a further fourteen (14) days of suspended-but-not-terminated state, except where the violation falls in Section 2.

13.4 Section 2 violations

For confirmed Section 2 violations, suspension is immediate. Termination follows on confirmation. Refunds are not issued. Reporting to relevant authorities is performed where applicable.

14. Response Time Commitments

Acknowledgement times are measured from receipt at abuse@silenthosts.io. Response times are measured from acknowledgement.

15. Appeals and Misdirected Reports

15.1 Appeals

A customer subject to suspension or termination under this AUP may appeal in writing to legal@silenthosts.io within thirty (30) days. Appeals are reviewed by a senior member of the legal and compliance team. Appeal decisions are final.

15.2 Misdirected reports

If you believe a report you have submitted has been misdirected — for example, a report against an IP address that has since rotated to a different customer, or a report against a Tor exit-node operator for traffic that did not originate with that operator — please indicate so in your follow-up. Misdirected reports are common with shared-IP services, Tor exits, and CDN edge IPs, and we expect to handle them frequently.

16. Updates to This Policy

This AUP may be updated periodically as the threat landscape evolves and as new categories of abuse emerge. Material changes follow the notification procedure described in Terms of Service Section 15. The "Last updated" date at the top of this document reflects the most recent change.