Acceptable Use Policy

This Acceptable Use Policy (this “AUP”) describes material and activities that are not allowed in connection with the Services offered by DigitalOcean. This AUP is not exhaustive, and DigitalOcean reserves the right to take remedial action in connection with content or uses that are not specifically described below.

You are responsible for violations of this AUP by anyone using your account with your permission or on an unauthorized basis. You are also responsible for violations of this AUP by Your Users. Your use of the Services to assist another person in an activity that would violate this AUP if performed by you is a violation of the AUP. We may modify this AUP at any time by posting a revised version on the DigitalOcean Websites and/or Services.

All capitalized and formally defined terms in this AUP have the same meaning as in the Terms of Service.

Illegal or Abusive Activity or Content

You may not use the Services for any unlawful or abusive purpose. Prohibited activities include:

• Illegal Activities. Any use of the Services to engage in, further, promote, or encourage illegal conduct or activities, including the dissemination of content that has been determined by a court of competent jurisdiction to be unlawful.
• Fraudulent or Harmful Activities. Engaging in activities that is deceptive or harmful to others, or that would harm DigitalOcean’s operations or reputation, including offering or disseminating fraudulent goods, services, schemes, or promotions (e.g., make-money-fast schemes, Ponzi and pyramid schemes, phishing, or pharming), deceptively impersonating another person or entity, or engaging in other fraudulent or misleading practices.
• Violation of Intellectual Property Rights. Using the Services in a manner that violates, infringes on or misappropriates the intellectual property or proprietary rights of any third party, including without limitation any rights in or to copyright, patent, trademark, trade secret, privacy or publicity, and publishing content intended to assist others in unlawfully circumventing technical measures intended to protect any such rights. For more information, please see DigitalOcean’s Copyright Policy and Trademark Policy.
• Unlawful Pornography. Disseminating child pornography or depictions of nudity or sexual activity obtained or disseminated without the consent of those depicted (e.g., “revenge pornography”).
• Violent, Harassing, or Abusive Content. Content that incites or threatens violence against any person, promotes terrorism, is intended to harass, abuse or invade the privacy of any individual, creates a risk to the physical safety or health of any individual or to public safety or health, or that threatens or encourages harm on the basis of race, ethnicity, national origin, religion, caste, sexual orientation, sex, gender, gender identity, serious disease or disability, or immigration status.
• Controlled Substances. Unlawfully selling or distributing controlled substances, including but not limited to any illegal or prescription drugs.

Security Violations

You may not use the Services to violate the security or integrity of any network, computer or communications system, software application, or network or computing device (each, a “System”). Prohibited activities include:

• Harmful Software. Content, software, or any other technology that may damage, interfere with, surreptitiously intercept, or expropriate any computer system, program, or data, including any viruses, malware, spyware, adware, Trojan horses, worms, or time bombs.
• Unauthorized Access. Accessing or using any System without permission, including attempting to probe, scan, or test the vulnerability of a System or to breach any security or authentication measures used by a System.
• Interception. Monitoring of data or traffic on a System without permission.
• Falsification of Origin. Using fake or misleading TCP-IP packet headers, e-mail headers, or any part of a message describing its origin or route. This prohibition does not include the use of aliases or anonymous remailers.

Network Abuse

You may not make network connections to any users, hosts, or networks unless you have permission to communicate with them. Prohibited activities include:

• Monitoring or Crawling. Monitoring or crawling of a System that impairs or disrupts the System being monitored or crawled, or other harvesting or scraping of any content of the Services.
• Deceitful Actions. Introducing intentionally, knowingly or recklessly, any virus or other contaminating code into the Service, or collecting, transmitting, or using information, including email addresses, screen names or other identifiers, by deceit or covert means (such as phishing, Internet scamming, password robbery, spidering, and harvesting).
• Intentional Interference. Interfering with the proper functioning of any System, including any deliberate attempt to overload a system by mail bombing, news bombing, broadcast attacks, flooding techniques, or conducting a denial of service (“DoS”) attack.
• Operation of Certain Network Services. Operating open proxies, open mail relays, open recursive domain name servers, Tor exit nodes, or other similar network services.
• Avoiding System Restrictions. Using manual or electronic means to avoid any use limitations placed on a System, such as access limits and storage restrictions.
• Retaliation Against DigitalOcean. Any conduct that is likely to result in retaliation against DigitalOcean, including the Services, or DigitalOcean’s employees, officers or other agents, including engaging in behavior that results in any DigitalOcean server being the target of a DoS attack.
• Withholding Identity. Any activity intended to withhold or cloak identity or contact information, including the omission, deletion, forgery or misreporting of any transmission or identification information, such as return mailing and IP addresses.
• Mining of Cryptocurrencies. Mining any cryptocurrency, including but not limited to BitCoin or any similar currency, without explicit written permission.

E-Mail and Other Message Abuse; Spamming

You will not distribute, publish, send, or facilitate the sending of unsolicited mass e-mail or other messages, promotions, advertising, or solicitations (like “spam”), including commercial advertising and informational announcements. You will not alter or obscure mail headers or assume a sender’s identity without the sender’s explicit permission. You will not collect replies to messages sent from another internet service provider if those messages violate this AUP or the acceptable use policy of that provider. You must use reasonable efforts to secure any device or network within your control against being used in breach of the applicable laws against spam and unsolicited email, including where appropriate by the installation of antivirus software, firewall software and operating system and application software patches and updates. You will not take any action which directly or indirectly results in any of our IP addresses being listed on any abuse database (e.g., Spamhaus).

You must comply with the laws and regulations applicable to bulk or commercial email in your jurisdiction. In addition, your bulk or commercial email must meet the following requirements:

• You must have a privacy policy or similar disclosure posted for each domain associated with the mailing;
• You must have the means to track anonymous complaints;
• You must not obscure the source of your e-mail in any manner;
• You must post an email address for complaints (such as abuse@yourdomain.com) in a conspicuous place on any website associated with the email, and you must promptly respond to messages sent to that address;
• Your intended recipients have given their consent to receive e-mail via some affirmative means, such as an opt-in procedure, and you can produce the evidence of such consent within 72 hours of receipt of a request by the recipient or DigitalOcean;
• You must use reasonable means to ensure that the person giving consent is the owner of the e-mail address for which the consent is given;
• You must include the recipient’s e-mail address in the body of the message or in the “TO” line of the e-mail; and
• You must honor revocations of consent and notify recipients of the same.

These mail policies apply to messages sent using the Services, or to messages sent from any System by you or any person on your behalf that directly or indirectly refer the recipient to a site hosted via the Services. In addition, you may not use a third-party e-mail service that does not practice similar procedures for all of its customers. These requirements apply to distribution lists created by third parties to the same extent as if you created the list.

Vulnerability Testing

You may not attempt to probe, scan, penetrate, or test the vulnerability of a DigitalOcean system or network, or to breach the DigitalOcean security or authentication measures, whether by passive or intrusive techniques, or conduct any security or malware research on or using the Services, without DigitalOcean’s prior written consent.

Excessive Use of Shared System Resources

You may not use any shared System provided by DigitalOcean in a way that unnecessarily interferes with the normal operation of the shared System, or that consumes a disproportionate share of the resources of the System. For example, we may require you to repair coding abnormalities in your cloud-hosted code if it unnecessarily conflicts with other customers’ use of the Services. You agree that we may quarantine or delete any data stored on a shared System if the data is infected with a virus, or is otherwise corrupted, and has the potential to infect or corrupt the System or other customers’ data that is stored on the same system.

Other

You must have valid and current information on file with your domain name registrar for any domain hosted on the DigitalOcean network. You may only use IP addresses assigned to you by DigitalOcean in connection with your DigitalOcean Service. You agree that if you register a DNS record or zone on DigitalOcean-managed or operated DNS servers or services for a domain of which you are not the registrant or administrative contact according to the registrars’ WHOIS system, that, upon request from the registrant or administrative contact according to the registrars WHOIS system, DigitalOcean may modify, transfer, or delete such records or zones.

Our Monitoring and Enforcement

We reserve the right, but have no obligation, to investigate any suspected violation of this AUP or misuse of the Services about which we have actual knowledge. In connection with such investigations, we may report any activity that we suspect violates any law or regulation to appropriate law enforcement officials, regulators, or other appropriate third parties. Such reporting may include disclosing, reviewing and preserving appropriate customer information consistent with applicable law. We also may cooperate with appropriate law enforcement agencies, regulators, or other appropriate third parties to help with the investigation and prosecution of illegal conduct by providing network and systems information related to alleged violations of this AUP.

Consequences of Violation of AUP

If we determine, in our discretion, that you have violated this AUP, we may remove, disable access to, or modify any content or resource and/or to suspend or terminate your use of the Services. We also may intercept or block any content or traffic belonging to you or to users where the Services are being used unlawfully or not in accordance with this AUP. Our right to suspend or terminate your use of the Services applies even if a violation is committed unintentionally or without your authorization. Such right is not an obligation on us to act at any given time or with respect to any given Subscriber, and we may exercise such right at any time within our sole discretion.

Reporting of Violations of this AUP

If you become aware of any suspected violation of this AUP, please notify us by providing a full explanation of the bases for the violation. We may request your assistance to help stop or remedy the violation. To report any violation of this AUP or make related inquiries, please contact us here.