Account suspended. Please help.

[tooti]

Getting this error "Your website has been disabled because it exceeded the 24 hour limit of 100 GB memory or 10,000 CPU". I do not have anything in my knowledge on the website that should cause this much load on the server. Request you to unblock.
Regards.

[KazVee]

We cannot unsuspend this site as it seems to contain elements of Copyright Infringement. Please review our Terms of Service: https://wiki.helionet.org/hosting/terms 

[tooti]

Could you please let me know elements which are in violation so that i can address them.

[KazVee]

This support request is being escalated to our root admins.

[wolstech]

The application hosted on the site has references and tools for viewing paid TV channels. The playlists folder contains m3u8 files pointing to what looks like pirate sites offering free access to pay TV streams such as Discovery's channels.

We are in the USA and as such are subject to US copyright law and the DMCA. Pirated content and piracy tools cannot be hosted here.

[tooti]

could you unblock the account so that i can remove the files

[wolstech]

I've put a deny from all in htaccess so the content will not be accessible.

You have 24 hours to remove all copyrighted material from your account. If the content is not removed within 24 hours, you'll be suspended again and we will require your account be reset (which deletes all content) to be unsuspended again.

Unsuspended. It may take a few minutes to work again.

[tooti]

Thanks for the unblock. Although many of the links had free content, I have removed all of them along with the supposedly paid ones. Could you please clarify if m3u links with free content are okay with the hosting policy, or if they are totally not allowed irrespective of the nature of the content ownership.

[wolstech]

Free content should be fine as long as the license/terms of use of the service you're pulling the streams from allows for sharing (i.e. if the service expressly says you can embed it on your own site at no cost, it should be fine). Note that if we receive a copyright complaint your account will be suspended again.

Your original M3U files had links to cable TV and subscription channels that aren't legally available for free (Discovery's content was one example, you either need cable or a Discovery+ subscription to watch most of their content legally).

[tooti]

Thanks for the clarification. There's always a chance for free content to be questioned if one is not able to find a disclaimer from the service provider. It is better to just avoid them altogether and be safe when things could go both ways.