Acceptable Use Policy

Acceptable Use Policy Overview

Our Acceptable Use Policy outlines the types of activities that are prohibited on our network and forms part of Black and Yellow’s Hosting Terms.

Black and Yellow reserves the right, at its sole discretion, to request changes or to disable any website, account, database, or other component that does not comply with this policy. In cases of emergency, we may take immediate action without prior notice.

This policy may be revised at any time to reflect the evolving needs of our customers, our business operations, the broader Internet environment, and applicable legal requirements. Customers are encouraged to review this policy regularly to remain informed of any updates.

If you believe you have identified a violation of this policy, please report it by emailing abuse@blackandyellow.co.za

1. SPAM and Unsolicited Email

Last updated: January 2013

Sending unsolicited commercial communication (including, but not limited to email, instant messaging, SMS, chat rooms, discussion boards and newsgroups) is not permitted via Black and Yellow’s network.

Regardless of how the recipient’s email address was acquired, if the communication was not explicitly requested or consented to by the recipient, or if the recipient would not reasonably expect to receive it as a result of an existing relationship, the communication is deemed unsolicited. This applies to both personal and company email addresses (e.g. sales@companyxyz.co.za). Any communication that does not clearly originate from a consensual sender, or which appears to originate from a third party or affiliate, is considered unsolicited.

Examples of unsolicited communication include:

Use of purchased mailing lists, “safe lists,” or harvested addresses where recipients have not explicitly agreed to receive communication from a specified sender.
Sending emails that require recipients to opt out of messages they never requested.
Sending once-off invitations to subscribe or receive further information without prior consent.
Including recipients in mailing lists who have requested removal, or continuing to send messages after a reasonable period following such a request.

Mailing list operators must keep meaningful records of recipient requests and consent. All communications must include an option to unsubscribe.

When Black and Yellow receives a spam complaint, verification may be requested to prove that the recipient agreed to receive the communication, including when and where the address was recorded.

Black and Yellow reserves the right to suspend or terminate the account of any user who distributes unsolicited email (Spam) with or without notice, in line with its General Terms and Conditions. Customers found in breach of this policy will be liable for any costs incurred by Black and Yellow, including financial losses and reputational damage. Black and Yellow may also charge a clean-up fee or blacklist removal costs at its sole discretion.

Use of any third-party service to send Spam referencing Black and Yellow resources (including but not limited to mailboxes, autoresponders, or hosted web pages) is also grounds for suspension or termination. If a customer’s website is compromised and exploited to send unsolicited communications, Black and Yellow will assist in resolving the issue, but repeated exploitation may result in termination. For further details, please consult our Spam Abuse FAQ.

2. Offensive Content

Last updated: May 2011

Black and Yellow does not permit the hosting or publication of the following content (or links to such content) on its systems:

Pornographic, sexually explicit, or violent material.
Hate sites or content that is discriminatory, including based on sex, race, or age.
Illegal material, including stolen copyrighted content.
Defamatory content or content violating privacy rights.
Material involving theft, fraud, drug trafficking, money laundering, or terrorism.
Pirated software sites.
Illegal gambling operations.

If Black and Yellow determines, at its sole discretion, that hosted content violates applicable law (including the Film and Publications Act, 65 of 1966) or this policy, it may:

Request the immediate removal or modification of such content;
Suspend or terminate services without notice;
Delete the offending content without notice;
Notify authorities where required, provide necessary copies of the material, disclose customer data if requested, and take any other action mandated by law.

3. Misuse of Account Features

Last updated: July 2011

The following is prohibited:

Operating services that make account features available to third parties beyond normal use of the associated website.
Operating services that enable anonymous or abusive activity by third parties.
Operating services that affect server or network stability, reliability, or quality of service.

All account features must be used solely to develop and manage websites hosted under that account.

Reselling multiple domains on Black and Yellow’s Web Hosting packages to third parties is not permitted. Domains may only be used by the profile owner for their own websites.

4. Shared Systems and Resource Usage

Last updated: January 2025

Customers on shared hosting may not use resources in ways that interfere with the normal operation of systems or disproportionately consume resources (e.g. excessive hits, bandwidth, disk space, inefficient scripts, or database queries). Black and Yellow may suspend accounts negatively affecting other customers.

Examples of prohibited resource usage include:

Processes requiring more than 50MB memory.
Programs using more than 30 CPU seconds.
More than 10 simultaneous processes.
Sending mail to more than 500 recipients per hour.
Sending/receiving mail attachments larger than 20MB.

Bulk mailing beyond these limits, whether or not classified as Spam, will result in account deactivation.

Additional restrictions apply to CGI scripts, interactive applications (“chat”), cron jobs, and MySQL databases. Customers must adhere to quota limits, avoid resource-heavy operations, and ensure databases are used strictly for Black and Yellow-hosted services.

Black and Yellow reserves the right to make adjustments, move databases, or disable accounts if performance is impacted.

5. Server-Side Processes

Last updated: June 2024

Unattended server-side processes (daemons) may not be installed or operated on Black and Yellow servers, except for approved cron jobs. Violations may result in immediate termination.

This protects server resources and system security. For Managed Servers, Black and Yellow will notify customers if excessive loads are detected. After three notifications without resolution, alerts will stop, but websites and email may become unresponsive if resources remain saturated.

Prohibited actions on Cloud and Self-Managed Servers:

Cryptocurrency mining.

6. Internet Abuse

Last updated: May 2011

Black and Yellow’s network may not be used for illegal, abusive, or irresponsible activities, including but not limited to:

Unauthorized access or security probing of systems or networks.
Monitoring traffic without permission.
Interfering with services (e.g. flooding, mail bombing, denial-of-service).
Phishing, scams, password theft, or port scanning.
Distributing spyware or covert data-gathering tools.
Introducing malware or failing to use up-to-date antivirus protection.
Forging communications, distributing pirated software, or publishing illegal material.

Compliance with third-party acceptable use policies is required. Accounts may be suspended without notice during investigations. Serious cases may be referred to law enforcement.

7. Security

Last updated: May 2011

Customers must take reasonable security precautions to prevent compromised websites, mailboxes, or credentials. Vulnerabilities or weak passwords that result in abuse may lead to suspension or termination.

Requirements include:

Using secure, updated scripts and applications.
Setting proper directory permissions.
Choosing strong passwords (minimum 11 characters, mixed case, alphanumeric).
Changing passwords regularly.

Black and Yellow reserves the right to enforce password resets where necessary. For more information, see our Secure Password FAQ.

8. Disk Usage

Last updated: January 2025

8.1 Web Hosting and Volume Plans

File limits: 200,000 files per account, 50,000 files per directory.
Servers may not be used for unrelated personal storage.
Mailboxes that accumulate excessive unattended mail are prohibited.
Emails older than five years may not be stored.
Emails 5MB or larger may not be stored for more than one month.

Black and Yellow enforces disk quotas with automated tracking, notifications, and billing for overuse. Customers exceeding disk space without corrective action after three notifications will no longer receive alerts, and their websites/email may stop functioning.

8.2 Managed Servers

The same monitoring applies to Managed Servers. Customers must act promptly to free up space or risk unresponsive services.

9. Traffic Usage

Last updated: May 2025

9.1 Web Hosting

Web Hosting (including CDN and WAF) has no fixed traffic quotas but may not be used primarily for file storage, archiving, or high-volume streaming. See our Unlimited Traffic Policy for details.

9.2 Managed, Self-Managed, Cloud and Colocation

Restricted services include:

Public mirroring services.
Sites designed to redirect traffic between networks.
Reselling bandwidth/network capacity.
Routing Colocation traffic via Cloud or Self-Managed servers.

Traffic is monitored for disproportionate patterns. Rate limiting may be applied to protect network integrity, affecting speed but not total volume. Excessive usage is flagged per IP address.

All customers must comply to ensure fair network performance.