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Thread: advice? - illegal content
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09-27-2002, 08:55 AM #1Newbie
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advice? - illegal content
reference:
http://www.webhostingtalk.com/showth...threadid=75567
okay, i'll try to be as specific as possible.
this is our first incident of someone sending spam from our servers, but this spam is illegal - it contains a link to a child-pornography site, so there are two issues here:
- spam
- child-pornography
* spam - this issue concerns us because it was sent from our server - according to our TOS, we would suspend the account or terminate it -currently we have suspended the account-
* child-pornography - the website that the email links to is not hosted on our servers, and we are aware that one of the "spam-victims" who received the spam has already reported it, do we still need to report this issue?
important details:
* the customer used a fraudulent credit card and customer information provided by him during sign up is exactly the same as credit card billing information, so basically we have no idea who the offender is
* the customer opt to have his domain name registered by us, so basically the information in the WHOIS is the same as his hosting account info which is actually the credit card holder's info
what action should we take next?
- terminate the account and this ends our involvement in the spam issue
- report the website that was linked to from the email
what should we do to the domain name that was registered?
any advice is appreciated.
thank you very much.
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09-27-2002, 09:14 AM #2Web Hosting Master
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The spam issue is the least of your problems.
Terminate the account now. Report this cretin to local and federal authorities so that your business is on record for coming forward with the information. (It's the right thing to do anyway.) Preserve as much evidence as you can in case they ask for it.
Additionally, you can forward the sicko's information to me and I will personally take care of it.
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09-27-2002, 09:14 AM #3Web Hosting Evangelist
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You mean you havnt reported this to the authorities already?...This happened a few days ago!!
I think the longer you leave it, the worse you will look.
1) Terminate the account - Spam issue resolved
2) Report as much info as you can about the credit card, IP address etc to the authorities and let them deal with the child pornography issue.
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09-27-2002, 09:25 AM #4Newbie
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can you provide me with a list of authorities and their sites to report the child-pornography issue to?
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09-27-2002, 09:28 AM #5Web Hosting Evangelist
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I suppose that depends what country you are in but im sure if you do a search you will find many.
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09-27-2002, 09:28 AM #6Newbie
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can you provide me with a list of authorities and their sites to report the child-pornography issue to?
what should we do to the domain name? he opt to have us register the domain when he signed up.
I doubt that the cardholder is the offender though. Our billing company gave her a call and she claims to have never made any transaction with us. Probably the offender used her card - fraud!
The only information we have is the IP address he used to access his account. IP used during sign up was a proxy apparently.
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09-27-2002, 09:28 AM #7Web Hosting Guru
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Just call your local FBI office. Most major cities have FBI field offices. You might want to back up all of your data though because I would not say it would be out of the question that the FBI would want to take your server so they can extract all of the information from it. Probably not going to happen, but it would not shock me.
http://www.schooldebts.com -- Consolidate Student Loan Debt
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09-27-2002, 09:29 AM #8Web Hosting Master
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If you're US-based, report it to the FBI. There is information, toll-free number, etc. at this web site
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09-27-2002, 09:37 AM #9Newbie
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We are not located in the US.
Basically, the cardholder is apparently in the US.
The IP used to access the account shows that the offender is in the UK.
not sure where the child-porn site is from 'cos whois contains no information about the registrant
*the website is not hosted on our server, only the spam was sent from our server
edit: *there is nothing in his account, except a spam script - so it okay to delete his account completely from the server?
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09-27-2002, 09:40 AM #10Web Hosting Evangelist
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Just report it to the authorities and dont loose any more sleep over it!
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09-27-2002, 09:51 AM #11Newbie
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I would report it if I knew who to report to since it involves so many countries
the website the email links to links to other child-porn sites - the website link in the email it self is hosted in Spain...
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09-27-2002, 09:52 AM #12Newbie
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I would report it if I knew who to report to since it involves so many countries
the website the email links to links to other child-porn sites - the website link in the email it self is hosted in Spain...
our involvement as far as anything which concerns our service ends at stopping the spam, right?
reporting the child-porn issue is just out of being a reponsible net-citizen since those sites are not hosted by us. am i right here? just want to know.
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09-27-2002, 09:56 AM #13Web Hosting Evangelist
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Becuase it involves so many countries maybe interpol would be the apropriate one.
http://www.interpol.com
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09-27-2002, 01:27 PM #14Newbie
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Just thought it might be of interest to those who have been following this thread:
We have reported it to CyberTipline.com. I believe they will be able to take it from there with the info we have provided them.
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09-27-2002, 04:39 PM #15Web Hosting Guru
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try going to your local police and they should be able to direct you to who you need to contact (i would hope).