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  1. #1
    Join Date
    Nov 2003
    Posts
    63

    Suspension based on malicious reports?

    How common is it for the hosts on this forum to suspend users' sites based only on reports of porn or spam or whatever, without any investigation? Yoohoo (OK, I can't spell, and I'm chicken) suspended a site where it turns out there was no violation of Terms of Service, only a false, apparently anonymous, report of porn available via the website. But the website was down for several hours, during an enrollment period.

    What protection do I have against site owners suspending my site based on malicious, false reports of violations of the Terms of Service?

  2. #2
    Join Date
    Jun 2003
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    Proud She-Geek
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    If an allegation is serious enough (I'm talking spam, warez, kiddie porn), your host has an obligation to follow through right away to see what is going on. They have to protect their business as well as their other customers'.

    There are some hosts out there who will even delete without even bothering to do further research, so all in all, a few hours isn't really that bad.
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  3. #3
    Join Date
    Nov 2003
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    63
    Thanks. I can certainly understand suspending a site immediately after an allegation of kiddie porn, but I think the owner has an obligation to verify the allegation promptly. I guess several hours is prompt, for yoohoo.

  4. #4
    Join Date
    Nov 2003
    Location
    Orange County, CA
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    1,181
    Depending on the size of your site, it may only take a few hours or less to determine if your account has made such a violation.

    If I were to get a report like that on one of my clients, I would take a look at their files right away, and make the decision on whether or not to suspend the site based on what I find.

    Suspension is always the last course of action for me, and all reports of possible violations are immediately looked in to.

    EDIT: I would also like to say that client privacy is something that should be very important to every host. As it is for me, I never look at a client's files unless I have a good reason to. General server searches (for common, violating filetypes, and filenames) are run every so often, but the files are not actually examined unless they bring up a red flag.
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  5. #5
    Join Date
    Jun 2003
    Location
    FT Worth, TX
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    5,096
    It varies with a host, but what I like to do is scope out the place first before making my decision. If I see it necessary I will suspend the owner and contact him or her.
    Kerry Jones

  6. #6
    Join Date
    Jan 2004
    Location
    United Kingdom
    Posts
    38
    yeh, if I were a host, i'd have a look around and contact the webmaster first, having your site down for hours can damage your visitor numbers/business etc.

  7. #7
    Join Date
    Dec 2001
    Location
    Los Angeles, CA
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    1,337
    We require proof along with an accusation. Unless it is a complaint from the D.C. They always show proof anyway.
    Ronny Fang
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  8. #8
    Join Date
    Nov 2003
    Posts
    63
    Proof along with the accusation should be required by all web hosts, IMHO.

    I understand that Yoohoo shut down the web after a single allegation, then received "more" false, malicious allegations. Yoohoo then warned the credit card gateway and other people, who also shut down services. So, most of a day was spent on the phone getting Yoohoo and other services running again.

    There was nothing on the site that qualified as porn, or anything illicit. Someone was denied enrollment in a class, because of past copyright infringements plus a current warning in a watchdog site. I can't help but feel this attack was orchestrated by this person, because I can't imagine anyone else having motive.

  9. #9
    Join Date
    Nov 2002
    Location
    ???
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    637
    Some hosts follow the modus operandi "delete site now; ask questions later". They apply this to issues in general, not just questions of illegal content, complaints, statutory issues etc.

    You'll get a handle for what kind of host they are and the kind of empathy they display though. It's a question of communication skills. Ask questions during the pre-sales and immediate post signup period and you'll get and idea of their communication skills, patience and you'll know roughly where the "comfort threshhold" lies...
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  10. #10
    Join Date
    Nov 2003
    Posts
    63
    Thanks to all who helped!
    Jack.

  11. #11
    Join Date
    Mar 2004
    Location
    England
    Posts
    819
    If there was kiddie porn, and a host looked at it to verify, would the host be liable for prosecution as they had looked at it?

    Andrew
    NetHosted - UK based hosting solutions.

  12. #12
    I would not think that to be the case at all.. What we would do is temporarily suspend the account and view the site. Restore a few backups to see if they had in the past kiddie porn or something of that nature. If it comes to kiddie port or anything close to that it is in our best interest to fully examine to make sure this is not the case.
    If not reactivate the account. Doing this with urgency to allow for as little downtime as possible for the customer.

  13. #13
    Join Date
    Aug 2003
    Posts
    35
    It will depend on the seriousness of the issue. If you hosted warez and hacks. Your hosting company may be in the risk of being offline by their datacenter if they do not act fast. Sometime, they just can't take chance when the risk is high

  14. #14
    Join Date
    Apr 2003
    Location
    Bluesquare dc, Uk
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    1,591
    I was under the impression that any reports of child porn should be reported to the relevant authorities. To look at it is indeed an offence, even if you were simply verifying the claim.

    Please correct me if I am wrong
    Olly | INX-Gaming
    Call of Duty 4 hosting

  15. #15
    Personally? I'd shut down the site immediately, but then I would IMMEDIATELY investigate and look at the file son the site. If nothing was found, would bring it back on line immediately. This would not take more them 15-30 mins TOPS. I would also inform the owner at the time via email of the situation so that they are aware of why the site is down. If the allegations were true, I'd call the proper authorities, in this case the FBI for child porn and site would stay off line. As for getting in trouble for viewing, doubt it, how would ne know what it is b4 viewing? LOL. Course if you download it to your PC afterwards, that would be anothers story. I would only have to find one pic and that would be enough for me to not have to look further.

  16. #16
    Join Date
    Apr 2003
    Location
    Bluesquare dc, Uk
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    1,591
    I'd rather not take that risk Sean.
    Olly | INX-Gaming
    Call of Duty 4 hosting

  17. #17
    Join Date
    Apr 2003
    Location
    Austin, TX
    Posts
    304
    I seriously doubt any authorities would hassle a web host for attempting to view and verify if the content is violating the TOS/law. In fact, they would probably appreciate it - since the authorities seem to take much longer to take action and prosecute such a case - and the web host can help address and resolve the situation quickly.

    It seems to be in the host's best interest to at least look into the claim for a few minutes - initial investigation does not take long - rather than just hit a couple buttons and bring it offline as a first reaction.

    It is true that sometimes upstream providers, ISPs, other powerful parties are pressuring a web host to bring the site offline immediately to address their claim. I can completely sympathize with this. However, we have never worked with a party that wasn't willing to give us either some reasonable evidence of the claim, documentation like a copyright infringement notice, or some time to investigate the issue and contact the site owner.

    The claim is more serious if it's coming directly from a legal authority (like the FBI, for example), but even they are reasonable about providing you with details about the claim and options to resolve it.

    Also, though, a Web host cannot be expected to serve as a legal mediator - so they might conclude to bring a site offline and save their other customers from stress and consequences, rather than dedicating their team of technical professionals to analyze someone's content for traces of the claim. Sometimes, like in copyright infringement cases - you just have to pass the baton to the site owner's lawyer.
    JC, www.webii.net
    Premium Hosting Services Since 1996
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  18. #18
    Join Date
    Jan 2003
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    Let's see.....
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    I had a client get her site suspended due to a "spam" report. The ironic thing is it was from her when she accidently hit the "spam" button in AOL for an message sent by her own forum. Although she could've got the account reinstated, she bailed and found another host...on her own. I told her about the host (U.S. based) she was on.
    73's, Kim
    Everything happens for a reason I make up.

  19. #19
    Join Date
    Jun 2003
    Location
    Texas
    Posts
    1,957
    We usually shut the site down and investigate it. usually takes around 2 hours. If we find the site to be in violation then we terminate the account without warning. Plain---Simple----as----that... PLus you agreed to the tos or aup so they can shut down the site if there are any suspicions at all.

  20. #20
    Join Date
    Oct 2002
    Location
    EU - east side
    Posts
    21,920
    I'm not a host so I might see things a bit differently... I believe that closing the website for investigation is not fair towards the customer. That would mean that if anyone sends an email to my host saying that I host something inappropriate even if that's not true, my website would be closed pending investigation. Assuming innocence may not be the best way, but it certainly seems to be the fairest way IMHO.

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