Advertising Policy

1. Who sees ads

Ads are shown only when all of the following are true:

• You are signed in to the customer portal on an account enrolled in the Free Tier.
• Your account has no paid services. As soon as your account pays for any service, ads stop.
• You are not located in the European Economic Area, the United Kingdom, or Switzerland, based on the approximate location of your connection.
• We have not turned ads off for your user account.

2. Where ads appear

Ads are limited to a few content pages in the customer portal: the dashboard, the services list, the help center, and the portal sidebar on those pages. We do not place ads on checkout, billing and invoices, service management and consoles, account and security settings, or support conversations. We do not show ads on our public marketing website, in emails, or inside the services you host with us, and we never insert ads into your websites, game servers, or applications.

3. Our advertising provider

Ads are delivered by Google AdSense, operated by Google LLC. When an ad is displayed, your browser loads code from Google and connects to Google and its advertising partners. They choose which ad to show and receive technical information needed to deliver and measure it, such as your IP address, browser and device details, the page on which the ad appears, and cookie or device identifiers. Google's use of this information is governed by Google's own policies, including "How Google uses information from sites or apps that use our services" (https://policies.google.com/technologies/partner-sites).

4. What we share and what we don't

We do not sell your personal data, and we do not send Google your name, email address, billing details, or the contents of your services to target ads. Ferrix Systems decides only whether ads are eligible to appear on a page. Our Privacy Policy describes the data we process ourselves.

5. Personalized and non-personalized ads

If you have accepted optional analytics, Google may show ads personalized to your interests. If you have declined optional analytics (Account > Preferences, or the controls on our Privacy Policy page), we ask Google to show non-personalized ads only. Non-personalized ads are based on context, such as the page and your general location, rather than your browsing history. Google may still use cookies or identifiers for frequency capping, aggregated reporting, and fraud and abuse prevention.

6. Your choices

You can control advertising in several ways:

• Change your optional analytics choice in Account > Preferences to switch between personalized and non-personalized ads.
• Manage or turn off ad personalization in your Google account at https://adssettings.google.com.
• Opt out of interest-based advertising from participating companies at https://optout.aboutads.info (US) or https://youradchoices.ca (Canada).
• Use your browser's cookie controls or an ad blocker. The portal keeps working normally if ads are blocked.
• Upgrade to any paid service to remove ads from your account entirely.

7. U.S. state privacy rights

Some U.S. state privacy laws treat certain advertising cookies as a "sale" or "sharing" of personal information, or as "targeted advertising." Where these laws apply, we use Google's restricted data processing option and honor opt-out requests. To opt out of personalized advertising, decline optional analytics in Account > Preferences, which also honors your request going forward. You can also contact us through the contact form or support email address published on our website and in the customer portal.

8. Third-party ad content — no endorsement or responsibility

Ads shown in the portal are selected and served by Google and third-party advertisers through the AdSense network, not by Ferrix Systems. We do not create, review in advance, choose, or control individual ads or the websites, products, or services they promote. The appearance of an ad does not mean that Ferrix Systems endorses, recommends, sponsors, or is affiliated with the advertiser. To the fullest extent permitted by law:

• Ferrix Systems is not responsible or liable for the content, accuracy, legality, or availability of any advertisement or of any third-party website, product, or service it links to.
• Any dealings you have with an advertiser, including purchases, payments, delivery, warranties, and privacy practices, are solely between you and that advertiser.
• Clicking an ad takes you to a site we do not operate, which has its own terms and privacy policy. Review them before providing information or making a purchase.
• Nothing in an ad is advice or a representation by us.

9. Reporting a problem ad

We use Google's controls to block sensitive and objectionable ad categories, but automated ad networks occasionally show ads that are misleading, inappropriate, or unsafe. If you see one, use the "AdChoices" or "Why this ad?" control on the ad to report it to Google directly, and tell us through the contact form or support email address published on our website and in the customer portal or at legal@ferrix.systems with a description or screenshot. We will review the report and block the advertiser or category where Google's tools allow.

10. Invalid ad activity

Do not click ads you are not genuinely interested in, encourage others to click them, or use automated tools to generate ad impressions or clicks. Artificial ad activity violates our Acceptable Use Policy and Google's programme policies. We may suspend access to the Free Tier for accounts involved in it.

11. Changes to this policy

We may update this policy as our advertising program changes, for example if we add placements, providers, or regions. We will update the date above and, for material changes, notify Free Tier customers in the portal or by email.