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Fair Use Policy

Last Updated: November 14, 2025

Effective Date: November 14, 2025

1. Introduction

This Fair Use Policy governs the acceptable use of resources on the Guard.ch platform. While we provide generous resource allocations with each subscription plan, we expect customers to use resources reasonably and in good faith to ensure a high-quality experience for all users.

This Fair Use Policy is incorporated into and forms part of the Guard.ch Terms of Service and Acceptable Use Policy.

2. Fair Use Principles

2.1 Our Philosophy

Guard.ch operates on a fair use model rather than hard resource limits:

  • We don't impose strict caps on CPU, memory, network, or storage (within your VM specifications)
  • We trust customers to use resources responsibly
  • We reserve the right to address excessive or abusive usage that impacts service quality for others

2.2 What is Fair Use?

Fair use means using Guard.ch resources:

  • In accordance with your subscription plan and intended use case
  • Without monopolizing infrastructure to the detriment of other users
  • Without engaging in activities that serve no legitimate purpose beyond consuming resources
  • In a manner consistent with the platform's design and purpose (virtual machine services for development, testing, business use, etc.)

2.3 What is NOT Fair Use?

Unfair use includes:

  • Intentionally consuming excessive resources to test limits or stress infrastructure
  • Running resource-intensive applications that serve no productive purpose
  • Using Guard.ch primarily as a mining, computation, or rendering farm (without authorization)
  • Monopolizing bandwidth, CPU, or memory in a way that degrades service for other users
  • Operating workloads significantly outside the normal parameters for your use case

3. Resource Allocations

3.1 VM Resource Specifications

Each Guard.ch VM includes:

  • CPU: 4 vCPUs (shared, fair-share scheduling)
  • Memory: 8 GB RAM
  • Storage: 60 GB SSD (QCOW2 linked clone)
  • Network: Shared internet connection with fair bandwidth allocation

3.2 Concurrent VM Limits

Your subscription plan determines how many VMs you can run simultaneously:

  • Free Tier: 1 concurrent VM (subject to availability and restrictions)
  • Basic Plan: Up to 3 concurrent VMs (example)
  • Pro Plan: Up to 10 concurrent VMs (example)
  • Enterprise Plan: Custom limits negotiated

Check your plan details at guard.ch/pricing for current limits.

3.3 Fair Resource Consumption per VM

CPU Usage:

  • Normal Use: < 50% average CPU utilization over 24 hours
  • Burst Use: Up to 100% CPU for short periods (< 4 hours) for legitimate workloads (compilation, testing, data processing)
  • Excessive Use: Sustained 100% CPU utilization for > 24 hours continuously

Memory Usage:

  • You may use up to your allocated 8 GB RAM per VM
  • Memory swapping/thrashing may indicate inefficient applications (optimize or upgrade)

Network Usage:

  • Normal Use: < 500 GB/month outbound transfer per VM
  • High Use: 500 GB - 2 TB/month (monitored, acceptable for most use cases)
  • Excessive Use: > 2 TB/month per VM (we may contact you to understand usage)

Storage:

  • Use your allocated 60 GB per VM
  • VMs cannot exceed storage limits
  • Clean up unnecessary files to optimize storage

3.4 Aggregate Usage Across VMs

If you have multiple VMs:

  • Fair use applies to your total resource consumption across all VMs
  • Running 10 VMs at 100% CPU continuously is not fair use (even if within your VM limits)
  • We expect aggregate usage to reflect legitimate, productive workloads

4. Prohibited Resource-Intensive Activities

The following activities are prohibited or require explicit written authorization:

4.1 Cryptocurrency Mining

Prohibited Without Authorization:

  • Mining cryptocurrencies (Bitcoin, Ethereum, etc.)
  • Proof-of-work (PoW) computations for blockchain networks
  • Running mining software (even if not actively mining)
  • Participating in mining pools

Why Prohibited: Mining consumes extreme CPU/GPU resources continuously and provides no value to the user beyond consuming infrastructure. It also increases electricity costs and degrades service for other users.

Requesting Authorization: If you have a legitimate research or educational use case for cryptocurrency mining, contact support@guard.ch with:

  • Detailed explanation of your use case
  • Expected resource consumption
  • Duration of activity
  • Willingness to pay for dedicated resources or custom plan

4.2 Password Cracking and Brute Force

Prohibited Without Authorization:

  • Password cracking or hash cracking (rainbow tables, brute force, dictionary attacks)
  • Running password cracking tools (Hashcat, John the Ripper, etc.) against third-party systems

Exception: You may conduct authorized security research or CTF challenges where you have explicit permission. You must be able to provide proof of authorization upon request.

4.3 High-Volume Scraping and Crawling

Requires Moderation:

  • Large-scale web scraping (> 1 million requests/day)
  • Crawling entire websites or databases
  • Automated data harvesting

Fair Use Scraping:

  • Scraping your own websites or APIs
  • Scraping with explicit permission from the target site
  • Respecting robots.txt and rate limits
  • Small to moderate scraping volumes (< 100k requests/day)

Prohibited:

  • Scraping in violation of target site's terms of service
  • Aggressive scraping that could be considered a DoS attack
  • Scraping for spam, phishing, or malicious purposes

4.4 Rendering and Computation Farms

Prohibited Without Authorization:

  • Using Guard.ch primarily as a 3D rendering farm
  • Distributed computing for non-productive purposes
  • Scientific computing at scale (without consultation)

Exception: If you have legitimate rendering or computation needs (academic research, business projects), contact us. We may be able to accommodate with a custom plan or dedicated resources.

4.5 High-Frequency Trading and Latency Arbitrage

Prohibited:

  • High-frequency trading (HFT) platforms
  • Latency arbitrage systems
  • Algorithmic trading requiring ultra-low latency

Why Prohibited: Guard.ch VMs are not optimized for ultra-low latency applications. HFT systems consume extreme network and CPU resources and are not within our intended use case.

4.6 Game Servers and Bots

Generally Prohibited:

  • Public game servers (Minecraft, CS:GO, etc.) with high player counts
  • Game bots or cheating tools
  • Farming or grinding bots (MMO automation)

Exception: Small private game servers for personal use or testing (< 10 concurrent players) may be acceptable. Contact support@guard.ch if you have questions.

4.7 Peer-to-Peer (P2P) File Sharing

Prohibited:

  • Operating BitTorrent trackers or seeders for pirated content
  • Large-scale P2P file sharing that violates intellectual property rights

Allowed:

  • Legitimate P2P applications (Linux ISO distribution, open-source software, etc.)
  • Moderate P2P usage that respects intellectual property laws

5. Monitoring and Detection

5.1 What We Monitor

Guard.ch monitors aggregate resource usage patterns to ensure fair use and service quality:

  • CPU utilization per VM and across your account
  • Memory usage
  • Network bandwidth consumption (inbound/outbound traffic)
  • Storage usage
  • VM uptime and lifecycle patterns

What We Do NOT Monitor:

  • The content of your VMs
  • Applications running inside your VMs
  • Data you process or store in VMs
  • Websites you visit or services you access from VMs

5.2 Automated Alerting

We use automated systems to detect unusual resource consumption:

  • VMs with sustained 100% CPU for > 24 hours
  • Excessive network traffic (> 2 TB/month per VM)
  • Unusual patterns indicating abuse (rapid VM creation/deletion, extreme burst usage)

Investigation: If our systems flag unusual usage, we will:

  1. Review the usage patterns
  2. Assess whether the usage is within fair use
  3. Contact you if we have concerns (before taking action)

6. Enforcement and Consequences

6.1 Communication-First Approach

Our Commitment: We believe in communication and collaboration. If we identify excessive resource usage, our first step is to contact you to:

  • Understand your use case
  • Explain the concern
  • Work together to find a solution (optimize usage, upgrade plan, adjust workload, etc.)

6.2 Enforcement Actions

If excessive usage continues after communication, we may take the following actions:

Step 1: Warning

  • Email notification explaining the concern
  • Request to reduce usage or upgrade plan within 7 days

Step 2: Throttling

  • Temporary resource throttling to protect service quality for other users
  • Email notification explaining the throttling
  • Opportunity to upgrade or adjust usage

Step 3: Suspension

  • Temporary account suspension if usage continues to violate fair use
  • VMs stopped (not deleted) for up to 7 days
  • Contact support to resolve and reactivate

Step 4: Termination

  • Permanent account termination for egregious or repeated violations
  • All VMs deleted
  • No refund for unused subscription time

6.3 No Penalty for Good Faith Use

We Will NOT Penalize:

  • Legitimate high resource usage for productive workloads (data processing, software compilation, testing, etc.)
  • Temporary spikes in usage for business needs
  • Usage within your subscription plan limits, even if high
  • Good faith usage that we ask you to optimize (we'll work with you, not penalize you)

7. Optimizing Your Usage

7.1 Best Practices

To stay within fair use and optimize your experience:

Efficient Workloads:

  • Optimize applications to use resources efficiently
  • Avoid leaving resource-intensive applications running when not needed
  • Use appropriate algorithms and data structures

Clean Up Resources:

  • Terminate VMs when not in use (stop or delete)
  • Delete unnecessary files and data
  • Monitor your own resource usage via VM task manager

Right-Size Your Plan:

  • If you consistently need more resources, upgrade your plan
  • If you're underutilizing, consider downgrading to save costs

Schedule Resource-Intensive Tasks:

  • Run heavy computations during off-peak hours when possible
  • Batch process tasks to minimize sustained high usage

7.2 Monitoring Your Usage

Within Your VM:

  • Use Windows Task Manager to monitor CPU, memory, disk, network usage
  • Identify resource-intensive applications
  • Optimize or close applications consuming excessive resources

Guard.ch Dashboard (Planned):

  • We plan to provide usage analytics in the Guard.ch dashboard
  • View CPU, memory, network usage per VM
  • Receive notifications if you approach limits

7.3 Upgrading Your Plan

If fair use is constraining your legitimate workloads:

8. Exceptions and Custom Arrangements

8.1 Enterprise and Custom Plans

Enterprise customers may negotiate custom resource allocations:

  • Dedicated infrastructure
  • Higher resource limits
  • Custom fair use policies
  • Service level agreements (SLAs) with specific resource guarantees

Contact sales@guard.ch to discuss enterprise options.

8.2 Research and Educational Use

Academic Research: If you're conducting research that requires high resource usage:

  • Contact us to explain your project
  • We may provide accommodations, discounts, or special arrangements
  • We support education and academic research

Educational Institutions: Contact us about institutional plans, bulk discounts, or special arrangements for students and faculty.

9. Transparency and Communication

9.1 Our Commitment

Guard.ch is committed to transparency about fair use:

  • Clear policies and guidelines
  • Communication before enforcement actions
  • Collaboration to find solutions
  • Reasonable interpretation of fair use

9.2 Requesting Clarification

If you're unsure whether your planned usage is within fair use:

  • Contact support@guard.ch before starting the workload
  • Describe your use case and expected resource consumption
  • We'll provide guidance and may pre-approve your usage

Better to Ask Than to Assume: We'd rather clarify expectations upfront than address issues after the fact.

10. Changes to This Policy

Guard.ch may update this Fair Use Policy to reflect:

  • Changes in infrastructure capacity
  • Evolving usage patterns
  • Feedback from customers
  • Industry best practices

Notification: Material changes will be communicated via email and posted on this page with an updated "Last Updated" date at least 30 days in advance.

Grandfathering: Existing customers may be grandfathered under previous fair use terms for a reasonable transition period (typically 90 days).

11. Relationship to Other Policies

This Fair Use Policy should be read in conjunction with:

  • Terms of Service: Legal agreement governing use of Guard.ch
  • Acceptable Use Policy: Prohibited activities and content
  • Service Level Agreement (SLA): Uptime and support commitments
  • Security Policy: Security measures and customer responsibilities

In case of conflicts, the Terms of Service take precedence.

12. Contact Information

For questions, clarifications, or requests regarding this Fair Use Policy:

Email: support@guard.ch

Subject Line: "Fair Use Policy Question" or "Resource Usage Discussion"

Include:

  • Account email address
  • Description of your planned or current usage
  • Resource requirements (if known)
  • Questions or concerns

Postal Address: See our Imprint for full contact details.

Response Time: We aim to respond within 2 business days.

13. Summary

Key Principles:

  • ✓ Use resources reasonably and in good faith
  • ✓ We trust customers to use resources responsibly
  • ✓ Communication before enforcement
  • ✓ Legitimate high usage is acceptable
  • ✗ Cryptocurrency mining without authorization
  • ✗ Excessive usage that degrades service for others
  • ✗ Resource abuse for non-productive purposes

When in Doubt: Contact us! We're here to help you use Guard.ch effectively and ensure fair access for all customers.

Effective Date: This Fair Use Policy is effective as of November 14, 2025 and applies to all Guard.ch customers.

This Fair Use Policy demonstrates Guard.ch's commitment to providing excellent service to all customers while ensuring fair and sustainable use of shared infrastructure. For more information, see our Terms of Service and Acceptable Use Policy.