Hetzner.de - illegal content or copyright violation..

[Mondo90]

Hello, I have question for users which use hetzner or have knowledge about Hetzner law and their approach to illegal content or copyright violation.

I want to set up small filesharing website on hetzner server and need to know what they do if someone uploaded illegal content on server ?


Thanks for good advices ;]

[Host Ultra]

They will send you a notice giving you 24 hours to remove it.
Not sure what happens if you get too many though.

[Mondo90]

Not sure what happens if you get too many though.

This is what I want to know and also: Do they check claims or assume it as a true?

[Host Ultra]

This is what I want to know and also: Do they check claims or assume it as a true?

They forward everything to you even the obvious fake ones.
If you don't respond at all they will shut down the server, you must at minimum reply to tell them the complaint is invalid or whatever reason you have for not removing it.

I get maybe 1 or 2 complaints a month, but for hosting not file sharing. I have heard they are strict on file sharing.

[Afterburst-Jack]

They will send you a notice giving you 24 hours to remove it.
Not sure what happens if you get too many though.

With copyright issues, they won't progressively get more annoyed at you as long as you deal with it properly each and every time.

[Henrik Holben]

Hetzner is very strict with all this, any adult content is also not allowed, zero tolerance for spam issues. If I was you I would contact them directly ask them exactly how they feel about what you're hosting before you go ahead and order from them find out if they will accept this file sharing you're doing...

[Rob Hivelocity]

I would contact them directly ask them exactly how they feel about what you're hosting before you go ahead and order from them find out if they will accept this file sharing you're doing...

Agreed, be honest and let them know your plans. They will let you know straight away if you will experience any issues in regards to your solution.

[mazedk]

Theres several threads inhere regarding people gettin cut off from their servers and canceled for hosting warez on their hetzner servers.

I would look at ecatel or leaseweb insted. They are less strict in my experience.

[Hetzner_Rep]

Just wanted to confirm what most people have written here already. We follow German law and don't allow copyrighted content (or adult content) on our servers. If we receive complaints or notices about this we will contact the client and ask them to resolve the issue, giving them 24 hours to reply.

Also, please note that we don't allow file sharing tools on our servers, as these can have a significant negative impact on the network.

[Mondo90]

Also, please note that we don't allow file sharing tools on our servers, as these can have a significant negative impact on the network.

So, file sharing sites like megaupload.com are not allowed right ?

[Hetzner_Rep]

So, file sharing sites like megaupload.com are not allowed right ?

Right, that is correct.

[allquixotic]

Right, that is correct.

Interesting; that one's new to me and I'm an active Hetzner user since ~2009...

So, question: is it against your terms of service to use a P2P protocol for legitimate content? Example: many Linux distributions such as Ubuntu, Fedora, etc. allow you to download ISOs (700 MB to 4 GB) over BitTorrent. I'd be inclined to download one of these using my Hetzner server and allow the server to upload at least as much data as I download, to "give back" to the cloud of servers and users downloading and using those Linux distributions.

I would think that if my server is participating in this kind of activity, then Hetzner would not be against it, as long as I am within my monthly bandwidth allocation. I have always been WAY below your limits (in the sub-1TB range) so I would be surprised if there were a network issue raised against my account for participating in the distribution of Free Software, which is intentionally legal and permitted by the distributors and authors of the software.

It's a mistake to whitewash all P2P activity as illegal, because there is a lot of legitimate P2P out there, because not every file is illegal to distribute. In fact, some authors of some files (such as Free Software and Free Content) would want you to distribute it as much and as widely as possible. Being disallowed from doing that by Hetzner would be tantamount to saying "you have this bandwidth but I'm not going to let you use it for 100% legal purposes". Please don't say/do that.

[jasonh_]

Interesting; that one's new to me and I'm an active Hetzner user since ~2009...

So, question: is it against your terms of service to use a P2P protocol for legitimate content? Example: many Linux distributions such as Ubuntu, Fedora, etc. allow you to download ISOs (700 MB to 4 GB) over BitTorrent. I'd be inclined to download one of these using my Hetzner server and allow the server to upload at least as much data as I download, to "give back" to the cloud of servers and users downloading and using those Linux distributions.

I would think that if my server is participating in this kind of activity, then Hetzner would not be against it, as long as I am within my monthly bandwidth allocation. I have always been WAY below your limits (in the sub-1TB range) so I would be surprised if there were a network issue raised against my account for participating in the distribution of Free Software, which is intentionally legal and permitted by the distributors and authors of the software.

It's a mistake to whitewash all P2P activity as illegal, because there is a lot of legitimate P2P out there, because not every file is illegal to distribute. In fact, some authors of some files (such as Free Software and Free Content) would want you to distribute it as much and as widely as possible. Being disallowed from doing that by Hetzner would be tantamount to saying "you have this bandwidth but I'm not going to let you use it for 100% legal purposes". Please don't say/do that.

these are all good points. also bittorrent tech SAVES bandwidth in many cases. i have a site that hosts old dos files and pdfs. if i linked to these files i would use up a lot more bandwidth than how i do it now: my torrent tracker.

i have people that help out by seeding files they download. i use maybe 1/3 of the BW i would have used if i just hosted files and linked to them.

[Imthatguyhere]

these are all good points. also bittorrent tech SAVES bandwidth in many cases. i have a site that hosts old dos files and pdfs. if i linked to these files i would use up a lot more bandwidth than how i do it now: my torrent tracker.

i have people that help out by seeding files they download. i use maybe 1/3 of the BW i would have used if i just hosted files and linked to them.

There's many legitmate uses for torrents. Colleges and universitys host trackers to download linux distros. Saves them bandwidth as many use the distros internally and allows free mirrors for open source projects. Even large game developers use torrents to host their files for download with their preconfigured client.

[LeaseWeb]

Theres several threads inhere regarding people gettin cut off from their servers and canceled for hosting warez on their hetzner servers.

I would look at ecatel or leaseweb insted. They are less strict in my experience.

Hello,

LeaseWeb does also not allow hosting of illegal content.

[Hetzner_Rep]

There are a number of good points being brought up "defending" torrents and I just wanted to say that we aren't "attacking" them, we just decided not to allow file-sharing tools on our servers. This is partly due to legal issues and how difficult it can be to track that, and partly due to network issues and the large effect such tools can have.

Unfortunately I am newly registered here on WHT so I cannot link directly to our system policies, but I can point out where they are.
On our main website down at the bottom left next to our "Terms and Conditions" there is a link to "System Policies". If you follow that link and then select "Root Server" from the menu on the left you will see the following:

-----------------
Root Server Service Agreement

So that we can operate a high-performance and reliable network for our clients, the following actions are prohibited:

- The use of file sharing tools e.g. eDonkey
-----------------

In case anybody is intersted, Hetzner operates its own mirrors for a number of Linux Operating Systems. We have an article in our wiki on that.

[Mondo90]

So that we can operate a high-performance and reliable network for our clients, the following actions are prohibited:

- The use of file sharing tools e.g. eDonkey

Ok this is pretty obvious but my website is totaly diferent case . I just want to use hetzner as file disk for my file sharing website (with its own Raport abuse system, and with terms that no one can upload illegal content and files which doesn't own, etc) We remove every file which is complained in our own abuse system, or in our hosting provider.

So in this case can I set up my file server at hetzner or not ?

[~Lee~]

I think the point you are missing here is that file sharing in any form are not allowed in the context of allowing people to upload whatever files they like without prior checking.

The issue for Hetzner is that you have no control over what is being uploaded therefore content that is against their terms can exist. The fact you have your own abuse controls is neither here nor there, the simple fact is you are letting the content on to the server in the first place.