Acceptable Use Policy for authenticated SMTP mail relay services

Overview

These Acceptable Use Policies specify the actions we prohibit for users of our network and systems and the Internet. We reserve the right to modify these policies at any time, effective upon posting the modified document to:

http://www.authsmtp.com/documentation/aup.html

All services are supplied subject to both our Acceptable Usage Policy and Terms & Conditions.

Electronic Mail / E-Mail

Sending unsolicited mail messages (spam) is explicitly prohibited - this policy includes any volume of unsolicited mail however large or small. This activity uses excessive resources, incurs great cost and annoys other users and recipients - we are strictly against this in any form - as a guide to this (but not limited to):

You must ensure that all people you send to are fully 'opt-in', have consented to receive emails from you and are therefore specifically 'expecting' to receive emails from you.

We typically do not recommend you 'buy' email lists as the recipients would rarely be specifically 'expecting' to receive emails from 'you' and this is likely to generate spam complaints.

You should not use anything (software or companies) that automatically generate email lists by 'harvesting' email addresses from the Internet / web sites.

We do not recommend you use 'old' data / mailing lists as this can result in spam complaints from recipients may have forgotten who you are and / or are no longer expecting to receive emails from you.

We have a limit of 50 recipients per single message - we certainly 'recommend' that emails are sent as one email message per recipient. Single messages with a large number of recipients (i.e. on the Bcc: line) as these are far less likely to be deliverable and more likely to generate spam complaints as the recipient may not recognise the email is from you.

You must ensure your email 'from' / 'return to' / 'reply to' (sender) address(es) are valid and you must be able to receive email to that address. The email server you use for your incoming mail must accept 'mailer daemon' (delivery status) messages so we can notify you of any delivery problems.

You must ensure your email 'to' (recipient) addresses are valid - accounts that send a large number of emails to invalid email addresses waste excessive resources and increase the risk of our servers being blocked / blacklisted.

Email message headers / envelopes must not be missing, malformed or forged and message subject lines must not contain false or misleading information.

If sending to a mailing / distribution list (or the same message to a large number of recipients) you must include a working 'unsubscribe' link or Internet based method to process any unsubscribe requests (a telephone / postal based method is not sufficient). Any removal requests should be processed within 7 days and (if at all possible) before sending out another mailing to avoid / minimise the risk of complaints.

If you do receive any spam complaints the recipient should be removed from your mailing list. If you believe the complaint was an 'error' you may wish to contact them one further time or by another method (telephone, post etc.) to confirm if it was a mistake and if they wish to be re-subscribed to your list.

Posting the same or similar message to one or more newsgroups (excessive cross-posting or multiple-posting) is explicitly prohibited.

Make sure your emails are complaint with the CAN-SPAM Act - one of the specific provisions is that you should include your valid physical address in commercial / advertising / mailing list emails you send.

Complaints of this nature may lead to the immediate suspension of your service and possible closure of your account. Accounts suspended or terminated do not qualify for any refund.

We appreciate that anyone who sends a large number of emails will possibly receive a small number of spam complaints (typically in error) - we consider a 'normal' ratio for a genuine opt-in mailing to be around 1 complaint per 3000-5000+ emails sent. We also look at various factors including the number, ratio and type of complaints but certainly any ratio higher than that would be considered high and could risk your account being suspended.

Additionally we reserve the right to charge for our time, system resources and any associated costs incurred dealing with complaints received from emails you send - typically a minimum of US$10 / UK£5 / EUR€7 for each complaint we receive.

The 'admin' email address for your account is the primary means we will contact you about your account (error reports / spam complaints, renewal notices etc.) - this must be kept up-to-date and able to receive emails that we send you. The current admin email address can be viewed / changed by logging into our Control Panel.

Illegal Use

Our network and systems may be used only for lawful purposes. Transmission, distribution or storage of any material in violation of any applicable law or regulation is prohibited. This includes, without limitation, material protected by copyright, trademark, trade secret or other intellectual property right used without proper authorization, and material that is obscene, defamatory, constitutes an illegal threat or violates export control laws.

System Usage / Network Security

Violation of system or network security are prohibited and may result in criminal and civil liability. We will investigate incidents involving such violations and may involve and will co-operate with law enforcement if a criminal violation is suspected. Examples of system or network security violations include (but are not limited to):

You must keep your AuthSMTP username and password private and secure and ensure that you only use secure passwords to reduce the risk of someone else being able to access / abuse your account and our systems.

Unauthorized access to or use of data, systems or networks, including any attempt to probe, scan or test the vulnerability of a system and / or network or to breach security or authentication measures without express authorisation of the owner of the system or that network.

Interference with service to any user, host or network including, but not limited to:
- Mail-bombing
- Packet flooding
- Deliberate attempts to overload a system
- Broadcast attacks
- Sending or distributing viruses / infected files
Forging of any TCP-IP packet header or any part of the header information in an email or a newsgroup posting.

Unauthorized monitoring of data and / or traffic on any network or system without the express authorisation of the owner of the system or network.

Miscellaneous

Indirect or attempted violations of the policy, and actual and or attempted violations by a 3rd party on behalf of one of our customers or a customers' end user, shall be considered violations of the policy by such customer or end user.

To encourage responsible usage of the Internet - we will act against you if you abuse our system and the Internet in general. This action will usually take the form of a temporary suspension of your access until the matter can be resolved.

If appropriate we may terminate your account immediately - without refund.

Questions