EU Digital Services Act Disclosures

This page sets out the disclosures and procedures applied by Hostry Compute LLC ("Hostry", "we", "us", "our") under Regulation (EU) 2022/2065 on a Single Market for Digital Services (the "Digital Services Act" or "DSA").

Hostry is a provider of hosting services within the meaning of Article 3(g)(iii) of the DSA. Hostry is not an online platform, and is not a very large online platform or search engine.

1. Points of Contact

1.1 For Authorities (Article 11)

Hostry designates abuse@hostry.com as the single point of contact for direct communication with the authorities of Member States, the European Commission and the European Board for Digital Services in relation to the application of the DSA.

1.2 For Recipients of the Service (Article 12)

Hostry designates abuse@hostry.com as the single point of contact enabling recipients of our services to communicate directly and rapidly with us concerning our services and our content moderation decisions.

Recipients may also use the Portal ticket system, which is monitored continuously.

1.3 Language

Communications under Articles 11 and 12 may be made in English.

1.4 Legal Representative (Article 13)

Hostry does not maintain an establishment in the European Union and has not designated a legal representative under Article 13 of the DSA.

Authorities and recipients should communicate with Hostry directly at the addresses above. Hostry engages with lawful, specific and proportionate requests from EU authorities under the procedure set out in the Law Enforcement Requests policy.

2. Notice and Action Mechanism (Article 16)

Any individual or entity may notify Hostry of specific items of information present on our services that they consider to be illegal content.

Notices must be submitted electronically to abuse@hostry.com.

2.1 Required Elements

To be considered sufficiently precise and adequately substantiated, a notice must contain:

• (a) a sufficiently substantiated explanation of the reasons why you allege the information to be illegal content;
• (b) a clear indication of the exact electronic location of that information, such as the exact URL or URLs, and where the content is not identifiable by URL, the IP address together with the date and time of the activity including timezone;
• (c) your name and email address — except where the notice concerns an offence referred to in Articles 3 to 7 of Directive 2011/93/EU (offences concerning the sexual abuse and sexual exploitation of children and child pornography), in which case the notice may be submitted anonymously;
• (d) a statement confirming your bona fide belief that the information and allegations contained in the notice are accurate and complete.

2.2 Processing

Hostry processes all notices in a timely, diligent, non-arbitrary and objective manner.

• We send confirmation of receipt to the email address provided, without undue delay.
• We notify the reporting party of our decision in respect of the information concerned, without undue delay, together with information on the redress possibilities available in respect of that decision.
• Where we use automated means in processing or decision-making, we state this in the notification.

A notice that contains all the elements in Section 2.1 gives rise to actual knowledge or awareness of the content concerned for the purposes of Article 6 of the DSA, where it allows a diligent provider to identify the illegality without a detailed legal examination.

2.3 Relationship to Other Procedures

• Copyright claims may also be submitted under the DMCA Procedures. Where a rightsholder submits a notice that satisfies both procedures, we apply whichever provides the affected recipient with greater procedural protection.
• Technical abuse reports — spam, malware, network abuse — follow the Abuse Reports Processing Policy, which sets out the technical detail we require.

3. Statement of Reasons (Article 17)

Where Hostry imposes a restriction on a recipient of the service established or located in the European Union on the ground that the information they provided is illegal content or incompatible with our terms and conditions, we provide that recipient with a clear and specific statement of reasons.

Restrictions covered include restricting the visibility of specific items of information, including removal or disabling of access; suspension or termination of the provision of the service in whole or in part; and suspension or termination of the recipient's account.

3.1 Contents

The statement of reasons includes:

• whether the decision entails removal, disabling of access, demotion or another restriction, and where relevant its territorial scope and duration;
• the facts and circumstances relied on in taking the decision, including whether the decision was taken on the basis of a notice submitted under Article 16 or on the basis of our own investigation, and where strictly necessary the identity of the notifier;
• where applicable, information on the use of automated means in taking the decision;
• where the decision concerns allegedly illegal content, the legal ground relied on and an explanation of why the information is considered illegal on that ground;
• where the decision is based on incompatibility with our terms and conditions, the contractual ground relied on and an explanation of why the information is considered incompatible;
• clear information on the redress possibilities available, in particular internal complaint handling, out-of-court dispute settlement and judicial redress.

3.2 Timing

• For Standard Violations, the statement of reasons and a prior warning are provided before any restriction is imposed, together with a reasonable period to remedy the violation.
• For Critical Violations — child sexual abuse material, botnets, terrorism or separatism, phishing, manifest fraud — the restriction is imposed immediately and the statement of reasons is provided no later than the date on which the restriction takes effect.

3.3 Exception

A statement of reasons is not provided where the information is deceptive high-volume commercial content, or where its provision is prohibited by law, by a judicial order, or by a request from law enforcement or national security authorities.

4. Suspension of Frequent Offenders

The obligations for online platforms in Section 3 of Chapter III of the DSA, including Article 23, do not apply to Hostry: its services are hosting services rather than an online platform, and Hostry qualifies as a micro enterprise within the meaning of Recommendation 2003/361/EC. The practice described below is applied as a matter of contract under the Master Service Agreement and the Acceptable Use Policy.

Hostry temporarily suspends the provision of its services to recipients who frequently provide manifestly illegal content.

Such suspension is applied for a reasonable period and only after a prior warning has been issued, except in cases of Critical Violations, which warrant immediate termination.

In deciding whether a recipient falls within this policy, we assess, on a case-by-case basis and in a timely, diligent and objective manner:

• the absolute number of items of manifestly illegal content submitted within a given period;
• their proportion relative to the total information provided by that recipient;
• the gravity of the misuse, including the nature of the illegal content and its consequences;
• where identifiable, the intention of the recipient.

Hostry also suspends, for a reasonable period and after a prior warning, the processing of notices submitted by individuals or entities that frequently submit manifestly unfounded notices.

5. Redress

A recipient affected by a decision described in Section 3 may:

1. Contest the decision with Hostry by opening a ticket in the Portal or writing to abuse@hostry.com within 6 months of the decision. Complaints are handled by our team in a timely, non-discriminatory, diligent and non-arbitrary manner, and are not decided solely by automated means. Where the complaint shows that the information is not illegal or not incompatible with our terms, the decision is reversed without undue delay.
2. Use out-of-court dispute settlement. Recipients established or located in the EU may select any out-of-court dispute settlement body certified by the Digital Services Coordinator of a Member State under Article 21 of the DSA. Engaging such a body does not prevent judicial redress. Hostry engages in good faith with certified bodies, but their decisions are not binding on the parties.
3. Seek judicial redress before the competent courts, in accordance with applicable law.

The mandatory mediation provision in Section 15.2 of the Master Service Agreement does not restrict a recipient's right to use the mechanisms in this Section, nor a consumer's right to bring proceedings in the courts of their country of residence where applicable law so provides.

6. Orders from Authorities

6.1 Orders to Act Against Illegal Content (Article 9)

On receipt of an order issued by a competent national judicial or administrative authority to act against one or more specific items of illegal content, Hostry informs the issuing authority of the effect given to the order, specifying the action taken and the moment it was taken.

6.2 Orders to Provide Information (Article 10)

On receipt of an order to provide specific information about one or more specific individual recipients, Hostry informs the issuing authority of the effect given to the order.

In both cases, Hostry informs the affected recipient of the order received and the effect given to it, without undue delay and at the latest at the time the effect is given, unless the order provides otherwise or the authority states that notification must be deferred, in which case the reasons are recorded.

Orders are handled in accordance with the Law Enforcement Requests policy.

7. Terms and Conditions (Article 14)

The restrictions Hostry imposes on the use of its services in relation to information provided by recipients are set out in the Master Service Agreement and the Acceptable Use Policy, in clear, plain and unambiguous language, and are publicly available at hostry.com/legal.

Where a restriction is applied, Hostry acts in a diligent, objective and proportionate manner, with due regard to the rights and legitimate interests of all parties involved, including the fundamental rights of recipients as enshrined in the Charter of Fundamental Rights of the European Union.

Significant changes to those terms are notified to recipients through the Portal or by email.

8. Transparency Reporting (Article 15)

Under Article 15(2) of the DSA, the transparency reporting obligation does not apply to providers of intermediary services that qualify as micro or small enterprises within the meaning of Recommendation 2003/361/EC and that are not very large online platforms.

Hostry currently qualifies as such an enterprise and therefore does not publish an annual transparency report. Should Hostry cease to qualify, reports covering the matters listed in Article 15(1) will be published on the Hostry website and the change will be reflected on this page.

Requests for information about notices and orders received may be sent to legal@hostry.com.

9. Scope of Application

The rights and procedures described on this page apply to recipients of the service who have their place of establishment or are located in the European Union.

For recipients outside the European Union, Hostry applies the same categories of violation and the same escalation practice as a matter of internal policy, but reserves the right to suspend or terminate services in accordance with the standard procedures set out in the Master Service Agreement.

10. Contact