Nova Cloud – Acceptable Use Policy (AUP)

1. Illegal and Harmful Activities

You must not use the Services to:

• Violate any applicable law or regulation (Canadian or international);
• Promote, facilitate, or engage in fraudulent activity;
• Distribute or host material that is defamatory, harassing, abusive, discriminatory, or threatening;
• Promote violence, terrorism, or other criminal behavior;
• Distribute child sexual abuse material or any content involving exploitation of minors.

We will report apparent child exploitation or other serious crimes to law enforcement.

2. Security and Network Abuse

You must not:

• Access or attempt to access any system, account, or data that does not belong to you without authorization;
• Scan, probe, or test the vulnerability of our systems or networks without explicit written permission;
• Interfere with or disrupt the integrity or performance of the Services or other users' workloads;
• Use the Services to perform or assist with denial-of-service (DoS/DDoS) attacks, port scanning, or similar hostile activity;
• Use the Services in a way that imposes unusual or excessive load on Nova Cloud's infrastructure outside of your plan's intended use.

3. Malware and Abuse

You must not use the Services to:

• Develop, distribute, or operate malware, ransomware, bots, or any harmful code;
• Operate command-and-control infrastructure for malicious activity;
• Engage in phishing, credential harvesting, or deceptive practices designed to trick end users.

4. Spam and Unsolicited Communications

You must not:

• Use the Services to send unsolicited bulk email ("spam");
• Operate mailing lists without valid opt-in and opt-out mechanisms;
• Use misleading headers, forged identities, or deceptive addressing.

5. Intellectual Property Infringement

You must not use the Services to:

• Infringe or misappropriate copyrights, trademarks, trade secrets, patents, or other proprietary rights;
• Host or distribute content you do not have the rights to share (for example, pirated software, movies, or media).

We may remove or disable access to content alleged to be infringing and may terminate accounts of repeat infringers.

6. Cryptocurrency Mining and Similar Workloads

To comply with payment processor requirements and protect Nova Cloud infrastructure:

• Cryptocurrency mining, including any proof-of-work style blockchain computation (for example, Bitcoin, Ethereum (PoW), or similar), is prohibited on the Services.
• This prohibition applies regardless of your payment method.

If we detect cryptocurrency mining or similar workloads in violation of this AUP, we may suspend or terminate affected VMs or your account.

7. Resource Misuse and System Abuse

You must not:

• Attempt to bypass metering, billing, or runtime limitations;
• Intentionally design workloads primarily to stress or damage hardware (for example, extreme, sustained overclocking or thermal abuse beyond normal GPU-intensive workload levels);
• Interfere with Nova Cloud's ability to manage or maintain the underlying physical infrastructure.

We may throttle or limit resource usage to protect overall system stability.

8. Export Control and Sanctions Compliance

You must not:

• Use the Services from, or for the benefit of, any country, region, person, or entity that is subject to applicable sanctions;
• Use the Services for prohibited end uses (for example, development of weapons of mass destruction) under Canadian or other applicable export laws.

We may suspend or terminate access if we reasonably believe this section is or may be violated.

9. Enforcement

Nova Cloud may, with or without notice:

• Investigate any suspected breach of this AUP;
• Remove or disable access to content that violates this AUP;
• Suspend or terminate Services for users or workloads that violate this AUP;
• Report illegal activity to relevant authorities.

Where reasonable, we will attempt to contact you and give you an opportunity to remedy violations before taking more serious actions, but we are not obligated to do so in urgent or severe cases.

10. Reporting Violations

If you believe someone is using the Services in violation of this AUP, please contact us at contact@nova-cloud.ai with details.