TOS Demystified: Why we block VPNs and Proxies

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travis

Administrator
Staff member
Today, I wanted to touch on a question we commonly get asked in our support ticket system:
Why was my order blocked?
In 9 out of 10 times, it is because the order was placed using a VPN (such as NordVPN) or using a proxy (such as proxy.org). We also consider orders placed via other hosting providers a VPN and we block these orders too. But why?

First and foremost, it's because there are a lot of bad people out there up to no good using VPNs and proxies to hide their identities or locations in the world - we're not saying that if you're using a VPN or proxy you're up to no good, but spammers will typically order services using these services. When spammers get on our services, it causes problems for our legitimate customers. They may find IP address ranges in block lists, mail services rejecting email, they may even find their own websites in accessible as IP addresses get blocked for abuse from network operators.

Secondly, it's only fair we know who we are dealing with. As a legal entity, we're required to tell you a lot of information about us - our name, our phone number, where we're located, etc. I believe this is a two-way street. You know this information about us, we get to know this information about you. We can't hide behind fictitious information, so you shouldn't - mostly. I say "mostly" because at the end of the day, we don't check ID (we reserve that right, but mostly this is for large orders that cost thousands of dollars) as we're slinging servers, not alcohol. If you don't want to give us your real name, that is fine with me! We just ask that you pay your invoices and follow our rules. However, keep in mind that providing fake information is against our TOS but we generally know it... that is until you have billing problems.

Also, we don't sell information. We are a small business and no small business I know of is selling private information. It's always the big tech companies - Microsoft, Google, Verizon, AT&T, etc.

Yes, there are exceptions to this rule! We won't disclose our guidelines for exceptions, but there are exceptions and we've excepted this rule several times.

If you have any questions or think you qualify for an exception, please contact our billing team. A ticket is automatically opened whenever an order is blocked.
 
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