Acceptable Use Policies
The acceptable use policy legally binds the usage of systems as indicated by its documentation. The policy is a set of rules and guidelines that specify in more or less detail the expectations in regard to appropriate use of systems or networks. By the definition alone, you should see that this policy would be a valuable document to have on your site. However, some experts think that there may not be a benefit for a web-hosting provider to have their own unique policy. Eric Goldman, an assistant professor of law at Marquette University states, “When I worry about things for a client, the first thing I worry about is my upstream vendors. Whether it’s collocation or managed services, the big issue is does your upstream Internet access provider (the data center), who is providing you connectivity, have a set of rules they expect you (the web host) to manage.” 10
What does this mean? Well you should start out by obtaining and reading the acceptable use policies that are provided by the backbone connection carriers, the data center where the servers are located and even the collocation company your using if your reselling hosting services. Then, take their acceptable use policies and write your policy to follow theirs. By taking this practice your ensuring that your policy doesn’t contradict their policies. Moreover, you have the majority of your policy already written.