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JotForm.com Gets Shut Down SOPA-Style
itwbennett writes "In a post on the company blog, JotForm.com cofounder Aytekin Tank alerts users that 'a US government agency has temporarily suspended' the jotform.com domain. He explains that it is part of an 'ongoing investigation' of content posted to its site by a user. Although which user and what content haven't yet been disclosed, there is speculation about forms used for a phishing attack on a South African bank. JotForm hosts over two million user-generated forms, and uses software to block fraudulent accounts (65,000 so far), so you can see there's plenty of opportunity for mischief."
SPECULATION: Jotform was using GoDaddy when this happened, and have decided to move every other domain they own off GoDaddy ASAP. The worry is that GoDaddy is following law enforcement requests without asking any questions. No idea if a court order or not. In either case, Jotform is having to heal with hundred thousands broken accounts because GoDaddy rolled over or because one judge somewhere saw only the law enforcement side of the case. The great majority of Jotform accounts are used for legitimate purposes. This is NOT like MegaUpload. You cannot make the argument that Jotform's goal is to break any law. They helped a great many businesses. It is pro big corporation actions like this that will hold our economy back, not the threat of a free internet as some politicians believe.
Looks like not.
Neither story covering it mentions a court order or a subpoena; one of them says that "it may have been done without a court order."
http://arstechnica.com/tech-policy/news/2012/02/secret-service-asks-for-shutdown-of-legit-website-over-user-content-godaddy-complies.ars
http://www.rawstory.com/rs/2012/02/16/successful-online-startup-kicked-off-domain-without-stated-reason/
Check your premises.