Anti-Spam Policy

Mail going out is shared infrastructure, quite literally: reputation attaches to an IP range, so a single account blasting a purchased list can drop every other customer on that range into a spam folder for weeks on end. Which is why the subject gets a page of its own rather than a paragraph buried in the acceptable use policy, and why a breach here draws a faster response than almost anything else in these terms.

1. The shape real consent takes

UK data protection law and the Privacy and Electronic Communications Regulations both point the same way: marketing mail sent to an individual will generally need that person's consent, and consent means a positive act on their part. A pre-ticked box is not it. Nor is a condition of entry to a prize draw, nor an address you found published somewhere.

One narrow exception exists: an existing customer, written to about similar products, who was offered a way to refuse when their address was first collected and again in every message that followed. Most senders read that exception far wider than it is.

For any address on a list, you have to be able to show when consent was given and how it was obtained. Where that record does not exist, the list cannot be used here.

2. Bought, scraped and inherited lists

Bought lists and rented lists are barred here, with no exception at all. The same goes for addresses scraped off websites, trade directories or social networks. A list that came with a business you acquired is out too, unless the consent behind it stretched to cover your use of it.

Consent is not "they can always unsubscribe". Nor is a bad list repaired by writing round to ask permission; that mailing is itself the breach.

3. What must appear in every message

• an accurate sender identity, with no forged headers and no from-address that misleads;
• a subject line that says what the message really contains;
• an unsubscribe link that works, acted on within three working days and sooner if possible;
• a postal address for whoever sent it, plus the company standing behind the trading name.

An unsubscribe is permanent. Put that address back on because the person filled in some other form, or because you have started a new list, and we count it as a fresh breach.

4. Limits on shared plans

Shared and reseller plans come with per-hour sending limits. The ceiling is sized for a website's transactional mail: order confirmations, password resets, contact-form notifications. Campaigns are a different matter.

Bulk mail belongs with a dedicated provider, one that looks after its own reputation and hands you delivery reporting. Push a newsletter of any size through shared hosting and the first person to suffer is you: your own delivery rate drops long before ours becomes a problem.

5. Relaying and third-party sending

Never run an open relay, and never send for a third party whose consent practices you cannot vouch for. Resellers who run mail on behalf of clients carry those clients' compliance themselves, at least as far as we are concerned. The account that owns the service is the account we act against.

6. When spam goes out from an account

We watch outbound sending for the pattern, not for what the messages say. Once a run begins, the account stops sending and the conversation happens afterwards. An hour of hesitation at that point is the difference between a warning and a blocklisting that takes weeks to clear.

• Compromise. Spam out of a hosting account usually traces back to a hacked contact form or a stolen password, not to anybody's decision. We suspend sending, tell you exactly where the mail originated, and switch it back on once the hole has been closed.
• Deliberate sending. Terminated, with nothing refunded for whatever is left of the term you paid for.

Where one account gets an IP range blocklisted, we may bill that account for the delisting work, along with whatever it costs to move the other customers onto clean addresses.

7. How to report spam from a site we host

Send the message with its full headers through abuse reports. Headers are the part that lets us act on a report. Forward the body alone and we can rarely trace it to an account.

8. Our own mail

Our own mail to you covers your services, your invoices and your security. Anything marketing is opt-in, and its unsubscribe link leaves the service messages untouched. For what we collect, and the reason we collect it, read the privacy notice.

9. Who this is with

Hosting & Domains is a trading name of Azaanex Inc., a company registered in Canada under Company No. 1766541-5. Registered office: 5-145 1/2 Church St, Toronto, Ontario M5B 1Y4, Canada. Any query on this policy should go to info@hosting-n-domains.com.