Web Hosting Talk : Web Hosting Main Forums : Web Hosting : The most liberal place to host your web in?

[moloki]

I've done some research on internet censorship around the world and it appears to me that Russia is currently the most uncontrolled place of the internet. USA seems rather free too as 50% of the world’s child pornography is claimed to be hosted there, but when it comes to other kinds of censoring USA is still interfering with the internet, even though most plans to oppress the internet get killed by the freedom of speech. For example, pictures of American soldiers being executed have been removed in USA without direct involvement from the government, but neither has the government prevented the web host from shutting down the newspage showing these pictures. The problem is that Russia is about to start censoring the internet in as soon as a year and when it does it will probably be heavily controlled.

What I'm wondering is what you would consider to be the most liberal place to host your web in? (as I'm not interested in child porn or any other kind of porn, do not take that factor into account)

[dwrunyon]

As far as US hosts go, Dreamhost is pretty well known as defenders of free speech. They will host anything that's legal.

[maniakaz]

I think (note:no personal experience) it is Russia and China. If you are for drugs, go for Holland, I think. Russia does censor its web content, but it is only if you are into politics. If you are not or this politics is somehow in Russia's favor - you are free to use anything.

[David]

Honestly, the best place is the US of A unless you're shipping drugs around. The US offers the most free speech (so far) out of any country.

If you're into piracy, drugs or anything else that you shouldn't be -- outside the US is your best bet. Honestly though, if those are your hobbies find new ones.

[HiHoHoSun]

The US offers the most free speech (so far) out of any country.

I agree...

[~ServerPoint~]

In the USA most depends on the federal laws of the state servers are located in.
In Russia seems you have to get license first to start your own business as web hosting provider. In other case you won't be allowed to collocate your servers in any Russian datacenters.
The most interesting thing I have known that in Russia web hosting companies do not need to pay for bandwidth if it comes from Russia. So their providers offer as usual unlimited bandwidth, but with asterisk always:
Bandwidth ratio must be 1/4 foreign to Russian. (Only in this case bandwidth is free for customers)

[ldcdc]

In the USA most depends on the federal laws of the state servers are located in.

You'd think federal law is not a state by state thing.

[~ServerPoint~]

You'd think federal law is not a state by state thing.

Yes.
exactly

[jon-f]

Well here is what it boils down to, no matter where you host it. If you get a bunch of determined people wanting a site taken down because they do not like the content eventually most datacenters will cave, especially small operations. Just think of all the time involved dealing with numerous abuse reports.

I find that the most notorious people are liberal and anti-racist groups, they will result to calling the datacenter off the hook, firing off 100s of emails a day, sending false server logs, etc. You name it its been done and lots of places dont want to deal with that even IF you are fully legal.
Self proclaimed anti-spammers are 10 times worse. I find it amazing that there is some people who wake up every morning firing off take down demands to every network of any site they dont like. Some are even obsessed with it.

Sure dreamhost supports free speech but first sign of any attack and you will be gone. And I would imagine enough phone calls and flooded inboxes you would be gone as well, wrong or right.

Free Speech is hard to host, not because of the authorities but because of the select few people who think they are internet police and think it is their duty to take down any site they deem unfit or do not agree with and they will often do this at any means necessary.

So for finding free speech you not only need a pretty big datacenter with more then one person handling abuse, you would need some sort of attack protections, etc.

Softlayer is the only datacenter I have found with a balance of both. DDos protection and unconditional legal free speech.

[Nadabrahma]

The policies of various web hosts in the US varies a lot (I have NO experience with Russia etc!) -- Some seem very uptight and anal if you read their TOS, others don't seem to care much -- example: Dreamhost (as mentioned above).

Edit: of course, if your site gets attacked as SecureServerTech discusses, you are in trouble in most places...

[Jedito]

Netherlands probably, however, you'll find in the Asian southeast less control over the contents, probably hardest laws, but their are not enforced like in the USA.

[jon-f]

well the thing is, like I was saying. Any place where you get floods of complaints and phone calls 99% of networks will cave. Dont matter if they are in Russia, China, Netherlands, etc. And if one of the staff members happen to see something they dont like or offends them you can have trouble there.

Heck, I remember a few years ago you could say anything and it be protected under free speech but its being chipped off bit by bit every year. I think its pretty safe to say 99.9% of US datacenters do not support free legal speech. Of course almost all will say they do but after a few weeks on the network their tone will change.

Trust me, Ive tried many datacenters to host my free speech customers. Ive moved lots of servers due to the things I mentioned above. And it took me a while to go back to softlayer where all is well in that area for the time being. Softlayer is brave enough to host any legal content, they dont let their personal views influence their decisions on stuff like this like many other hosts do.

In my quest to provide free speech hosting Ive been labeled a racist, bigot, commie, etc. You name it, Ive been called that just for supporting free speech sites. The fact is Im not a racist and I dont view or participate in any of the free speech sites I host. I also have diversity as I host both sides, left and right. anti-islam sites, communist sites, racial sites, gossip sites, and the like. I find racial sites or right wing sites the hardest to host.

I am a firm believer in free speech and will do everything I can to support it . I believe this is America and people should have the right to say what they want no matter who it offends. This freedom is slowly dissolving from the internet. Europe is 10 times worse, you can actually be prosecuted for stating racist views, holocaust denial, etc

Here is an article where a guy in Scotland put up a blog and made fun of people from work, said a few racist things, and nearly got jail time
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/scotland/...al/6901415.stm

meh, I can go on all day about this subject. But I will strongly recommend softlayer for free speech hosting. They are the only ones who has gave me no trouble at all over free speech related issues.
But its definitely good to post here first and ask around otherwise you will have the same experiences I have had .

Good luck and I hope this helps you decide a good datacenter.

[Fizzadar]

The best place is : Sealand. No laws, not one.

[Blue316]

Originally Posted by SuperBytes

The best place is : Sealand. No laws, not one.

SeaLand has internet law's they are listed below.

The Principality of Sealand is a non-DMCA country. However, it's information services are government regulated and specifically exclude activities such as:

* No pornography that would be considered illegal within the EU.
* No infringement of copyright. This includes warez sites and listing sites that index copyrighted material.
* No SPAM or unsolicited advertising, including opt-out e-mail lists.
* No hacking including port scans or network vulnerability testing, distributing viruses, phishing sites.
* No material that is obscene, threatening, abusive, libelous, or encourages conduct that would constitute a criminal offense.

[Archbob]

USA for things that are legal, Russia for things that are not legal.