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Hosting Advice for Consumer Advocacy Websites?

Posted by Cliff on from the avoiding-censorship-troubles dept.

rcthompson asks: "I host a web site with information about fraudulent career marketing companies, but over the past year it has been repeatedly deleted by a series of hosting companies after they received a threatening letter from the lawyer for one of the companies listed on the web site. Are there any hosting companies out there who are involved or interested in consumer advocacy and will not delete a web site just because they receive a threatening letter? Is it better to use overseas hosting companies? Is there any way to completely hide who your hosting company is so that the bad guys cannot figure out who to send the threatening letter to? One could host the web site on one's own server and use one's own nameservers, but the IP address will reveal your ISP who could possibly shut down your site. Any advice is appreciated. Thanks."

10 of 46 comments (clear)

  1. One suggestion by chemstar · · Score: 2, Informative

    Media Temple.

  2. spam? by ceejayoz · · Score: 3, Informative

    SPAM Violation!

    This site has been banned for SPAM violations. We apologize for the idiot webmaster who could not control him/her self.

    Perhaps there are other reasons your site keeps getting taken down?

    On the chance that you're not a spammer and that's just their standard removal notice, I'd recommend contacting your potential hosters before signing up and inform them of the situation. They'll be much more willing to stand by you if they know what's going on in advance.

  3. addendum by ceejayoz · · Score: 2, Informative

    Sorry to reply to my own comment, but I forgot to say something.

    Find some other sites that have similar content (and appear to be surviving legal threats) and ask/find out their ISP. Easy, eh? :-)

    p.s. popup warning for IE users on the link in the article...

  4. Sealand-based HavenCo by eggstasy · · Score: 3, Informative

    http://www.havenco.com
    http://www.sealandgov.com

    1. Re:Sealand-based HavenCo by novakreo · · Score: 2, Insightful

      Sealand isn't a real country, so no, they don't have their own ccTLD.

      Neither are a number of places with their own ccTLD. Off the top of my head, the Cocos Islands (.cc), Christmas Island (the infamous .cx), and the Heard and McDonald Islands (.hm) (all part of Australia) come to mind... have a look here for more info.

      So why shouldn't Sealand get their own ccTLD?

      --
      O frabjous day! Callooh! Callay!
    2. Re:Sealand-based HavenCo by syrinx · · Score: 2, Insightful

      Actually that's very true. I was just looking at that the other day.. plenty more too.. Guam (.gu), Puerto Rico (.pr), CNMI (.nm) are all US Commonwealths.. Ascension Island (.ac) is British.. Antarctica (.aq) isn't a country.

      So maybe there is precedent then. ;)

      I think what I was getting at more is that the UK and US don't recognize Sealand as anything more than an abandoned UK fort. So it would surprise me if they got a ccTLD.

      --
      Quidquid latine dictum sit, altum sonatur.
  5. EFF by littlerubberfeet · · Score: 2, Insightful

    those guys at the EFF might be willing to lend a hand and a bit of server room...If you truly are an advocacy and information clearinghouse site.

    --
    Sig (appended to the end of comments you post, 120 chars)
  6. Community Colo by smoondog · · Score: 5, Informative

    Assuming you are non-profit, you might try:

    Community Colo in the bay area. They host non-profit servers for free, or by reasonable donation. I think there was a /. story about them in the past.

    -Sean

  7. Fidelity Hosting by uncoveror · · Score: 3, Informative

    I have a consumer advocacy website, dontbuycds.org on Fidelity Hosting. They have never given me any grief about the content of that site. They also have left alone my online tabloid, The Uncoveror. I can't complain about them.

    --
    The Uncoveror: It's the real news.
  8. Re:First of all! by abh · · Score: 4, Informative
    > shutting you down is a violation of your free speech rights

    No, not it's not. As posted in many businesses, "we reserve the right to refuse to serve any customer". A company cannot violate your free speech rights. Your free speech rights can only be violated by the government, if they choose to use a law that abridges such rights. A company deciding they don't want you as a customer is not a violation of rights.

    It's stupid arguments like this that water down legitimate first-ammendment violations...