Effective date: August 22, 2026. This version supersedes all earlier Acceptable Use Policies.
This Acceptable Use Policy ("AUP") describes how you may and may not use services provided by Artisan Hosting, LLC ("Artisan Hosting," "we," "us"), including managed hosting, fractional engineering, and the Domain & Email Hosting service. This AUP is incorporated by reference into the General Terms of Service and the Domain & Email Hosting Terms of Service. Violating this AUP is a violation of whichever agreement governs your service.
1. Prohibited Content
You may not use our services to store, transmit, publish, or send:
- Content that is illegal under U.S. federal law or the law of the jurisdiction where it is accessed, sent, or hosted
- Child sexual abuse material (CSAM) in any form, zero tolerance, reported to NCMEC and law enforcement without prior notice to the account holder
- Malware, ransomware, viruses, or other malicious code
- Phishing content or content impersonating another person, brand, or organization to deceive
- Content that infringes another party's copyright, trademark, trade secret, or other intellectual property rights
- Content that harasses, threatens, or unlawfully discriminates against any individual or group
2. Prohibited Activities
You may not use our services to:
- Send unsolicited bulk email ("spam"), or send commercial email that does not comply with CAN-SPAM, CASL, or comparable applicable law (valid sender identification, working unsubscribe, honored within 10 business days, no falsified headers)
- Operate an open mail relay, or relay mail on behalf of third parties without authorization
- Harvest, scrape, or otherwise collect email addresses without consent
- Attempt to gain unauthorized access to any account, system, or network, whether ours or a third party's
- Probe, scan, or test the vulnerability of any system without authorization, or interfere with the availability of our infrastructure or another client's use of it (including denial-of-service activity)
- Falsify the origin of email (spoofing) except for legitimate, authorized mail-flow configurations (e.g., authorized SPF/DKIM setups on the Client's own domain)
- Resell or sublicense the service to third parties without Artisan Hosting's prior written consent, outside of an agreed white-label or reseller arrangement
3. Outbound Sending Guidelines (Email Service)
To protect mail deliverability and IP/domain reputation for all clients sharing our sending infrastructure:
Keep outbound sending consistent with normal business correspondence. As a guideline, sustained sending above roughly 500 recipients per mailbox per rolling 24-hour period may trigger a review; this is a deliverability safeguard, not a hard technical cap, and can be discussed if your legitimate use needs more.
Marketing or bulk campaign email should go through a dedicated transactional/marketing email provider (e.g., Postmark, SendGrid, Mailchimp) rather than a hosted mailbox, both for deliverability and to keep this guideline meaningful for everyone else on shared infrastructure.
Maintain a bounce rate and spam-complaint rate consistent with industry norms; sustained high bounce or complaint rates may result in a deliverability review regardless of volume.
4. Enforcement
Artisan Hosting may take action proportionate to the violation, which may include:
Warning: For a first, minor, or apparently unintentional violation, we will typically notify you and ask that it be corrected.
Temporary suspension: For repeated violations, or a violation that risks harming our infrastructure, deliverability, or other clients, we may suspend the affected service until it's resolved.
Immediate suspension: For CSAM, active malware distribution, an ongoing security threat, or activity that could get our infrastructure or IP ranges blacklisted, we may suspend immediately, without prior notice, and notify you afterward.
Termination: For severe or repeated violations, we may terminate the applicable service. No refund is owed for the terminated period where termination is due to an AUP violation.
Where illegal content or activity is involved, we may report it to law enforcement or other relevant authorities.
5. Reporting Abuse
To report suspected abuse of our services, spam, phishing, compromised accounts, or other AUP violations, contact security@artisanhosting.net. We investigate reports in good faith and will take action consistent with this policy.
6. Changes to This Policy
We may update this AUP from time to time to address new categories of abuse or evolving best practice. Material changes will be posted with an updated effective date; continued use of our services after that date constitutes acceptance.
Contact
Questions about this policy: use our contact form. Abuse reports: security@artisanhosting.net.