Acceptable Use Policy

Rules for using the One2ManySites hosting service.

Last updated: March 2025

1. Purpose

This Acceptable Use Policy (AUP) sets out the rules that apply when you use the One2ManySites hosting service. It exists to protect our customers, our infrastructure and the wider internet community. By using our service you agree to follow this policy.

This policy applies to all content you host, all activity originating from your account, and any software or scripts you run on our platform. It supplements our Terms of Use and should be read alongside them.

2. Prohibited content

You must not use our service to host, store, distribute or link to any of the following:

  • Content that is illegal under the laws of England and Wales or the laws of the country in which it is accessed.
  • Malware, viruses, trojans, ransomware or any other malicious software.
  • Phishing pages, credential-harvesting sites or any content designed to deceive users into revealing personal information.
  • Content used for sending or facilitating spam, including spam landing pages.
  • Material that infringes copyright, trademarks or other intellectual property rights without the rights holder's permission.
  • Child sexual abuse material or any sexual content involving minors. We report all such content to the relevant authorities immediately and without notice.
  • Content that promotes terrorism, violence or hatred against individuals or groups.

3. Prohibited activities

You must not use our service for any of the following activities:

  • Hacking and unauthorised access. Attempting to gain unauthorised access to any system, network or account, whether ours or belonging to a third party.
  • Denial-of-service attacks. Launching or participating in DDoS attacks or any activity intended to disrupt the availability of a service.
  • Cryptocurrency mining. Running cryptocurrency miners or any similar proof-of-work processes on our infrastructure.
  • Excessive resource consumption. Running processes that consume a disproportionate share of CPU, memory, storage or bandwidth in a way that degrades the service for other customers.
  • Reselling. Reselling, redistributing or subletting your hosting account or any part of our service to third parties without our written permission.
  • Automated scraping and crawling. Using our platform to run bots, scrapers or crawlers that harvest data from third-party websites without their consent.
  • Proxy and relay services. Running open proxies, VPN endpoints, Tor exit nodes or anonymous relay services.
  • File sharing. Operating public file-sharing, torrent tracking or similar distribution services.

4. Email and spam

If your hosting plan includes email functionality, the following rules apply:

  • You must not send bulk unsolicited email (spam) from our servers or through any service hosted on our platform.
  • All email recipients must have given clear, verifiable consent to receive messages from you.
  • You must not operate open mail relays or configure any service that allows third parties to send email through your account.
  • You must include a working unsubscribe mechanism in any marketing or newsletter emails.
  • You must comply with applicable email regulations, including the UK Privacy and Electronic Communications Regulations and the EU ePrivacy Directive.

If we detect spam originating from your account, we may suspend email functionality immediately to protect our sending reputation.

5. Resource usage

Our hosting is designed for websites and web applications running on PHP and WordPress. We operate on a fair-use basis, which means we expect your resource consumption to be consistent with normal website operation.

Examples of normal use include serving web pages, running a WordPress blog or small business site, processing form submissions, and running scheduled cron jobs at reasonable intervals.

If your site consistently uses resources beyond what is reasonable for a shared hosting environment, we will contact you to discuss the situation. In most cases we will work with you to optimise your site or find a solution. If the issue cannot be resolved, we may ask you to reduce usage or move to a more suitable hosting arrangement.

We will always give you reasonable notice before taking any action related to resource usage, except where urgent action is needed to protect other customers or our infrastructure.

6. Security

You are responsible for keeping your website and its software secure. This includes:

  • Keeping software up to date. If you run WordPress, you must keep WordPress core, themes and plugins updated to their latest stable versions. Outdated software is the most common cause of security breaches.
  • Using strong credentials. All accounts accessible through your website, including WordPress admin accounts, database users and FTP or SFTP accounts, must use strong, unique passwords.
  • Not running exploit tools. You must not run vulnerability scanners, penetration testing tools, exploit frameworks or similar software on our platform, whether targeting our infrastructure or third-party systems.
  • Not scanning other systems. You must not use our servers to perform port scans, network reconnaissance or vulnerability assessments against any system you do not own.
  • Reporting compromises. If you believe your account has been compromised, you must notify us as soon as possible so we can help you secure it.

We monitor our platform for security threats and may take immediate action, including suspending your site, if we detect a compromise or active attack originating from your account.

7. Reporting violations

If you believe that a website hosted on our platform is violating this policy, please report it to us. You can contact us at abuse@one2manysites.com with the following information:

  • The URL or domain of the website in question.
  • A description of the violation.
  • Any supporting evidence, such as screenshots or links.
  • Your contact details so we can follow up if needed.

We take all reports seriously and will investigate promptly. We may not be able to share the outcome of our investigation due to privacy obligations, but we will act on valid complaints.

8. Enforcement

When we identify a violation of this policy, we will take action proportionate to the severity of the breach. This may include:

  • A warning. For minor or first-time violations, we will contact you to explain the issue and ask you to resolve it within a reasonable timeframe.
  • Temporary suspension. If the violation poses a risk to other customers or our infrastructure, or if a warning has not been acted upon, we may temporarily suspend your account while the issue is resolved.
  • Immediate suspension. For serious violations, including hosting malware, phishing, illegal content or child sexual abuse material, we will suspend your account immediately and without prior notice.
  • Termination. Repeated violations or a single serious breach may result in permanent termination of your account. In such cases we will provide you with a reasonable opportunity to retrieve your data, unless we are legally prohibited from doing so.

We reserve the right to cooperate with law enforcement and regulatory authorities where required or where we believe it is necessary to protect our customers or the public.

9. Changes to this policy

We may update this policy from time to time to reflect changes in the law, our services or best practice. When we make significant changes, we will notify you by email or through your control panel. The latest version will always be available on this page.

10. Contact

If you have any questions about this policy, or if you are unsure whether something you want to do is permitted, please get in touch before proceeding. We are happy to help.