Acceptable Use Policy

This Acceptable Use Policy ("this policy") describes what is and is not allowed on the hosting and management environments provided by bouwman.io. It forms part of theterms and conditions and applies alongside them. By using hosting or management services from bouwman.io (Chamber of Commerce (KVK) no. 42155003, VAT no. NL005541039B71), located at Cornelis Roelestraat 16a, 1151 CB Broek in Waterland, the Netherlands, and reachable athallo@bouwman.io, you agree to this policy.

1. Scope: which services and who

This policy applies to every service in which bouwman.io hosts, manages or maintains an environment for the client. This includes at least: web hosting and managed WordPress hosting, website maintenance and management, domain names and DNS managed through bouwman.io, e-mail and e-mail marketing sent from an environment set up by bouwman.io, and automations and integrations running on an environment managed by bouwman.io.

The policy applies to the client and to everyone who accesses or uses the hosted environment through the client: employees, freelancers, agencies and other third parties to whom the client gives credentials or permissions, and the client's own users or customers who post content or send messages through the hosted website or service.

This policy does not apply to QR Code Manager (qr.bouwman.io) or Bouwnb (bouwnb.nl). Those are separate platforms with their own terms of use.

2. Underlying hosting suppliers

The environments that bouwman.io hosts and manages run on infrastructure from external hosting suppliers. At present these are Render (United States) andVimexx (the Netherlands). bouwman.io may change or add a supplier; this policy continues to apply in full.

In addition to this policy, the terms and acceptable use rules of these suppliers apply to everything running on their infrastructure: Render's Acceptable Use Policy, and Vimexx's general terms and conditions and Fair Use Policy (both in Dutch). A violation of those terms also counts as a violation of this policy. If a supplier asks bouwman.io to remove content or to restrict or disable an environment, bouwman.io may comply, including without prior warning where the supplier leaves no room for one.

3. Permitted use

The hosted environment is intended for legitimately running and maintaining the client's own website, web shop, e-mail and business processes, within the limits of the agreement and the law. Use that fits within that is permitted: publishing your own content, selling your own legal products or services, sending e-mail to recipients who have consented or with whom a customer relationship exists, and running integrations and automations for your own business operations.

4. Prohibited use

The hosted environment may not be used for, or to contribute to:

• Unlawful activities: anything that violates Dutch law, European law or the law of the country where the client or the visitors of the site are located.
• Fraud and deception: scams, phishing, fake shops, false identities, pyramid and Ponzi schemes, misleading offers, impersonating other people, brands or organisations, and collecting credentials or payment details under false pretences.
• Malicious software and attacks: hosting or distributing malware, viruses, ransomware or spyware; scanning, attacking or intruding into third-party systems; DDoS attacks; using the environment as a command-and-control server, open proxy or open relay.
• Spam and unsolicited messages: sending unsolicited commercial e-mail or other messages (spam), using purchased, scraped or non-opt-in address lists, disguising the sender, and failing to honour unsubscribe requests. E-mail marketing is subject to the Dutch Telecommunications Act and the GDPR.
• Harmful or illegal content: material depicting or referring to child sexual abuse, terrorist content, incitement to violence, hateful or discriminatory content, threats, harassment, stalking, doxing, and content that unlawfully violates the privacy of others.
• Infringement of others' rights: publishing, distributing or selling copyrighted material, software, trademarks or other intellectual property of third parties without permission, including illegal downloads and streams.
• Restricted and high-risk activities: the environment may not be used to sell or promote illegal goods or services, including drugs and unapproved medicines, weapons and ammunition, counterfeit products, stolen data or goods; for illegal gambling or games of chance without the required licence; for unregulated financial services, investment fraud or money laundering; or for selling goods or services that the client's payment service provider does not allow. Activities that require a licence (such as financial services, gambling, pharmaceuticals or alcohol) are only permitted when the client demonstrably holds that licence.
• Abuse of the infrastructure: crypto mining, placing a disproportionate load on servers, network or e-mail capacity, circumventing security measures or limits, sharing or reselling the hosting to third parties without agreement, and using the environment for large-scale scraping or automated traffic that disrupts the service for others.

5. Compliance with laws and regulations, including sanctions

The client is responsible for complying with all applicable laws and regulations when using the hosted environment. This includes at least the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR), the Dutch Telecommunications Act, consumer law, copyright law and, where applicable, sector-specific rules for the client's product or service.

bouwman.io does not provide services to persons, organisations or countries subject to sanctions of the European Union, the United Nations, the Netherlands or other sanctions regimes that apply to bouwman.io. The client declares that it is not on a sanctions list, is not controlled by a sanctioned party, and will not use the hosted environment to circumvent sanctions or export control rules or to trade with sanctioned parties. If that situation changes, the client reports it immediately.

6. Rules for using the environment

To prevent misuse, fraud and harmful content, the following also applies:

• The client keeps credentials confidential, uses strong passwords and, where possible, two-factor authentication, and immediately reports any suspicion of a stolen or misused account.
• Software, themes and plugins that the client adds must be legally obtained and may not undermine the security or stability of the environment. bouwman.io may refuse or remove a component that poses a known security risk.
• A website that sells products or services must clearly state who the provider is, what is being sold and under which conditions, and must comply with the rules of the payment service provider used.
• Personal data of visitors, customers or recipients is only processed on a valid legal basis, and the website has an appropriate privacy policy and, where required, a cookie banner.
• Forms, comments and other places where visitors can post content themselves are reasonably protected against abuse by the client, and reported unwanted content is removed.

7. Responsibility for third parties and sub-users

The client is fully responsible for all use of the hosted environment, including use by employees, freelancers, agencies, customers or other third parties to whom the client gives access or who post content through the hosted website. A violation of this policy by such a third party is attributed to the client as if the client had acted itself. The client ensures that these third parties are aware of this policy and comply with it, and indemnifies bouwman.io against claims from others arising from use in violation of this policy.

8. Monitoring and enforcement

bouwman.io does not read the client's content as a matter of course, but reserves the right to monitor the hosted environment for security, availability, resource usage and signs of abuse, and to investigate an abuse report from third parties, a hosting supplier, a payment service provider or a regulator. In doing so, bouwman.io may ask the client for an explanation or supporting evidence, such as a licence or proof of consent for an e-mail list.

In the event of a violation of this policy, or a reasonable suspicion of one, bouwman.io may at its own discretion and depending on the severity take one or more of the following measures:

• warn the client and set a deadline to end the violation;
• remove, block or restrict specific content, functionality, e-mail sending or accounts;
• suspend the hosted environment or service in whole or in part, including without prior warning where necessary to prevent harm to third parties, other customers or the infrastructure;
• terminate the agreement with immediate effect in the case of serious or repeated violations;
• report to the relevant authorities, and provide data where bouwman.io is legally required to do so.

During a suspension the client remains liable for the agreed fee, and costs that bouwman.io reasonably has to incur to investigate or remedy abuse may be charged to the client. bouwman.io is not liable for damage resulting from measures taken in good faith under this policy.

9. Reporting abuse

If you see abuse of a website or service hosted by bouwman.io, report it athallo@bouwman.io with a description of what you saw and where. Every report is reviewed and, where warranted, acted upon.

10. Changes to this policy

This policy may be amended, for example in response to new legislation or new services. An amended version is published on this page and applies from the date stated at the top. Existing hosting and management clients are informed in advance of any material change. This policy is governed by Dutch law.