The netshelter foundation strongly believes in free expression and privacy in this digital age. As such we allow proxies, VPN and TOR nodes within our network, which based on their nature do not allow for filtering or monitoring. However we do not allow, by Dutch Law, any unlawful and/or illegal content within our network and take no small action on such cases. Our full policy is listed below, but in short: If you cause problems for anyone else on the internet, we reserve the right disable or cancel the service without any notice!
Acceptable use policy
When provisions of this Acceptable Use Policy (AUP) are violated, netshelter can take measures, as defined in the Abuse Policy, to counter the continuation or repetition of the offence. The objectives of the Acceptable Use Policy include:
- offering users safe and reliable internet services.
- contributing to the open nature of the internet and the value of the internet as a platform for freedom of speech.
- promoting the responsible use of the internet and counteracting practices that negatively affect the value of the internet.
- protection the rights, privacy and (internet) security of individuals and organisations.
- indicating the rights and obligations, in addition to statutory rights and obligations, netshelter provides users with.
Rules of conduct
- The starting point is that users behave as proper and careful internet users and do not cause any inconvenience to the other users and/or networks on the internet.
- The user shall follow reasonably formulated instructions from netshelter regarding the offered internet services.
- The user shall refrain from transmitting any material through or posting any material, of any form, on the internet, which can be regarded as illegal, unlawful, threatening, discriminatory, libellous, encouraging or triggering conducts that can be considered criminal, which could give civil liability to, or could otherwise result in a conflict with the Dutch law or international laws and regulations.
- The user will do everything reasonably possible to prevent a computer virus or other malicious program from being posted on or transmitted through the internet or netshelter’s infrastructure.
- The user will do everything reasonably possible to only connect systems with adequate security to the internet.
- netshelter is extremely careful with their users’ confidential information (including passwords) and expect the same degree of care from its users.
- The users will inform netshelter as soon as possible if any confidential data from or provided by netshelter has come into the hands of unauthorised parties, or in case of suspicion thereof.
- The user will inform netshelter as soon as possible when unauthorised parties have had access to the services, or in case of suspicion thereof.
- The user shall refrain from any attempt, in any way whatsoever, to:
- invade third party systems or using third party accounts without authorisation.
- gain access to data not intended for the user.
- carry out any denial of service attacks.
- intercept or manipulate third party network traffic without consent.
- send spam.
- manipulate electronic messages (including email headers).
Notice and takedown
netshelter uses a specific Notice and Take Down (NTD) procedure for reporting violations of the Acceptable Use Policy regarding unlawful and/or illegal content on our network. This procedure is based on, and thus endorses, the Dutch 2008 NTD code of conduct. We distinguish between reports by companies and individuals on the one hand, and actions, interventions and request from/by (government) authorities on the other. We use the NTD procedure described here to handle reports. In case of actions and requests of authorities, we act solely on the basis of a strong, legal underpinning such as a (Dutch) judgment or order.
Submitting reports
The detector should first contact the content provider to come to an agreement. Only once this has failed, and the reporter has done their outmost best to resolve the issue directly with the content provider, the issue be reported to netshelter and must contain the following information for it to be taken into consideration:
- indication that the report concerns an NTD request, detectors contact information.
- description of the failed attempt to come to an agreement with the content provider, including e-mail and call attempts/logs.
- the data netshelter needs to assess the content, including at least the location of the illegal and/or criminal content (URL).
- a description of why the content is illegal and/or criminal according to the detector.
- an explanation as to why netshelter is approached as the most suitable agent to act.
- an explicit indemnity against claims by the content provider as a result of taking measures for dealing with the report.
- the report should be mailed to abuse@netshelter.nl.
- the detector is responsible for a correct and complete notification.
Handling of reports
After netshelter has received the NTD report, netshelter will respond substantively within two working days of the notification and indicate which of the following options applies. netshelter may decide to ask a third party to evaluate the content of the report in cases that exposure to the content is suspected to be harmful to netshelter or the assessing employee. The personal data of the detector and content provider will not be provided to the third party in these cases. When providing information to the detector and/or content provider, the personal data of the detector or content provider will not be shared without permission. If either netshelter or the third party finds that the report is:
- not unmistakably illegal and/or undoubtedly punishable, MLaB will inform the content provider of the report. netshelter will inform the detector of this.
- unmistakably illegal and/or undoubtedly punishable and netshelter knows that an investigation is important for the content to be accessible, netshelter will not proceed to make the content inaccessible. netshelter will inform the detector of this.
- unmistakably illegal and/or undoubtedly punishable and there is an emergency that warrants no further delay, netshelter will immediately proceed to disabling the access to the content when proportionally possible. netshelter will inform the content provider and detector of this.
- unmistakably illegal and/or undoubtedly punishable, netshelter will inform the content provider about the report and request to have the content made inaccessible within two working days. netshelter will inform the detector of this. If the content provider:
- has made the content inaccessible within two working days, netshelter will inform the detector of this.
- has not made the content inaccessible within two working days and informs netshelter of an investigation requiring the content to remain accessible, netshelter will not proceed to make the content inaccessible. netshelter will inform the detector of this.
- has not made the content inaccessible within two working days, netshelter will do that when proportionally possible. MLaB will inform the content provider and detector of this.
Other abuse reports
Violations of the AUP other than unlawful and/or illegal content on the internet is subject to our general abuse procedure. A complaint is expected to contain the following information to be taken into consideration by netshelter:
- an indication that the report is an abuse complaint.
- the contact information of the detector.
- a description of the abuse.
- the data required to confirm the abuse, such as IP addresses, logs, etc.
The abuse complaint should be emailed to abuse@netshelter.nl.
Abuse without report(s)
When netshelter internally registers conducts in conflict with the Acceptable Use Policy, netshelter may decide to suspend a service to the causing party, until consultations between the affected user and a netshelter employee have been concluded. In case this consultation does not result in a satisfactory solution for netshelter, netshelter may decide to discontinue the service to the user and terminate the contract with immediate effect.
Cooperation with law enforcement agencies
netShelter will assist law enforcement agencies (LEA) in any way possible, but also watches over the privacy of our members. This is a very hard balance to do, but in general this means if there if a LEA shows us anything that is illegal or against our policies we will assist them even without a warrent. In cases this is not clear we will ask LEA to follow the correct procedures and validate this before handing over any information and/or data. LEA’s should be aware that some services like TOR exit nodes do not keep logs or accounting information, and thus cannot be provided even if we wanted to.
Scope of policy
All services and infrastructure users must follow these abuse policies. Any traffic passing over our infrastructure is subject to these abuse policies. In addition we require members to transfer these policies onto their users, which means they their abuse policy should match netShelters for the services that use netShelter infrastructure.
Revisions
netshelter reserves the right to revise this Abuse Policy unilaterally in accordance with social and technological developments.