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US Gov't Orders 73,000 Private Websites Offline

Posted by Soulskill on from the one-fell-swoop dept.

joeszilagyi sends this excerpt from TorrentFreak: "... according to the owner of a free WordPress platform which hosts more than 73,000 blogs, his network of sites has been completely shut down on the orders of the authorities. Blogetery.com has been with host BurstNet for 7 months, but on Friday July 9th the site disappeared. ... Due to the fact that the authorities aren't sharing information and BurstNet are sworn to secrecy, it is proving almost impossible to confirm the exact reason why Blogetery has been completely taken down. The owner does, however, admit to handling many copyright-related cease and desists in the past, albeit in a timely manner as the DMCA requires."

4 of 536 comments (clear)

  1. Re:This is just the beginning. by Beardo+the+Bearded · · Score: 4, Informative

    "A government source, who spoke on condition of anonymity, suggested that the websites in question may have had links to child porn, utility hacking guides, and terrorist activity. They could not say exactly due to the ongoing investigation."

    --

    ---
    ECHELON is a government program to find words like bomb, jihad, plutonium, assassinate, and anarchy.
  2. Too Slow, Slashdot by Revotron · · Score: 5, Informative

    This happened about a week ago. The owner of the single server (that's right, it was all on one single server, with no backups) posted to WebHostingTalk.com to complain because BurstNet wouldn't violate the government's order to keep quiet.

    The authorities ordered BurstNet to take the server offline for what appeared to be very, very serious violations. Based on BurstNet's demeanor and seriousness when asked about the issue, it could be anything from national security to child porn. BurstNet also appears to have been hit with a gag order, as they've only made one (perhaps two) public comments on the situation, and absolutely refuse to make any more announcements.

    Don't take my word for it - read up on the situation at the original WHT thread (which is now closed).

  3. Re:The fact is, US is just as bad as China by metrometro · · Score: 4, Informative

    > Who said US doesn't pull stunts like China?
    >> China is *bad*. The U.S. is *bad*. But to say that the U.S. is "just as bad" is ridiculous and obviously false

    Hey look, data!

    http://report.globalintegrity.org/China/2009

    http://report.globalintegrity.org/United%20States/2009

    Or does that ruin it?

  4. Don't feel sorry for this guy by cjjjer · · Score: 4, Informative

    Based on some searching (wayback and webhostingtalk) this guy has been booted from two other hosting companies since 2008.

    See the ongoing thread @ http://www.webhostingtalk.com/showthread.php?t=964013