Terms of Service

Current version: 2.1

Agreement

By accessing or using the VK44 Network Portal, you agree to these terms. If you do not agree, stop using the portal and any profiles, credentials, or connected services provided through it.

Changes to These Terms of Service

VK44 Network may amend these Terms of Service where reasonably required to reflect changes to the platform, connected infrastructure, amateur radio requirements, applicable law, security practices, or VK44 Network operations. Material changes will be presented through the portal and will take effect on the stated effective date. Where the portal requires acceptance of a revised version, you must accept that version before continuing to use the affected services. If you do not agree to revised Terms of Service, you must stop using the services and may request closure of your account.

Accounts, Eligibility and Minors

You must provide accurate account information and keep it current. You are responsible for maintaining the confidentiality of your credentials, MFA devices, downloaded VPN profiles, and any actions taken through your account.

If you are under 18 years of age, you must obtain the consent of your parent or legal guardian before creating an account or using the VK44 Network Portal or related services. By continuing to use the platform, you confirm that this consent has been obtained. A parent or legal guardian who permits a minor to use the platform should supervise that use and help ensure compliance with these Terms.

Authorized Amateur Radio Use

The portal may only be used to access systems, repeaters, hotspots, dashboards, and related infrastructure that you own or are explicitly authorized to manage. You must comply with all applicable laws, regulations, amateur radio licence conditions, band plans, and acceptable-use requirements for the systems you reach through the service.

Any VPN profile, certificate, credential, address, route, or other network access issued through the platform is provided solely to support lawful, non-commercial amateur radio communications, experimentation, education, training, emergency communications, research, and the operation or administration of related amateur radio infrastructure. You must not use that access for general-purpose internet traffic, commercial activity, unlawful activity, or any purpose unrelated to amateur radio unless VK44 Network has expressly authorised that use in writing.

VPN profiles and credentials are issued to the approved user and must not be sold, leased, transferred, published, or shared with another person. They remain under the control of VK44 Network and may be replaced or revoked at any time.

Network Resources and Acceptable Use

Some VK44 Network services use, connect to, route, or otherwise depend on internet address space, Domain Name System services, routing facilities, community-operated infrastructure, upstream providers, or third-party software. Your use of those services is conditional on VK44 Network's continuing authority to provide access and on compliance with all applicable upstream terms, policies, administrative procedures, technical requirements, and lawful directions, as amended from time to time. If an upstream requirement conflicts with these Terms, the more restrictive requirement applies to the affected resource to the extent permitted by law.

IP addresses, prefixes, DNS names or records, routes, certificates, profiles, and other network resources made available to you are assigned for use only. They are not sold or transferred to you, do not become your property, have no monetary value that you may sell or exploit, and do not create a lease, service-level agreement, or entitlement to continued availability. Ownership and control remain with VK44 Network or the relevant resource or infrastructure provider. An assignment or permission may be changed, reclaimed, suspended, or revoked when required by an upstream provider, these Terms, operational needs, or applicable law.

You must not sell, lease, exchange, sublicense, transfer, advertise, announce, route, delegate, publish, or otherwise provide any assigned network resource to another person, nor obtain anything of value for it, without prior written authority from VK44 Network and, where applicable, the relevant resource holder. You must not originate or alter routing announcements, Letters of Authority, tunnels, routes, reverse DNS, forward DNS, firewall policy, address assignments, or network registrations unless specifically authorised in writing and implemented in accordance with the applicable technical procedure.

You must keep your name, callsign, email address, contact details, station or system description, resource records, and intended and actual use current and accurate. You must promptly notify VK44 Network of material changes, loss of licence or eligibility, discontinued use, compromise, incorrect routing or DNS, or any use inconsistent with the purpose for which access was approved. On request, you must provide information reasonably required by VK44 Network or an upstream resource provider to validate identity, eligibility, resource use, security, or policy compliance.

You must follow reasonable administrative and technical procedures issued by VK44 Network or an applicable resource or infrastructure provider. This includes addressing abuse, interference, security, routing, DNS, or resource-use reports and taking reasonably requested corrective action within 48 hours, or sooner where an urgent threat requires immediate action. You must not disable, overload, damage, probe without authority, disrupt, or impair any service; circumvent access controls; introduce malware or harmful code; facilitate spam or unsolicited bulk traffic; infringe another person's intellectual-property rights; impersonate another person or organisation; or use a resource in a way detrimental to amateur radio, VK44 Network, connected infrastructure, upstream providers, or other users.

Amateur radio networks, community-operated infrastructure, VPN connectivity, routing, DNS, and related systems are experimental and may be unavailable, delayed, interrupted, misconfigured, or withdrawn. They must not be relied on as the sole means for emergency, life-safety, medical, public-safety, or other critical communications. You are responsible for maintaining appropriate alternative communications and connectivity.

Inactive Profiles, Nodes and Devices

VK44 Network may disable, remove, archive, or reclaim a VPN profile, node, device registration, address assignment, DNS record, route, certificate, credential, or related network resource where monitoring or other reasonably available information indicates that the associated profile, node, or device has remained offline or unused for a continuous period greater than three months.

Inactivity action may be taken to maintain accurate records, protect security, recover limited resources, and reduce stale network configuration. Where reasonably practicable, VK44 Network may attempt to notify the registered user using their current account contact details before or after taking action, but failure to receive a notice does not prevent removal. You are responsible for keeping your contact details current and for advising VK44 Network in advance if a node or device is intentionally offline for maintenance, relocation, emergency standby, restoration, or another legitimate extended period.

Automated availability monitoring may be incomplete or affected by connectivity, power, firewall, routing, maintenance, or monitoring failures. If you believe a profile, node, device, or resource was incorrectly treated as inactive, you may request review through the portal support workflow. Restoration is not guaranteed and may require renewed validation, approval, updated configuration, or assignment of a different resource.

Prohibited Conduct

• Sharing credentials or VPN profiles with unauthorized users.
• Attempting to bypass approvals, access controls, logging, or security protections.
• Using the service to disrupt, probe, reverse engineer, or overload the portal or connected systems.
• Submitting unlawful, abusive, or misleading requests, tickets, or account details.

VPN Access and Network Responsibility

You are responsible for all traffic and administrative actions that originate from your account or issued profiles. Keep local devices secure, revoke access promptly when it is no longer needed, and notify the portal administrators if you suspect compromise or unauthorized use.

Sub-users and Other Operators

You must not permit another person to use your account, VPN profile, certificate, private key, or credentials. If VK44 Network expressly authorises another operator or sub-user to access the services, that person must have their own approved account, satisfy applicable identity and eligibility requirements, and accept the current Terms before access is provided.

You must take reasonable steps to ensure that any person operating equipment or infrastructure under your control complies with these Terms. To the extent permitted by law, you are responsible for use of the services through equipment, profiles, or access material under your control, except where the use results from circumstances outside your reasonable control and you have taken reasonable security precautions.

Abuse Reports, Security Incidents and Cooperation

You must promptly report suspected compromise, unauthorised access, harmful activity, interference, or misuse involving your account, profiles, equipment, or the services through the portal support workflow. You must reasonably cooperate with VK44 Network in investigating and resolving security incidents, abuse reports, interference, licence-compliance concerns, and breaches of these Terms, including by providing accurate information reasonably available to you and taking requested remedial action within a reasonable period. Where an urgent incident threatens systems, networks, users, or legal compliance, VK44 Network may require a response or protective action within 48 hours or a shorter period were reasonably necessary.

Net Participation, Moderation and Review

Participation in a net conducted or coordinated through the VK44 Network Portal is subject to the reasonable directions of the Net Admins, Net Control Stations, and other authorised moderators responsible for the safe, lawful, orderly, and effective operation of that net. Participation is a privilege and does not create an entitlement to speak, transmit, remain connected, or participate in future nets.

A participant may be muted, restricted, removed from an active net, or temporarily or permanently banned from a net or related platform features where a Net Admin or authorised moderator reasonably considers that action necessary. Grounds may include inappropriate, abusive, discriminatory, harassing, intimidating, threatening, obscene, deliberately provocative, or unlawful conduct; personal attacks; interference with or disruption of net operations; repeated failure to follow Net Control directions or recognised operating procedures; unauthorised transmissions or access; impersonation; misuse of platform features; conduct creating a safety, security, licensing, reputational, or operational risk; or any other material breach of these Terms.

Where immediate action is reasonably required to protect participants, infrastructure, licence compliance, or continuity of the net, removal or restriction may occur without prior warning. Net Admins should act honestly, reasonably, and in good faith, and should refer serious, repeated, or disputed conduct to the VK44 Network Operations Centre (NOC) or VK44 Network System Administrators with relevant information reasonably available to them.

A participant may request review of a moderation decision through the portal support workflow. Reviews of decisions made by Net Admins are conducted by authorised members of the VK44 Network NOC and VK44 Network System Administration teams. A review may consider available logs, recordings, messages, reports, technical information, participant accounts, previous conduct, licence requirements, and operational circumstances. Reviewers may confirm, vary, suspend, or revoke the original decision and may impose additional proportionate conditions or restrictions. A review does not automatically pause an immediate safety, security, or operational restriction, and its outcome remains subject to any rights or remedies that cannot lawfully be excluded.

Knowingly false, misleading, retaliatory, or abusive complaints may themselves constitute a breach of these Terms. Good-faith reports or review requests will not attract adverse action merely because they are not ultimately substantiated.

Service Changes and Availability

The portal may be changed, limited, suspended, or taken offline at any time for maintenance, upgrades, abuse prevention, or operational reasons. Access requests, profiles, and integrations may also be modified or revoked when necessary to protect the platform or connected infrastructure.

Privacy and Operational Communications

Your use of the service is also governed by the Privacy Policy. You agree that the portal administrators may send operational, security, approval, maintenance, and support-related communications connected to your account and requested services.

Lawful Requests and Protection of the Service

VK44 Network may preserve, use, or disclose account, access, traffic, audit, support, or other relevant information where reasonably necessary to comply with Australian law, a valid court order, warrant, subpoena, regulatory requirement, or other lawful request; to obtain legal advice; to investigate or enforce these Terms; or to protect the rights, safety, security, and integrity of VK44 Network, its administrators, users, infrastructure providers, and connected systems. Any handling of personal information remains subject to applicable privacy law and the Privacy Policy.

Intellectual Property and Platform Materials

The VK44 Network Portal, its original software, documentation, branding, designs, configuration material, and content are owned by or licensed to VK44 Network and are protected by applicable intellectual-property laws. Third-party software and content remain subject to their respective owners' licences and rights. Except for the limited right to use the services in accordance with these Terms, no ownership or intellectual-property rights are transferred to you.

You retain ownership of content and information that you submit. You grant VK44 Network a non-exclusive, royalty-free licence to host, copy, process, transmit, and display that material only to the extent reasonably necessary to operate, secure, administer, support, and improve the services, comply with law, and enforce these Terms.

Intellectual Property Complaints

If you believe material accessible through the portal infringes your copyright, trade mark, or other intellectual-property rights, submit a report through the portal support workflow identifying yourself, the protected work or right, the allegedly infringing material and its location, your contact details, and the basis for your claim. VK44 Network may remove or restrict access to material while a complaint is assessed, request further information, notify the affected user, and take any action reasonably considered appropriate under Australian law.

Suspension, Denial and Revocation of Access

Access to the portal, VPN profiles, credentials, connected networks, and related services is discretionary and does not create an entitlement to continued service. To the extent permitted by law, VK44 Network may deny a request or suspend, restrict, replace, or revoke access, with or without prior notice, where it reasonably considers this necessary to protect users, systems, networks, licence compliance, security, service availability, or VK44 Network operations; where these Terms are or may have been breached; where information cannot be validated; where an account is inactive; or for any other lawful reason.

You may stop using the service at any time and may request closure of your account. On suspension, revocation, or account closure, you must immediately stop using and delete affected VPN profiles, certificates, credentials, and other access material.

Disclaimers and Liability

The portal and related access services are provided on an as-is and as-available basis without any service-level commitment or warranties of uninterrupted service, fitness for a particular purpose, or compatibility with your devices or downstream systems. You are responsible for maintaining backups and for the security and lawful operation of your own devices and systems. To the fullest extent permitted by law, VK44 Network and its administrators are not liable for indirect, incidental, special, or consequential damages arising from use of the portal, connected networks, or third-party integrations. Nothing in these Terms excludes, restricts, or modifies a right, guarantee, warranty, or remedy that cannot lawfully be excluded, restricted, or modified.

Responsibility for Loss and Indemnity

To the extent permitted by law, you indemnify VK44 Network and its administrators, officers, volunteers, contractors, and service providers against third-party claims, liabilities, losses, and reasonable costs arising directly from your unlawful or wilful misuse of the services, your material breach of these Terms, or infringement of another person's rights by material you submit or activity you control. This indemnity does not apply to the extent that a claim or loss was caused or contributed to by the negligence, unlawful conduct, or breach of these Terms by the person seeking the benefit of the indemnity, and it does not exclude any liability that cannot lawfully be excluded.

Events Outside Reasonable Control

VK44 Network is not responsible for delay, interruption, degradation, or failure of the services caused by circumstances outside its reasonable control, including natural disasters, fire, flood, severe weather, epidemic, war, civil disturbance, industrial action, utility or telecommunications failure, internet routing failure, upstream provider failure, equipment failure, cyberattack, government action, or changes affecting amateur radio or network infrastructure. VK44 Network will take reasonable steps appropriate to the circumstances to restore affected services, but does not guarantee restoration within a particular period.

Notices

VK44 Network may give you notices under these Terms through the portal, through a notice displayed when you sign in, or by email to the most recent email address registered to your account. You are responsible for keeping that address current. You may give notices to VK44 Network through the authenticated portal support workflow. A notice is treated as received when made available in the portal or, for email, when sent unless the sender receives a delivery-failure notification.

Dispute Resolution

Before commencing court proceedings, you and VK44 Network should attempt in good faith to resolve a dispute by providing written details through the portal support workflow and allowing a reasonable opportunity to respond. This requirement does not prevent either party from seeking urgent interlocutory or injunctive relief, reporting a matter to a regulator or law-enforcement body, or exercising a right that cannot lawfully be restricted.

Governing Law and Jurisdiction

These Terms of Service, including their formation, interpretation, validity, enforceability, performance, and termination, and any dispute or claim arising out of or relating to these Terms, the VK44 Network Portal, or the related services, are governed by and must be construed in accordance with the laws of the Commonwealth of Australia and the State of Victoria, without regard to conflict-of-law principles to the extent those principles would require the application of another jurisdiction's laws.

You and VK44 Network submit to the jurisdiction of the courts of Victoria and any courts having appellate jurisdiction from them. Nothing in these Terms excludes, restricts, or modifies the application of the Australian Consumer Law or any other applicable right, protection, guarantee, obligation, or remedy that cannot lawfully be excluded, restricted, or modified, nor does it prevent a claim being brought in another competent jurisdiction where applicable law provides a non-excludable right to do so.

General Provisions

If any provision of these Terms is held to be invalid, illegal, or unenforceable, it will be read down to the minimum extent necessary or, if that is not possible, severed, and the remaining provisions will continue in effect. A failure or delay by either party to exercise a right does not waive that right. A waiver is effective only when clearly given in writing and applies only to the specific circumstance for which it is given.

You may not assign or transfer your account, access material, or rights under these Terms without VK44 Network's prior written consent. VK44 Network may transfer its rights and obligations to a successor or related operator responsible for the platform, provided that the transfer does not remove rights that cannot lawfully be excluded. These Terms, the Privacy Policy, and any additional policy or written condition expressly applicable to a particular service constitute the agreement governing your use of the platform and supersede earlier representations about that use, except for rights arising from misleading or deceptive conduct or other rights that cannot lawfully be excluded.

Questions

If you need help or have questions about these terms, contact the portal administrators through the support workflow provided in the VK44 Network Portal.