Acceptable Use Policy

1. Purpose

This Acceptable Use Policy ("AUP") defines the standards of conduct expected when using Knitt's hosting, domain registration, and other services. Our goal is to maintain a safe, secure, and reliable platform for all our customers while respecting applicable laws and regulations.

2. Prohibited Content

You agree not to store, transmit, or facilitate the transmission of any of the following on our servers:

• Illegal Content: Material that violates applicable laws, including child sexual abuse material, content promoting violence, or content facilitating illegal activities.
• Intellectual Property Infringement: Content that infringes copyrights, trademarks, patents, or other intellectual property rights.
• Malware and Harmful Code: Viruses, trojans, rootkits, worms, ransomware, or other malicious software.
• Phishing and Social Engineering: Content designed to deceive users into disclosing personal information or credentials.
• Fraud: Content used for fraudulent purposes, Ponzi schemes, advance-fee scams, or other deceptive practices.
• Harassment and Abuse: Content containing threats, harassment, cyberbullying, hate speech, or discrimination based on protected characteristics.
• Spam: Unsolicited bulk email, forum spam, comment spam, or other spam activities.
• Spam Hosting: Operating mail servers used primarily for sending spam or open relays.
• Adult Content: Pornographic, sexually explicit, or adult-oriented material is prohibited unless clearly marked for adults-only audiences and in full compliance with applicable laws.
• Restricted Products: Content promoting the sale of weapons, explosives, drugs (except where legally prescribed), or other restricted goods without proper authorization.

3. Prohibited Activities

You agree not to engage in any of the following activities while using our services:

• Unauthorized Access: Attempting to gain unauthorized access to accounts, systems, or networks; including attempting to bypass authentication mechanisms or security controls.
• Network Attacks: Launching DDoS attacks, brute force attacks, port scanning, network sniffing, or other unauthorized network testing without explicit permission.
• Resource Abuse: Consuming excessive CPU, memory, bandwidth, or disk space that adversely affects the performance of other customers' accounts. This includes:
• Running resource-intensive processes without justification
• Web scraping or data harvesting at excessive rates
• Operating cryptocurrency mining on shared hosting
• Running bandwidth-intensive services (torrenting, video streaming servers, etc.)
• Database Abuse: Excessive or abusive database queries that degrade server performance.
• Email Abuse: Sending unsolicited email, spam, or facilitating spam transmission; including operating open mail relays or using our mail system for mass mailing purposes without authorization.
• Copyright Infringement: Sharing copyrighted content without authorization, including movies, music, software, or ebooks.
• Trademark and Brand Abuse: Use of our brand, trademarks, or logos without authorization; or registering domains that could cause confusion with well-known brands.
• Manipulation and Fraud: Manipulating search engines (white hat SEO is acceptable, but black hat techniques such as cloaking, keyword stuffing, or doorway pages are not); committing fraud; or engaging in deceptive practices.
• Proxy and VPN Misuse: Using your account as a proxy, relay, or VPN service for third parties without authorization.
• Code Injection: Uploading scripts or code designed to exploit vulnerabilities in web applications or server software.

4. Responsibility for Content

You are solely responsible for all content on your account. You acknowledge that:

• You own or have the right to use all content on your website
• Your content does not infringe any third-party rights
• If you are a reseller, you are responsible for the conduct of your end-customers
• Violations by your end-customers violate this AUP and may result in suspension of your reseller account

5. Security Compliance

You agree to maintain reasonable security practices for your account, including:

• Using strong, unique passwords and changing them regularly
• Not sharing your account credentials with unauthorized parties
• Immediately reporting unauthorized account access
• Maintaining up-to-date software and security patches on your website
• Scanning your website regularly for vulnerabilities and malware
• Complying with PCI-DSS standards if you accept payment cards

6. Third-Party Content and Compliance

If you use third-party applications, plugins, or scripts on your website (such as WordPress plugins, e-commerce platforms, forums, etc.), you are responsible for ensuring they comply with this AUP. Vulnerabilities or compromises in third-party code are your responsibility.

7. Copyright and Intellectual Property

You agree not to infringe intellectual property rights. If Knitt receives a valid copyright or intellectual property takedown request under applicable law, we may:

• Remove the allegedly infringing content
• Notify you of the removal
• Disable your ability to access the material

If you believe your content was incorrectly identified as infringing, you may file a counter-notice. However, note that filing a false counter-notice may result in legal liability.

8. Reporting Violations

If you become aware of content or activity that violates this AUP, please report it to us immediately via our support portal. Include as much detail as possible, including:

• The URL or account in question
• A description of the violation
• Evidence supporting your report
• Your contact information

9. Enforcement and Sanctions

Violation of this AUP may result in:

• Warning: An initial written warning regarding the violation
• Content Removal: Removal of offending content from our servers
• Service Suspension: Temporary suspension of your account while the violation is being investigated
• Account Termination: Permanent termination of your account and deletion of all associated data
• Legal Action: Referral to law enforcement or civil courts for serious violations
• Liability: You may be held liable for damages caused by your violations

We reserve the right to take immediate action (including suspension) without warning for serious violations, particularly those involving illegal activity, security threats, or significant abuse of our infrastructure.

10. Appeals and Due Process

If your account is suspended or terminated, you may appeal the decision by contacting our support team within 30 days. We will review your appeal and provide a detailed explanation of our decision. However, serious violations (particularly those involving illegal activity) may not be subject to appeal.

11. Cooperation with Law Enforcement

We cooperate fully with law enforcement, government agencies, and court orders. We may disclose account information, server logs, and other data to authorities when legally required to do so, even without notice to you.

12. Monitoring and Logging

We reserve the right to monitor account activity, server logs, and traffic to:

• Detect and prevent abuse
• Maintain security
• Troubleshoot technical issues
• Comply with legal obligations

This monitoring may include inspection of email headers, web logs, and network traffic for security and compliance purposes.

13. Not Applicable Content

This AUP does not restrict:

• Legitimate academic research or security testing (when authorized)
• Lawful journalistic or news content
• Educational content about security vulnerabilities
• Open-source software or code
• Discussion of political, social, or controversial topics (provided content is not harassing or illegal)
• Content hosted by government agencies or non-profits (provided it's otherwise compliant with this policy)

14. Infrastructure Provider Compliance

This policy is aligned with and incorporates by reference the acceptable use requirements of our infrastructure provider, IONOS. In the event of any conflict between this policy and our infrastructure provider's requirements, the infrastructure provider's requirements shall prevail. You agree to comply with both this policy and those infrastructure requirements.

15. Disclaimer

While we make reasonable efforts to detect and prevent violations of this AUP, we do not guarantee that all violations will be detected or prevented. We are not liable for illegal, fraudulent, or other harmful activity conducted through our services if we were not aware of such activity despite reasonable monitoring efforts.

16. Changes to This Policy

We may update this AUP at any time. Changes will be effective upon posting to our website. Your continued use of our services constitutes acceptance of updated policies.

17. Contact Us

If you have questions about this AUP or wish to report a violation, please contact us: