Acceptable Use Policy (AUP)

Status: In Legal Review
Last Updated: January 16, 2026

This Acceptable Use Policy (AUP) expands on Section 4 of our Terms of Service. It defines prohibited activities and enforcement procedures for NorthRelay.

Prohibited Activities

1. Spam and Unsolicited Email

You may NOT use NorthRelay to send:

• Unsolicited commercial email (UCE) or bulk marketing without opt-in consent
• Email to purchased, rented, or scraped mailing lists
• Email in violation of CAN-SPAM (US), CASL (Canada), or GDPR (EU)
• Email after recipients have unsubscribed or opted out

Spam Thresholds:

• Complaint rate > 0.1% triggers review
• Complaint rate > 0.5% results in suspension
• Bounce rate > 10% triggers investigation

2. Phishing and Fraud

• Impersonating other companies, brands, or individuals
• Deceptive subject lines or "From" addresses
• Email designed to steal credentials or sensitive information
• Financial fraud or advance-fee scams

3. Malicious Content

• Malware, viruses, ransomware, or trojans
• Executable attachments without legitimate business purpose
• Links to phishing sites or malicious downloads

4. Harassment and Illegal Content

• Threatening or abusive communications
• Child sexual abuse material (CSAM)
• Content that incites violence or hatred
• Content illegal under Canadian federal law

5. Technical Abuse

• Attempting to bypass rate limits or quota restrictions
• Reverse engineering proprietary Dashboard or routing logic
• Sharing API keys or SMTP credentials with unauthorized parties
• Using NorthRelay to attack other services (DDoS, port scanning)

6. Commercial Restrictions

• Reselling NorthRelay without a reseller agreement
• Using NorthRelay to build a competing email service
• Publishing comparative benchmarks without written permission

Enforcement Procedures

Level 1: Warning

Triggered by:

• First-time minor violation (e.g., accidental spam complaint)
• Complaint rate between 0.1% - 0.3%
• Bounce rate between 5% - 10%

Action:

• Email warning sent to account owner
• Dashboard notification
• 7-day remediation period

Level 2: Temporary Suspension

Triggered by:

• Complaint rate > 0.5%
• Multiple spam reports from different providers
• Detected phishing or malware
• Failure to remediate after warning

Action:

• Immediate service suspension (SMTP access revoked)
• Email to account owner with specific violation details
• Dashboard access maintained for data export
• Reinstatement possible after investigation (3-5 business days)

Level 3: Permanent Termination

Triggered by:

• Severe violations (CSAM, terrorism, financial fraud)
• Repeated violations after reinstatement
• Intentional abuse or malicious activity
• Law enforcement request

Action:

• Permanent account termination
• No refund of prepaid fees
• Immediate data deletion (30-day retention waived)
• Possible referral to law enforcement
• IP address and email blocklisted from future registration

Reporting Abuse

If You Receive Abuse from a NorthRelay User

Email: abuse@alteriom.com

Include:

• Full email headers (View Source / Show Original)
• Description of the violation
• Any relevant screenshots

Response Time: 24 hours for abuse reports

If You Suspect Your Account Was Compromised

Email: security@alteriom.com

We will:

• Immediately rotate your API keys and SMTP passwords
• Investigate suspicious activity
• Provide incident report within 72 hours

IP Reputation Management

NorthRelay sends all customer mail through a single, monitored sending IP. Because that IP is shared by every customer, its reputation is protected by policy rather than by tier:

• Verified senders only: a From address must belong to a domain you own and have verified on your account
• One-click unsubscribe: every campaign and marketing message carries RFC 8058 List-Unsubscribe headers
• Automatic suppression: addresses that bounce or complain are suppressed and cannot be mailed again
• 24/7 monitoring: we track bounce and complaint rates per account and take proactive enforcement action

Your Responsibilities

• Your sending affects every other customer on the same IP
• Keep bounce rates below 5% and complaint rates below 0.1%
• Send only to recipients who have consented to receive your mail
• Honour unsubscribe requests immediately

If Your IP Gets Blocklisted:

1. We notify you immediately via email and Dashboard
2. You have 48 hours to remediate (remove bad contacts, fix sending practices)
3. We assist with delisting requests to Spamhaus, Barracuda, etc.
4. Failure to remediate may result in suspension of sending or termination

Appeals Process

If you believe your account was suspended or terminated in error:

1. Email legal@alteriom.com with subject "AUP Appeal"
2. Include your account email and detailed explanation
3. Provide evidence (email headers, screenshots, etc.)

Response Time: 5 business days

Note: Appeals are reviewed by our Abuse Team, not automated systems.