Acceptable Use Policy (AUP) & Terms of Service (TOS)

DT Tech’s Acceptable Use Policy is provided to give our customers and users a clear understanding of what DT Tech expects of them while using the service. All users of DT Tech’s Internet services: those who access some of our services but do not have accounts, as well those who pay a service fee to subscribe to the services, must comply with this Acceptable Use Policy.

Use of DT Tech’s Services constitutes acceptance and agreement to DT Tech’s Acceptable Use Policy as well as DT Tech’s Terms of Service (TOS) for Hosting.

Important Notice: Refunds will be given at discretion of DT Tech Management. In the event of a breach of the Acceptable Use Policy refunds will NOT be provided.

1. Definition of Terms

The following words and expressions shall have meanings hereby assigned to them except where the context otherwise requires: “Company”, “us”, “we” and “our” “DT Tech”, means DT Tech Limited; “You”, “Your”, means the party or parties who utilise services provided by DT Tech Limited; “TOS” means the Terms of Service; “AUP” means the Acceptable Use Policy.

2. Overview

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 content of any website, e-mail transmission, newsgroups, or other material created or accessible over or through the services, except for certain proprietary Web sites. However, in accordance with our AUP and/or TOS, we may remove any materials that, in our sole discretion, may be illegal, may subject us to liability, or which may violate this AUP. DT Tech may cooperate with legal authorities and/or third parties in the investigation of any suspected or alleged crime or civil wrongdoing. Your violation of this AUP/TOS may result in the suspension or immediate termination of either your DT Tech account or other actions as detailed in Section 3 without prior notice.

This document is intended to provide a basic understanding of our AUP. The following are guidelines for the establishment and enforcement of our AUP:

• 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

We intend to provide our customers access to everything the Internet has to offer. While we are firmly committed to the principles of free speech, certain activities that may be damaging to the resources of both us and the Internet and cannot be permitted under the guise of free speech. The resources of DT Tech and the Internet are limited, and abuse of these resources by one user has a negative impact on the entire community.

We do not routinely monitor the activity of accounts except for measurements of system utilization and the preparation of billing records. However, in our efforts to promote good citizenship within the Internet community, we will respond appropriately if we become aware of inappropriate use of our service.

You may not use your account to publish material, which DT Tech determines, at its sole discretion, to be unlawful, indecent or objectionable. For purposes of this policy, “material” refers to all forms of communications but not limited to: narrative descriptions, graphics (including photographs, illustrations, images, drawings, logos), executable programs, video recordings, and audio recordings.

If a DT Tech account is used to violate the AUP and/or TOS, we reserve the right to terminate your service without notice. We prefer to advise customers of inappropriate behavior and any necessary corrective action, however, flagrant violations of the AUP will result in immediate termination of service. Our failure to enforce this policy, for whatever reason, shall not be construed as a waiver of our right to do so at any time.

As a member of our network community, you must use your Internet access responsibly. If you have any questions regarding this policy, please contact us at abuse@dttech.co.nz.

3. Violations of DT Tech’s Acceptable Use Policy

The following constitute violations of this AUP:

Illegal use: Our services may not be used for illegal purposes, or in support of illegal activities. We reserve the right to co-operate with legal authorities and/or injured third parties in the investigation of any suspected crime or civil wrongdoing.

Harm to minors: Use of the our service to harm, or attempt to harm, minors in any way, including, but not limited to child pornography.

Threats: Use of the our service to transmit any material (by e-mail, uploading, posting or otherwise) that threatens or encourages bodily harm or destruction of property.

Harassment: Use of the our service to transmit any material (by e-mail, uploading, posting or otherwise) that harasses another.

Fraudulent activity: Use of our service to make fraudulent offers to sell or buy products, items, or services, or to advance any type of financial scam such as “pyramid schemes,” “ponzi schemes,” and “chain letters.”

Forgery or impersonation: Adding, removing or modifying identifying network header information in an effort to deceive or mislead is prohibited. Attempting to impersonate any person by using forged headers or other identifying information is prohibited. The use of anonymous remailers or nicknames does not constitute impersonation.

Unsolicited commercial e-mail / Unsolicited bulk e-mail (SPAM): Use of the our service to transmit any unsolicited commercial or unsolicited bulk e-mail is expressly prohibited. Violations of this type will result in the immediate termination of the offending DT Tech account.
You may not use your account to send unsolicited bulk or commercial messages (“spam”). This includes, but is not limited to, bulk mailing of commercial advertising, informational announcements, charity requests, petitions for signatures, and political or religious tracts. Such messages may only be sent to those who have explicitly requested it.

Beginning Immediately, anyone hosting websites or services on our server that support spammers or cause any of our IP space to be listed in any of the various Spam Databases will have their server immediately removed from our network. The server will not be reconnected until such time that you agree to remove all traces of the offending material immediately upon reconnection and agree to allow us access to the server to confirm that all material has been completely removed. Offenders will be charged at $300/hour for repair of damages related to Spam and having IP space listed in any Spam database. Severe violations may result in immediate and permanent removal of the server from our network without notice to the customer. Any server guilty of a second violation will be immediately and permanently removed from our network without notice.

E-mail / News Bombing: Malicious intent to impede another person’s use of electronic mail services or news will result in the immediate termination of the offending DT Tech account.

E-mail / Message Forging: Forging any message header, in part or whole, of any electronic transmission, originating or passing through the DT Tech’s service is in violation of this AUP.

Usenet SPAMing: DT Tech has a zero tolerance policy for the use of its network for the posting of messages or commercial advertisements, which violate the rules, regulations, FAQ or charter of any newsgroups or mailing list. Commercial messages that are appropriate under the rules of a newsgroup or mailing list or that are solicited by the recipients are permitted.

Unauthorized access: Use of the our service to access, or to attempt to access, the accounts of others, or to penetrate, or attempt to penetrate, security measures of DT Tech’s or another entity’s computer software or hardware, electronic communications system, or telecommunications system, whether or not the intrusion results in the corruption or loss of data, is expressly prohibited and the offending DT Tech account is subject to immediate termination.

Copyright, Intellectual Property or Trademark Infringement: Use of the our service to transmit any material (by e-mail, uploading, posting or otherwise) that infringes any copyright, intellectual property, trademark, patent, trade secret or other proprietary rights of any third party, including, but not limited to, the unauthorized copying of copyrighted material, the digitization and distribution of photographs from magazines, books, or other copyrighted sources, and the unauthorized transmittal of copyrighted software.

Torrents:We do not allow the hosting of torrent tracker sites under any circumstances. Any host found to allow the tracking of copyright protected software applications or other data will face immediate suspension and account review. You must follow any request by copyright holders to remove links to downloadable files from your site. Ignoring these requests will only lead to them contacting our abuse department directly request immediate disconnection of your server. Hosting any kind of torrent services on a shared/reseller hosting account is prohibited.

Collection of personal data: Use of the our service to collect, or attempt to collect, personal information about third parties without their knowledge or consent.

Network disruptions and unfriendly activity: Use of the our service for any activity which affects the ability of other people or systems to use our Services or the Internet. This includes “denial of service” (DOS) attacks against another network host or individual user. Interference with or disruption of other network users, services or equipment is prohibited. It is the Member’s responsibility to ensure that their network is configured in a secure manner. A Subscriber may not, through action or inaction, allow others to use their network for illegal or inappropriate actions. A Subscriber may not permit their network, through action or inaction, to be configured in such a way that gives a third party the capability to use their network in an illegal or inappropriate manner. Unauthorized entry and/or use of another company and/or individual’s computer system will result in immediate account termination. We will not tolerate any subscriber attempting to access the accounts of others, or penetrate security measures of other systems, whether or not the intrusion results in corruption or loss of data.

System Resources: Any one site found to be utilizing in excess of 10% of the system resources at any given time shall be suspended. Web hosting accounts are not to be used for storage purposes. We reserve the right to terminate such account if we see fit.

Bandwidth Resources: Any one site found to be utilizing in excess of 50% of the outbound traffic for a period longer than 2 minutes may have their account suspended, this will be entirely at our discretion. We reserve the right to terminate such account if we see fit.

Fraud: Involves a knowing misrepresentation or misleading statement, writing or activity made with the intent that the person receiving it will act upon it.

Infringement of Copyright, Patent, Trademark, Trade Secret, or Intellectual Property Right: Distribution and/or posting of copyrighted or the aforementioned infringements will not be tolerated. We will work fully with law enforcement agencies in their investigations of such breaches.

Distribution of Viruses: Intentional distributions of software that attempts to and/or causes damage, harassment, or annoyance to persons, data, and/or computer systems are prohibited. Such an offence will result in the immediate termination of the offending account and details based onto law enforcement agencies for invetigation.

Inappropriate Use of Software: Use of software or any device that would facilitate a continued connection, i.e. pinging, while using DT Tech’s services could result in suspension service, unless prior written consent is provided by us.

Third Party Accountability: Our subscribers will be held responsible and accountable for any activity by third parties, using their account that violates guidelines created within the AUP.

Violation of DT Tech’s Services: It is absolutely forbidden to host any (legal and/or illegal) pornographic content whereas the subjects are under the age of majority, or IRC related services on shared hosting accounts. Hosting accounts found hosting this material will be subject to immediate cancellation without refund and details based on to law enforcement agencies.

IRC networks: IRC in any form is strictly prohibited on our network, unless written consent is provided by us.

4. Security

You are responsible for any misuse of your account, even if the inappropriate activity was committed by a client, friend, family member, guest or employee. Therefore, you must take steps to ensure that others do not gain unauthorized access to your account. In addition, you may not use your account to breach security of another account or attempt to gain unauthorized access to another network or server.

• 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.
• Attempting to obtain another user’s account password is strictly prohibited, and may result in termination of service.
• You must adopt adequate security measures to prevent or minimize unauthorized use of your account.
• You may not attempt to circumvent user authentication or security of any host, network or account. This includes, but is not limited to, accessing data not intended for you, logging into or making use of a server or account you are not expressly authorized to access, or probing the security of other networks. Use or distribution of tools designed for compromising security is prohibited. Examples of these tools include, but are not limited to, password guessing programs, cracking tools or network probing tools.
• You may not attempt to interfere with service to any user, host or network (“denial of service attacks”). This includes, but is not limited to, “flooding” of networks, deliberate attempts to Overload a service, and attempts to “crash” a host.
• Users who violate systems or network security may incur criminal or civil liability. DT Tech will cooperate fully with investigations of violations of systems or network security at other sites, including cooperating with law enforcement authorities in the investigation of suspected criminal violations.

5.Technical Support

We will provide You with technical support on set-up of your account, access, basic web site set-up, and other server related issues at no additional charge. We may provide development-related support for web applications, scripts, or components from third parties or those developed by You at Our discretion. Support for this service will be charged at $75+GST per/hour, minimum 1 (one) hour.

Email support is provided to shared hosting accounts and is available 24/7. Please be prepared to provide a full description of the problem. We do not gauruntee and immediate response.

Phone support is provided to Dedicated Hosting accounts and is available Monday through Friday, excluding public holidays, from 8am to 5pm NZST. Please be prepared to provide a full description of the problem.

Our standard response time to technical support issues is within one hour. This time depends on the complexity of the inquiry and support request volume. The Technical Support Department assigns the highest priority to customer inquiries related to the servers’ unavailability. These issues are addressed first upon notification from a customer.

Contact Information:

Email Address: support@dttech.co.nz
Email Hours: 24/7
Free Phone: 0800 388 324
Phone Hours: 8am to 5pm NZST Monday through Friday, excluding public holidays

After Hours Faults Notification

0800 388 324 (option 1)

6. Scheduled Maintenance

To maximize optimal performance and security of the servers, We will perform routine maintenance on the servers on a regular basis, requiring servers to be removed from service. We reserve one hour of server unavailability per month for maintenance purposes. This server unavailability will not be included in server uptime calculations. The maintenance is typically performed during off-peak hours.

A minimum of 48 hours notification of maintenance will be provided except where maintenance is considered to be critical. Notification will be provided via the Service Status page: http://www.twitter.com/DTTechNZ

7. Availability

Our primary commitment is to provide outstanding web hosting service to all customers. To support this commitment, we observe the following schedule of remedies for any failure to meet the express guarantees in this AUP/TOS.

7.1 Network Availability

We guarantee at least 99% Network Availability. Network Availability is defined as the ability to pass incoming and outgoing TCP/IP traffic through the Our network. Application and mail server unavailability resulting from loss of Network Availability is not included in Mail Server Availability or Application Server Availability calculations or if the Network Availability loss is caused by any factor(s) beyond the Our control, including such factors as problems on domestic and international backbones or on the customer’s portion of the network, and denial of service (DOS) or similar attacks directed at Our servers or Our network.

7.2 Application (Web) Server Availability

We guarantee at least 99% Application Server Availability. Application (Web) Server Availability is defined as the ability to retrieve the HTTP headers from the hosting server, calculated on a monthly basis. We will not monitor availability of individual web sites but only monitors the server availability as a whole.

Denial of service attacks or other types of attacks directed toward the web server resulting in or contributing to downtime will not be included in Web Server Availability calculations.

7.2.1 Application (Web) Server Availability Monitoring

To verify the Application Server Availability, We will the probe HTTP service to retrieve HTTP headers on the server every five minutes, with a 30-second failure threshold. If the probe is not successful, the server is considered non-operational and it is immediately escalated to technical support and system engineers.

If two or more consecutive server probes fail, server downtime will be registered as the number of minutes between the first and the last failed tests. Downtime of less than five minutes in duration is not recorded. We will calculate server uptime and refund eligibility amounts based on this type of server monitoring.

7.3 Mail Server Availability

We guarantee at least 99% Mail Server Availability. Mail Server Availability is defined as the ability to retrieve the SMTP, POP and IMAP headers from the mail server, calculated on a monthly basis. We will not monitor availability of individual mail accounts or mailboxes but only monitors the server availability as a whole.

Denial of service (DOS) attacks, mail bombing, and other flooding techniques directed toward the mail server resulting in or contributing to downtime will not be included in Mail Server Availability calculations.

The outgoing email protocol used on the mail server (SMTP) is a “store-and-forward” type of protocol that does not guarantee immediate delivery of email messages. If the mail server’s first email delivery attempt fails, it will re-attempt delivery according to a predefined schedule. If the message fails to be sent for 5 days, the messages will be returned to the sender.

7.3.1 Mail Server Availability Monitoring

To verify that the server is available, We will probe SMTP, POP and IMAP services (retrieve SMTP, POP and IMAP headers) every five minutes with a 30-second threshold. If either service does not respond, the service is considered non-operational it is immediately escalated to technical support and the system engineers.

If two or more consecutive SMTP, POP or IMAP tests fail, server downtime will be registered as the number of minutes between the first and the last failed tests. Downtime of less than five minutes in duration will not be recorded. We will calculate Mail Server Availability and refund eligibility amounts based on this type of server monitoring.

7.4 Penalty for Non-Compliance

Upon your written or email notice to Us, if server availability for the full month is below the guaranteed level, We will issue a refund to You according to the schedule below:

• Network Availability 89.90% – 89.99% – 5% of monthly fee credited
• Network Availability 89.80% – 89.89% – 10% of monthly fee credited
• Network Availability 89.70% – 89.79% – 15% of monthly fee credited
• Network Availability 89.60% – 89.69% – 25% of monthly fee credited
• Network Availability 89.59% or below – 50% of monthly fee credited

7.5 Applying for a Refund

To receive a refund, send an email or written refund request to Us. You must provide all dates and times of server or network unavailability.

Refund request must be received by the Us within thirty days of the end of the month for which you are requesting a refund.

7.6 Maximum Total Penalty

The to refund to You for any account may not exceed 50% of the monthly fees charged to that account during the month for which the refund is to be issued.

7.7 Restrictions

Customer shall not receive any refunds under this AUP/TOS in connection with any failure or deficiency of website availability caused by or associated with:

1. circumstances beyond the Our reasonable control, including, but not limited to, acts of any governmental body, fire, flood, earthquake, strike or other labour disturbance, interruption of / or delay in transportation, unavailability of / or interruption or delay in telecommunications or third party services, virus attacks or hackers, failure of third party software (including, without limitation, ecommerce software, payment gateways, chat, statistics or free scripts);
2. scheduled maintenance and emergency maintenance and upgrades;
3. Your acts or omissions (or acts or omissions of others engaged or authorized by You), including, without limitation, custom scripting or coding (e.g., CGI, Perl, HTML, ASP, etc), any negligence, willful misconduct, or use of the Services in breach of this AUP/TOS;
4. DNS (Domain Name Server) Propagation.
5. Outages elsewhere on the Internet that hinder access to your account. We are not responsible for browser or DNS caching that may make your site appear inaccessible when others can still access it.

8. Network Performance

Our virtual sites operate on shared resources. Excessive use or abuse of these shared network resources by one customer (eg. in excess of 10% CPU usage) 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.

Virtual sites 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. We reserve the right to terminate or limit such activities.

Dedicated hosting sites operate on some shared network resources. Excessive use or abuse of these shared network resources by one customer (e.g. excess of 50% of the outbound traffic for a period longer than 2 minutes) may have a negative impact on all other customers. Misuse of shared network resources in a manner which impairs network performance is prohibited by this policy and may result in termination of your account.

9. Storage Capacity / Data Transfer

Each account is allotted storage capacity and data transfer amounts on the Our servers according to the plan and options selected by You. This storage size and data transfer allotments can be increased by request for an additional fee. The servers may stop accepting, processing, or delivering data when the purchased limit is reached thus causing server unavailability or data loss. We shall not be held responsible for such unavailability or data losses.

10. Data Integrity

You use at your own risk, DT Tech is not responsible for files and/or data residing on your account. You agree to take full responsibility for files and data transferred and to maintain all appropriate backup of files and data stored on DT Tech’s servers.

We performs routine server backups for disaster recovery purposes only. Server backup scope and scheduling is at Our sole discretion.

11. Data Retention

We shall not be responsible for retaining any of your data after account termination. All data is deleted from the servers after the account is terminated and from back-ups during scheduled back-up rotation. We shall not restore, provide on any storage media or send out any data pertaining to existing or terminated accounts unless agreed to by Us.

12. Customer Responsibilities

To access DT Tech Limited’s services You must provide at the very minimum:

• An Internet connection with sufficient bandwidth and quality to allow trouble-free browsing and data uploading and downloading; a fully functional Internet browser
• Tools to develop and publish content as You find suitable and necessary
• tools to access database servers if such services are purchased by you.

13. DT Tech’s Staff Members

Abuse of any kind in any communication between Client and Provider will not be tolerated. Provider reserves the right to Terminate Client Services for excessive abuse and the right to determine when to apply said Termination.

14. Billing and Overdue Accounts

Payments to DT Tech are on a subscription basis, rebilling will occur on the anniversary date of the subscription.

All invoices must be paid on or before the due date, failure to do so may result in suspension or termination of the Clients account at DT Tech. It is the Client’s responsibility to know when the invoice is due, and to pay it by the due date. If a client holds multiple services with DT Tech, this is considered a single account, and all services may be suspended due to an overdue invoice.

Any invoice that is overdue for 14 days or more will be charged an additional $30 late fee. If DT Tech fails to collect Clients debt at 30 days or past the invoice due date, we reserve the right to turn the account over to a third party (either a collections agency or attorney) for further action. All costs incurred through the debt collection process are billable to the Client.

15. Server Disconnections

In the event of breach of DT Tech’s AUP by abuse or non-payment, customer must pay a reconnection fee of $35/domain. Reconnections will take place within 2 (two) Business Days. Urgent reconnections will carry a fee of $50/domain and will be reconnected within 24 hours.

16. Remote Hands

Remote hands are billed and charged at a rate of $75/hour (+GST).

17. Reporting Violations of DT Tech’s Acceptable Use Policy

DT Tech requests that anyone who believes that there is a violation of this AUP direct the information to the Abuse Department at » abuse@dttech.co.nz.

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. DT Tech may take any one or more of the following actions in response to complaints:

• Issue written or verbal warnings
• Suspend the Member’s account
• Terminate the Member’s account
• Bill the Member for administrative costs and/or reactivation charges
• Bring legal action to enjoin violations and/or to collect damages, if any, cause by violations

18. Account Cancellations

All shared and reseller account cancellations must be submitted 30 days before the next billing cycle. Dedicated server and all other account cancellations must be made 30 days before the next billing cycle, failure to do so will result in service being billed for an additional cycle. Cancellations must be submitted via writing in the Client Support Area, failure to submit the cancellation via the Client Support Area will result in the cancellation not being processed. Cancellation requests must also include the domain name associated with the account if it is a shared or reseller account, and server IP address if it is a dedicated server. You may be contacted shortly after the submission of your cancellation request, you must respond to complete the cancellation process.

19. Special offers and Coupon Usage (New and Existing Customers)

* Specials are applicable to new customers only unless otherwise stated.
* Existing customers can take advantage of new customer specials when they upgrade their service (applicable only to Linux and Windows VPS services).
* Specials are not applicable to downgrades.
* Multiple specials cannot be used in conjunction with each other; only one special can be applied per order.
* Specials are applicable to the base product only.
* Services that have been downgraded then upgraded to take advantage of specials will have the order voided.
* DT Tech reserves the right to cancel an order if they believe that a customer is trying to circumvent the system.
* DT Tech reserve the right to update and change specials at any time.
* The value of your base product/service after any discounts applied by the special, must be more than you were originally spending on the base product/service.
* The idea behind these terms is to allow our existing customers to get the same great specials our new customers get when they increase their spending.

20. Revisions of the Acceptable Use Policy

DT Tech reserves the right to revise, amend, or modify this AUP, our TOS (Terms of Service) and our other policies and agreements at any time and in any manner.