acceptable_use

Acceptable Use Policy

A short, plain list of what you can't do on your Standby desktop. Last updated 19 May 2026.

The short list

Your Standby desktop is yours, and we don't watch what you do on it. But running these on Standby is a fast way to get terminated:

• Anything illegal in your jurisdiction or in the United States.
• Hosting or distributing CSAM, content that exploits or sexualizes minors, or any content prohibited under 18 U.S.C. §§ 2251–2258A.
• Harassment, doxing, targeted abuse, or content designed to cause serious harm to an individual.
• Spam — unsolicited bulk email, bulk SMS, scraped-contact outreach. If your inbox doesn't have an unsubscribe link, you're doing it wrong.
• Malware — writing, hosting, or distributing viruses, ransomware, spyware, botnet command-and-control. Reverse-engineering for legitimate research is fine; weaponizing is not.
• Attacks on third parties — DDoS, credential stuffing, network reconnaissance against unauthorized targets, brute-force attempts.
• Cryptocurrency mining as a primary workload. (Running a wallet, occasional small transactions, doing research, fine. Running 24/7 mining is not — it's a poor fit for these VMs and we'll suspend.)
• Anthropic ToS violations — using your Standby desktop to abuse Anthropic's services, share Claude accounts, circumvent rate limits, or otherwise do things Anthropic's usage policy prohibits. Anthropic can terminate your Claude access and we can't intervene.
• Pirated software, copyrighted material redistribution, or anything that would trigger a DMCA takedown if hosted publicly.
• Operating as a sanctioned party, or providing service to one (see Section 13 of the Terms of Service).

Gray areas — ask first

These aren't outright prohibited but live in a gray zone. Email us before you start and we'll tell you whether to proceed:

• Web scraping at scale (we want to make sure target sites' ToS aren't violated)
• Adult content creation/hosting (legal, but some payment processors require additional disclosures)
• Public-facing services hosted on the VM (a small personal site is fine; a high-traffic SaaS isn't what Standby's sized for)
• Running other people's Claude accounts on your VM (the account holder has to be you — see Anthropic's ToS)

How we enforce this

We don't proactively monitor what you do on your desktop (see Privacy Policy). We act on reports — from victims, from Anthropic, from law enforcement, from infrastructure providers like Kamatera or Cloudflare. When we get a credible report:

• For most violations, we email you with the report and a 48-hour window to respond or fix.
• For severe violations (CSAM, active attacks, sanctions), we suspend immediately and respond to you in parallel.
• Repeat or unresolved violations result in termination with no refund and account ban.

Reporting abuse

If you believe a Standby customer is violating this policy, email hello@trystandby.com with the subject "abuse report" and any evidence you have. We respond within 24 hours.

Trademarks

This policy doesn't grant any license to Anthropic's trademarks. Don't represent your activity on Standby as endorsed by Anthropic. Don't impersonate Anthropic or its products.