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MySpace and GoDaddy Shut Down Security Site

Posted by kdawson on Fri Jan 26, 2007 12:59 PM
from the sudden-darkness dept.
Several readers wrote in with a CNET report that raises novel free-speech questions. MySpace asked GoDaddy to pull the plug on Seclists.org, a site run by Fyodor Vaskovich, the father of nmap. The site hosts a quarter million pages of mailing-list archives and the like. MySpace did not obtain a court order or, apparently, compose a DMCA takedown notice: it simply asked GoDaddy to remove a site that happened to archive a list of thousands of MySpace usernames and passwords, and GoDaddy complied. Fyodor says the takedown happened without prior notice. The site was unavailable for about seven hours until he found out what was happening and removed the offending posting. The CNET article concludes: "When asked if GoDaddy would remove the registration for a news site like CNET News.com, if a reader posted illegal information in a discussion forum and editors could not be immediately reached over a holiday, Jones replied: 'I don't know... It's a case-by-case basis.'"

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[+] Ask Slashdot: Alternative Registrars to GoDaddy? 218 comments
Futurepower(R) wrote in to ask for your suggestions about reliable domain name registrars. With GoDaddy, the one-time favorite registrar, suspending domains based on the wishes of the Irish High Court, and 'requests' from MySpace, is it any wonder that people are starting to lose faith in it? A word of warning from the last article linked in the last sentence: "(GoDaddy) reserves the right to terminate your access to the services at any time, without notice, for any reason whatsoever." Chilling words from a domain name registrar. So what registrars would you recommend for people looking to replace GoDaddy, and how would you suggest they go about transferring their domains in a hassle-free manner?
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  • Case-by-case basis... (Score:5, Insightful)

    in case it would be bad for our PR, then no, in case it would be good for our PR, then yes, we take the site down. /sarcasm?
    • Re:Case-by-case basis... (Score:4, Interesting)

      by namityadav (989838) on Friday January 26 2007, @01:15PM (#17771988)
      Interestingly enough, the action would turn out to be good for http://www.seclists.org/ [seclists.org] too as thousands of people are going to check that website after reading this story on Slashdot (I know I did).
      [ Parent ]
    • The problem is that whatever the cause, this was bad for GoDaddy's PR, and Slashdot users should let them know.

      I'd suggest that everyone here who is disgusted with this action, especially those who have domains registered with GoDaddy, email GoDaddy public relations [mailto] and/or email their domain registration support [godaddy.com].

      Just as an example, here is what I sent:

      Regarding the recent action GoDaddy took against Seclists.org, I want to know just *why* I should keep my domains at GoDaddy, and not transfer to somebody who shows some respect for their customers.

      I find it disgraceful that GoDaddy would bend over when somebody like MySpace pushes a little. How can I now know that my domains are safe from being shut down on a whim? By not following any meaningful procedure to resolve the conflict, you have caused myself and many others to loose any faith we had with you as a registrar.

      When my domains expire in a few months, I will be transferring them to another registrar unless GoDaddy publicly apologizes to Fyodor Vaskovich, the owner of Seclists.org. In addition, he should also receive some compensation for his trouble, such as a free three-year renewal for all his domains.

      See http://it.slashdot.org/article.pl?sid=07/01/26/154 2218 [slashdot.org] for more information and more customer responses.
      Maybe if they get hit hard enough, somebody over there--maybe even ol' Bobby Parsons (does anyone know his email address?)--will figure out that companies can't pull this kind of crap anymore without repercussions.
      [ Parent ]
      • Re:Case-by-case basis... by BewireNomali (Score:2) Friday January 26 2007, @02:48PM
      • Re:Case-by-case basis... (Score:5, Interesting)

        by Rohan427 (521859) on Friday January 26 2007, @04:46PM (#17776314)
        I am currently looking to transfer my 14 domain names from GoDaddy because of this action by them. I have e-mailed them and informed them of this.

        PGA www.randomlogic.com
        [ Parent ]
      • Re:Case-by-case basis... (Score:4, Interesting)

        by thedeath319 (735998) on Friday January 26 2007, @07:24PM (#17778724)
        (http://www.dark-omens.com/)
        I, like you, e-mailed them to complain about this. I got the following reply:

        I am Ben Butler, the Director of Network Abuse at Go Daddy and I want to personally address your posts regarding SecLists.org. As we have said to our customers - Go Daddy is committed to keeping the Internet a safe place. If there is material online that is jeopardizing Internet safety, we will take necessary action. In this case, Go Daddy attempted to contact the customer with regard to a large list of MySpace user names and passwords which appeared on his Web site. The registrant was not available at the time. In order to protect users of MySpace from the risk of having private data revealed, we removed the site until we could make contact with our customer. Once we were able to discuss the issue with the registrant, he assured us he would remove the offending material and we re-enabled his site while he was on the phone. The site was back up within one hour. In each case like this, my department follows a set of operating procedures evaluating whether to remove hosting content or to redirect domain names. The decision is carefully made on a case-by-case basis. Most times, the site is left as is. An important issue I would ask you to consider is one that is a top priority for us at Go Daddy - child exploitation or even the potential for it. I don't know of any parent who wouldn't want their child's username and password protected. Ben Butler Director of Network Abuse The Go Daddy Group, Inc
        This, I guess, seems fair enough. Maybe its MySpace that are in the wrong? Surely the domain registrar should be a last resort for abuse and the website owner a first?
        [ Parent ]
      • Re:Case-by-case basis... by brassman (Score:3) Friday January 26 2007, @11:19PM
      • Re:Case-by-case basis... by Anonymous Coward (Score:2) Friday January 26 2007, @02:48PM
      • 2 replies beneath your current threshold.
    • joker.com or any non-us registrar. (Score:5, Insightful)

      by Zurk (37028) on Friday January 26 2007, @02:59PM (#17774232)
      (Last Journal: Tuesday November 12 2002, @02:47PM)
      people -- if you dont like the DMCA or U.S registrars instead of whining about it simply switch to joker.com (it switzerland) or ghandi (in france) or any of the non-U.S. based registrars out there. They will take your credit cards and a currency coversion is handled automatically. if you dont like it -- SWITCH. vote with your wallet. eventually U.S. based registrars WILL GET IT. SALES depts will kick their asses until they do.
      [ Parent ]
    • GoDaddy Response (Score:5, Interesting)

      by godaddyabuse (1056310) on Friday January 26 2007, @05:40PM (#17777186)
      I am Ben Butler, the Director of Network Abuse at Go Daddy and I want to personally address your posts regarding SecLists.org. As we have said to our customers - Go Daddy is committed to keeping the Internet a safe place. If there is material online that is jeopardizing Internet safety, we will take necessary action. In this case, Go Daddy attempted to contact the customer with regard to a large list of MySpace user names and passwords which appeared on his Web site. The registrant was not available at the time. In order to protect users of MySpace from the risk of having private data revealed, we removed the site until we could make contact with our customer. Once we were able to discuss the issue with the registrant, he assured us he would remove the offending material and we re-enabled his site while he was on the phone. The site was back up within one hour. In each case like this, my department follows a set of operating procedures evaluating whether to remove hosting content or to redirect domain names. The decision is carefully made on a case-by-case basis. Most times, the site is left as is. An important issue I would ask you to consider is one that is a top priority for us at Go Daddy - child exploitation or even the potential for it. I don't know of any parent who wouldn't want their child's username and password protected. Ben Butler Director of Network Abuse The Go Daddy Group, Inc Abuse@GoDaddy.com
      [ Parent ]
      • Re:GoDaddy Response (Score:4, Insightful)

        by spitefulcrow (713858) <sam@dividezero.net> on Friday January 26 2007, @06:00PM (#17777560)
        (Last Journal: Monday January 17 2005, @02:42PM)
        An important issue I would ask you to consider is one that is a top priority for us at Go Daddy - child exploitation or even the potential for it. I don't know of any parent who wouldn't want their child's username and password protected. In an ideal world, parents would keep tabs on their children's Internet usage and educate them on how to avoid being taken advantage of or hurt. I find it shameful that parents choose to blame others (like ISPs) for the consequences of their neglect. "Think of the children" is the pitiful argument used by people without other valid arguments for placing restrictions on the free flow of information. I don't have any domains hosted by GoDaddy, but you can be sure that you have lost another potential customer.
        [ Parent ]
      • Re:GoDaddy Response (Score:5, Insightful)

        by MooUK (905450) on Friday January 26 2007, @06:01PM (#17777580)
        The last few sentences of this post can be summarised in a much clearer fashion:

        "Think of the children!"
        [ Parent ]
      • Re:GoDaddy Response (Score:5, Insightful)

        by Fulcrum of Evil (560260) on Friday January 26 2007, @06:44PM (#17778192)

        As we have said to our customers - Go Daddy is committed to keeping the Internet a safe place. If there is material online that is jeopardizing Internet safety, we will take necessary action. I

        That's not your damn job! You are a registrar. If you take it upon yourself to police the contents of the sites in your registry, what happens when you get sud for failing to do so? Go do your job and stop trying to police things that are none of your business.

        [ Parent ]
      • Re:GoDaddy Response (Score:4, Interesting)

        by Walter Carver (973233) on Friday January 26 2007, @07:21PM (#17778692)
        (about:blank)
        1. It is not your job to keep the Internet safe, your job is to keep a domain. You will be ordered to take a domain down with a court order.

        2. That list of MySpace users is available at several full-disclosure lists. Taking down SecLists.org doesn't change anything.

        3. Your customer has e-mail logs to prove his side of the story. Do you?
        [ Parent ]
      • Re:GoDaddy Response by mr_walrus (Score:3) Friday January 26 2007, @08:44PM
      • Re:GoDaddy Response by Bill, Shooter of Bul (Score:3) Friday January 26 2007, @09:34PM
      • Re:GoDaddy Response by KevinIsOwn (Score:2) Friday January 26 2007, @09:50PM
      • Re:GoDaddy Response by Anonymous Coward (Score:1) Saturday January 27 2007, @12:44AM
      • You and Bob Parsons *work for me*, not MySpace by BillGatesLoveChild (Score:3) Saturday January 27 2007, @03:06AM
      • Re:GoDaddy Response by BillGatesLoveChild (Score:2) Saturday January 27 2007, @03:25AM
      • Re:GoDaddy Response (Score:4, Insightful)

        by laughingcoyote (762272) <[barghesthowl] [at] [excite.com]> on Saturday January 27 2007, @04:46AM (#17782004)
        (Last Journal: Sunday December 03 2006, @11:20PM)

        Please allow me to put this in a few words:

        This is not your place.

        It is the job of the police and courts to enforce the law, not you. It is the job of parents to protect their children, not you. You are a registrar. Your job is to ensure that your customers' sites are accessible. Your job is not to judge that site's content. If someone thinks the site should be shut down, that person or organization can go get a proper court order. Until that time, you and your company are out of line in even considering a request to take down a site unilaterally.

        I have several domain name registrations coming up. I can assure you, those registrations will not be with your company, absent a public apology and an assurance that this will never happen again except upon a valid court order, and I will ensure that everyone I know who may register a domain is made well aware of this incident. Unless your position is quickly reversed, you stand to lose quite a bit of business.

        [ Parent ]
      • Re:GoDaddy Response by mindwhip (Score:2) Saturday January 27 2007, @08:11AM
      • Re:GoDaddy Response by Decius6i5 (Score:3) Saturday January 27 2007, @05:15PM
      • 2 replies beneath your current threshold.
  • Overkill (Score:5, Insightful)

    by Kelson (129150) * on Friday January 26 2007, @01:03PM (#17771766)
    (http://www.hyperborea.org/journal/ | Last Journal: Tuesday September 11, @05:30PM)

    Let's see... one page out of 250,000 on a site turns out to have content that could compromise security at another site. So MySpace contacts the registrar, and gets the entire site shut down?

    That's like using a hand grenade to swat a fly.

    The logical way to go about this is as follows:

    1. Contact the site maintainer and convince them them to take the page down.
    2. If that fails, contact the hosting provider, and convince them to take the page down. (Just the page, not the whole site.)
    3. If that fails, and only then, contact the registrar and convince them to suspend the site.

    Myspace should not have even contacted GoDaddy until they took the first two steps. And once GoDaddy was contacted, they should have done more investigation, which would have made it clear that they were looking at one page out of a quarter million... at which point they should have either told MySpace to contact the host, or done it themselves.

    Even if, after all these steps, GoDaddy still decided to suspend the registration, they should have contacted him first: remove this page or we'll have to disable your site. Failing that, they should have told him why it was being suspended (beyond the vague reference to TOS abuse) and how he could resolve it.

    Disabling the entire site with (apparently) minimal investigation is overreaction, plain and simple. That quote from Jones, where they refused to rule out taking down an entire news site to block access to one story -- or even one comment -- is telling.

    • Re:Overkill by bladesjester (Score:2) Friday January 26 2007, @01:07PM
      • Re:Overkill by udderly (Score:2) Friday January 26 2007, @01:41PM
    • Re:Overkill (Score:5, Insightful)

      by DBCubix (1027232) on Friday January 26 2007, @01:07PM (#17771824)
      Let's post some usernames and passwords on MySpace and ask for their domain to be taken down. It only sounds fair.
      [ Parent ]
    • Re:Overkill by Dimentox (Score:2) Friday January 26 2007, @01:07PM
    • Re:Overkill by SatanicPuppy (Score:3) Friday January 26 2007, @01:16PM
    • Overkill is an understatement (Score:5, Insightful)

      by A beautiful mind (821714) on Friday January 26 2007, @01:17PM (#17772044)
      It should be downright bloody illegal to do what Godaddy did. Or if not illegal, it should have serious repecussions for them as a registrar up to the point of dropping their registrar status.

      Besides, Myspace's effort was entirely useless. Those usernames/passwords were already compromised, Fjodor's site was just one that had it from the many places it can be found. The sensible thing would have been a forced password reset for the users involved not trying to coerce a registrar.

      My position is that unless a legal, court ordered action is forced on the registrar, it should be forbidden to drop anything. And in the case there is content that shouldn't be public on the site, that is a _hosting_ issue not a domain issue. Go bugger the hosting company with legal documents.
      [ Parent ]
    • Re:Overkill by theshowmecanuck (Score:2) Friday January 26 2007, @01:26PM
      • Re:Overkill by theshowmecanuck (Score:2) Friday January 26 2007, @01:29PM
      • Re:Overkill by moranar (Score:3) Friday January 26 2007, @01:36PM
      • Re:Overkill by chromatic (Score:1) Friday January 26 2007, @02:31PM
      • Re:Overkill by Predius (Score:2) Friday January 26 2007, @02:43PM
      • Re:Overkill by technococcus (Score:1) Friday January 26 2007, @05:21PM
        • Re:Overkill by theshowmecanuck (Score:2) Tuesday January 30 2007, @03:13PM
          • Re:Overkill by technococcus (Score:1) Tuesday January 30 2007, @04:35PM
    • mass market effect by Speare (Score:2) Friday January 26 2007, @01:28PM
    • Re:Overkill by daeg (Score:2) Friday January 26 2007, @01:32PM
    • Re:Overkill by sorak (Score:3) Friday January 26 2007, @02:23PM
      • Re:Overkill by Kelson (Score:3) Friday January 26 2007, @02:29PM
    • Re:Overkill by lazlo (Score:3) Friday January 26 2007, @02:44PM
    • Re:Overkill (Score:5, Informative)

      by Scott Lockwood (218839) * on Friday January 26 2007, @01:32PM (#17772336)
      (http://www.lrsehosting.com/ | Last Journal: Tuesday August 21, @06:21PM)
      0) Take responsibility for your security being laughable, fire the people responsible, and secure your own shit before flinging it at others?

      Hmmm.......
      [ Parent ]
    • Real-world analogy by Kelson (Score:2) Friday January 26 2007, @01:40PM
    • Re:Overkill by operagost (Score:2) Friday January 26 2007, @01:48PM
    • Re:Overkill by nickcoons (Score:1) Friday January 26 2007, @02:16PM
      • Re:Overkill by AutopsyReport (Score:2) Friday January 26 2007, @02:24PM
        • Re:Overkill by nickcoons (Score:1) Friday January 26 2007, @02:44PM
    • Re:Overkill by qeveren (Score:2) Friday January 26 2007, @02:28PM
    • Re:Overkill by Mephistophocles (Score:1) Friday January 26 2007, @02:32PM
    • 1 reply beneath your current threshold.
  • Case by case basis (Score:5, Insightful)

    by popo (107611) on Friday January 26 2007, @01:04PM (#17771784)

    In other words, "We have no backbone. We obey power. You have none. MySpace does. Any questions?"

  • Myspace is the new AOL (Score:5, Insightful)

    by brennanw (5761) * on Friday January 26 2007, @01:05PM (#17771790)
    (http://ubersoft.net)
    In the linked article Fyodor calls MySpace the "new AOL." I can see it. It certainly seems to encourage people to throw all caution to the wind.

    As to what MySpace did, I'm honestly surprised how incredibly angry that makes me. I thought I was jaded by the petulance of businesses at this point. And Godaddy's response -- geez. I don't understand how a business can take your money and then refuse to talk to you.

    Well, no -- I understand how they can do it. I understand it perfectly well. They do it because they figure they can get away with it, because even if they piss off one customer, how are the rest ever going to find out? Or care?

    • Re:Myspace is the new AOL (Score:5, Interesting)

      by walt-sjc (145127) on Friday January 26 2007, @01:21PM (#17772118)
      The ultimate blame in this case falls on GoDaddy for pulling the trigger. They should have told myspace "not our problem and you don't have the authority to ask for this action andyway. Get a court order."

      I have a few domains registered with godaddy at the moment. In about an hour, they no longer will be, with a letter to their CEO (US Mail) saying why.

      GoDaddy is now known as GoAwayDaddy in my book.
      [ Parent ]
  • GoDaddy probably complied... (Score:5, Interesting)

    by mhazen (144368) * on Friday January 26 2007, @01:05PM (#17771792)
    (http://www.markh.com/)
    ....because Rupert Murdoch would have just bought them and fired the people who questioned whether NewsCorp has the right to restrict freedom of information.

    And, by the way, I hope GoDaddy's reading this. I'm moving my domains away from you because of your lackadaisical approach to our constitutional rights.
  • So a TLD registrar can shut down queries if he by Anonymous Coward (Score:1) Friday January 26 2007, @01:05PM
  • domain registrar neutrality (Score:4, Insightful)

    by Anonymous Coward on Friday January 26 2007, @01:06PM (#17771806)
    Domain registrars should remain neutral in content disputes. Quis custodies ipsos custodes?
  • Legal Implications? (Score:3, Insightful)

    by popo (107611) on Friday January 26 2007, @01:06PM (#17771812)
    IANAL but wouldn't the site owner have some serious legal ammunition against both MySpace and GoDaddy?

    This seems to me to be an issue for the courts, not an IT department.

  • How timely (Score:4, Interesting)

    I'm about to move my website from one host to another because my current shared hosting company (Netactuate, formerly VR Hosted) is falling down on their ass. I haven't even been able to load my cpanel this morning, and I tried two different connections - but their front page loads in a snap. I only jumped on them because of the gentoo hosting special but lunarpages is 2/3 the price of the discounted rate... I get 5GB and lunar gives 250GB, I get 200GB of transfer or something like that (I can't even load the cpanel to see what my quota is) and lunarpages gives 2.5 TB. I'll miss the shell access, but I can live without. Anyway, the moral of this story is that I think I'll take advantage of this moment to transfer my domain registration from godaddy to another registrar. Anyone have any recommendations?
  • From Russia with your passwords by AnnuitCoeptis (Score:1) Friday January 26 2007, @01:08PM
  • not an intelligent move.. (Score:5, Funny)

    by sanimalp (965638) on Friday January 26 2007, @01:09PM (#17771882)
    The LAST thing in the world i would want to do as a registrar, or ANY web based business for that matter, is to piss off a bunch of hackers. I think karma might prevail on this one.
  • by Klowner (145731) on Friday January 26 2007, @01:10PM (#17771906)
    (http://klowner.com/)
    So, anyone have any recommendations for less-retarded registrars which might actually deserve my money?
  • Time to remove my registrations from GoDaddy... by ScooterBill (Score:2) Friday January 26 2007, @01:11PM
  • MySpace and GoDaddy = Garbage by Reed Solomon (Score:1) Friday January 26 2007, @01:12PM
  • Big surprise. (Score:5, Interesting)

    You get what you pay for with GoDaddy. I certainly wouldn't expect them to take my side in a dispute with MySpace, News Corp, or, frankly, anyone with a significant number of lawyers on their side.

    Providers, by and large, will cave to any request from a big company...Hell there was an article about it here a few days ago, that linked the BoF Experiment [www.bof.nl] where they posted a public domain work on 10 different places, and then sent DMCA takedown notices to all 10 places, and had 7 remove it immediately even though it was clearly marked as public domain.

    Face it; a hosting site that will stick up for it's customers against a significant threat from a big company is hard as hell to find, and sure as hell GoDaddy isn't going to do it for 10 bucks a month.
  • Why where the passwords posted by cyberkahn (Score:2) Friday January 26 2007, @01:14PM
  • Umm, GoDaddy? by necro2607 (Score:1) Friday January 26 2007, @01:15PM
  • New Corporate Espionage method by RyoShin (Score:2) Friday January 26 2007, @01:17PM
  • /.wrist by Kahai (Score:1) Friday January 26 2007, @01:17PM
  • The other side is a very slippery slope as well by frantzen (Score:2) Friday January 26 2007, @01:20PM
  • Better domain registrars? by mmurphy000 (Score:2) Friday January 26 2007, @01:21PM
  • Which is it? by adambha (Score:1) Friday January 26 2007, @01:25PM
  • Unconscionable (Score:5, Interesting)

    1. Unconscionable: How I feel about this whole matter. Completely unconscionable that GoDaddy could or WOULD do anything like this.

    2. 142: The number of domains I have registered with GoDaddy.

    3. $1500: Roughly the annual amount I pay for my domains to renew them each year.

    4. 48: The number of hours I have allotted myself this weekend to transfer each and every one of them AWAY from GoDaddy to someplace like NameCheap.com or DomainMonitor. Haven't decided yet.

    5. True: Boolean value for whether or not I am pissed-off.

    6. Very Much: The level of item 5, above's, value.
  • Read the fine print, please by tfbastard (Score:1) Friday January 26 2007, @01:29PM
  • Pulling my sites (Score:4, Informative)

    by All Names Have Been (629775) on Friday January 26 2007, @01:29PM (#17772288)
    I've sent email to GoDaddy's customer relations department asking for clarification of this, stating that I'm going to be pulling my personal sites (hosted there) and all domains (and my company's 350+ domains (no, we're not squatters..)). If this turns out to be true, and can't clarify their position on when they might arbitrarily pull sites based on nothing but a request other than "when we feel like it" EVERYONE should get the hell out of Dodge, as they obviously are responsible business partners. Waiting for my rely, which will probably never come.
  • by pebs (654334) on Friday January 26 2007, @01:31PM (#17772318)
    (http:///#!/)
    GoDaddy can GoFuckThemselves
  • Not a Freedom Of Speech Issue by mpapet (Score:2) Friday January 26 2007, @01:33PM
  • RTFA people, it was an archive (Score:4, Informative)

    by FliesLikeABrick (943848) <flieslikeabrick@gmail.com> on Friday January 26 2007, @01:37PM (#17772436)
    Everyone who is asking "WTF why do they even have the list?!" needs to go back and read the seclists.org list. It is an archive of a mailing list post, one which tens or hundreds of sites probably also have archived.

    I believe MySpace and GoDaddy are both to blame here for reasons that any sensical person can see. I think I'll be looking for a new registrar now.
  • by CharlieHedlin (102121) on Friday January 26 2007, @01:40PM (#17772490)
    I see a lot of slashdot readers pulling their domains to another registrar. I don't know if any are better, but at least there have to be some that haven't already taken these draconian messures.

    I have a few domains up for renewal, and was considering GoDaddy. Not any more. I am sure slashot readers must control the registration of several million domains.

    I hope this publicity shows as a giant drop on their revenue graph.
  • Hypocrits by vertinox (Score:2) Friday January 26 2007, @01:49PM
  • Question is... by C_Kode (Score:1) Friday January 26 2007, @01:52PM
  • Was looking for a registrar.... (Score:3, Interesting)

    by mbstone (457308) <michael.b.stoneNO@SPAMatt.net> on Friday January 26 2007, @01:53PM (#17772776)
    (http://turn.pro/)
    I was looking at GoDaddy's page last night and was considering doing business with them. Then I came across this story: GoDaddy, the domain registrar (not the webhost) pulls someone's domain registration (not the website) without notice, process, or warning to the customer just because some large company requested it. The real-life equivalent would be the sheriff coming and evicting you from your home because someone made a noise complaint.
  • Myspace cares about security? by zeet (Score:1) Friday January 26 2007, @02:00PM
  • Godaddy is notorious for foul practice in domain by unity100 (Score:2) Friday January 26 2007, @02:02PM
  • ahh, i remember now. by kbox (Score:1) Friday January 26 2007, @02:24PM
  • Let's take down CNN.com! by javakah (Score:1) Friday January 26 2007, @02:27PM
    • 1 reply beneath your current threshold.
  • Should I shoot myself? by phiber9 (Score:1) Friday January 26 2007, @02:51PM
  • Just block the bad page(s) by orielbean (Score:1) Friday January 26 2007, @02:55PM
  • Dear Godaddy by boxxa (Score:2) Friday January 26 2007, @02:59PM
  • Read the fine print by BlazeMiskulin (Score:1) Friday January 26 2007, @03:12PM
  • Both parties wrong in some areas by tcolvinMI (Score:1) Friday January 26 2007, @03:12PM
  • GoDaddy and the DMCA... (Score:5, Informative)

    I have a dedicated server hosted by GoDaddy, and a few days before Christmas got an automated DMCA takedown request for something allegedly on the server.

    I got an email from GoDaddy saying "please take this down and respond that, under penalty of perjury, you did so."

    I happened to be checking my email at this moment, 12:30 at night, so I looked into the issue and responded to the email that the issue was resolved.

    The next morning, my server wasn't responding to pings. So I email again saying, "hey, I took care of the complaint before you unplugged my machine, can you, you know, plug it back in?"

    Day goes by. Eventually I get a response:

    "Thank you for your response to the Copyright Department. In order to reactivate the site in question we will need you to provide the following information in a single email response:

    A. An electronic signature. (This can be a scanned copy of your physical signature, or as simple as typing your full name.)
    B. Identification of the material in question.
    C. A statement, under penalty of perjury, that the material has either been removed or will promptly be removed."

    So I write back again, explaining the details. Again.

    Day goes by. I call the tech support number and explain the situation. The tech support guy (who was very nice) told me he couldn't help, and I should try emailing the address I already had, twice. Sigh. I do it again.

    Day goes by. I get the following response:

    "Thank you for contacting the Copyright Claims Department. Unfortunately your previous email did not include a statment under penalty of perjury. Please submit a complete content removal statement at your earliest convenience to have your services reactivated. For your reference an example of a complete copyright removal statement is listed below.

    I, John Doe, under penalty of perjury, will remove the offending content at http://www.mydomainname.com/myfile/page.htm [mydomainname.com] promptly after the reactivation of my services. /John Doe/
    John Doe
    (Please accept the above as an electronic signature.)"

    Okay, great. I finally found the magic formula. I copy the template exactly and fill in my details, send it out.

    Day goes by. I get this back:

    "Thank you for your email. We appreciate your responsiveness and cooperation on this matter. We have re-activated the account and services associated with your site. As some services require some time for propagation to take full effect, please allow 1-2 hours for the changes to take effect."

    Ok, progress, finally.

    Day goes by.
    Day goes by.

    Server still isn't responding. I email tech support to see if there's a problem. They tell me to try using the automatic reboot request form on the web panel. Sure enough, the system responds within minutes.

    So basically, they were really on top of that from every angle. In the week my server was unavailable, I arranged for hosting at one of their competitors, Dreamhost.com, who rocks quite a bit. Specifically because of this incident, I probably won't renew the GoDaddy contract when it expires, but I also wonder if I'm really safer at any other ISP in America.

    It's partially a shame because I really was perfectly satisfied with GoDaddy's hosting before this incident, and they just flat out botched it. The server provides bandwidth offloading for my main site, so I could survive without it for a week, but I couldn't imagine someone trusting their business to GoDaddy if they can callously cut your oxygen for a week.

    It's also a shame because the DMCA required GoDaddy to have a knee-jerk reaction in the first place. I was basically accused, tried, and convicted by my service provider without any evidence or chance to defend myself. They should be looking at this as bad for business in even well-handled situations, and recognize that the best thing to do is take
  • Move along... by netscan (Score:1) Friday January 26 2007, @03:46PM
  • I got those questions too from large and smaller sites, first line didn't know what to do. My response to those things:

    Dear,

    Please contact the owner of the domain for such matters. If you have any problems finding this, the information can be queried through the whois database. We do not comply with any request for take down unless signed by a judge in our LOCAL district court (the exact information for such procedures can be found in our legal notices on our website).

    If you have any further questions, please contact your legal counsel or a legal counsel in our district to proceed.

    Sincerely,

    MyName

    Usually I didn't get any further communication on this. We had a few times the police come in to 'take down' the server. We denied access to our datacenters and told them to take a hike. We also had a few times the police (detectives) to get an 'IP address' for a website (they heard you needed that somehow). We just wrote it down on a piece of paper and gave it to them, they must have thought it was like a package or device they were going to get to disable a site because they asked: What is that? An IP address. Is that it? Yes. Is the site down then? No. But we want it down! No, sorry, gotta get a court order AND a search warrant for our premises AND a search warrant for our clients premises (since the server is their premises).
  • IP access by one_red_eye (Score:1) Friday January 26 2007, @05:21PM
    • Re:IP access by mr_walrus (Score:1) Friday January 26 2007, @08:58PM
  • What about cached search indices?? by djcondor (Score:1) Friday January 26 2007, @05:38PM
  • Fuck GoDaddy. by buzzbomb (Score:2) Friday January 26 2007, @06:07PM
  • GoDaddy thinks this is all perfectly A-OK by rabtech (Score:2) Friday January 26 2007, @06:11PM
  • Regardless by The Nipponese (Score:1) Friday January 26 2007, @07:01PM
    • Re:Regardless by Shadyman (Score:1) Saturday January 27 2007, @01:22AM
      • Re:Regardless by The Nipponese (Score:1) Saturday January 27 2007, @01:26AM
  • Send all your complaints to Bob Parson by doomy (Score:2) Friday January 26 2007, @07:35PM
  • GoDaddy's Response by C0C0C0 (Score:2) Friday January 26 2007, @08:49PM
  • way back by ssrs396 (Score:1) Friday January 26 2007, @09:25PM
  • GoDaddy suspends Vader's website by TheRealAnonymousCowa (Score:1) Saturday January 27 2007, @01:48AM
  • GKG by Puppet Master (Score:1) Saturday January 27 2007, @10:45AM
  • GoneDaddyO by Big Stick (Score:1) Saturday January 27 2007, @02:56PM
  • GoDaddy Gone (not yet) by Bushido Hacks (Score:1) Saturday January 27 2007, @10:48PM
  • Re:What's the problem? by arootbeer (Score:2) Friday January 26 2007, @01:14PM
  • Re:Am I the only one wondering this? by arodland (Score:2) Friday January 26 2007, @01:16PM
  • Re:Am I the only one wondering this? by sanimalp (Score:1) Friday January 26 2007, @01:17PM
  • Re:Am I the only one wondering this? by necro2607 (Score:2) Friday January 26 2007, @01:17PM
  • There was a list compiled by a bunch of phishers that made it into the open a few months ago...Lot of security guys were using it to do things like check for the average complexity of passwords among users and suchlike. The first link I found was on Google was the Tech Reads [cyber-knowledge.net] blog, dated 9/16/6 (mdy), so this is nothing new.

    Ordering a takedown in pointless...I can't believe that those users weren't informed that they should change their passwords, and if they were, what's the problem?
    [ Parent ]
  • Re:Am I the only one wondering this? by Gerald (Score:1) Friday January 26 2007, @01:24PM
  • Re:No, you're not. by malkavian (Score:2) Friday January 26 2007, @01:25PM
  • Re:What's the problem? by atomic777 (Score:1) Friday January 26 2007, @01:32PM
    • 1 reply beneath your current threshold.
  • Re:What's the problem? (Score:3, Insightful)

    by Zontar_Thing_From_Ve (949321) on Friday January 26 2007, @01:36PM (#17772426)
    ...asked GoDaddy to remove a site that happened to archive a list of thousands of MySpace usernames and passwords...

    Sounds reasonable to me.


    And me too, but we seem to have the minority opinion here. I love reading the justifications on why this is "evil" of GoDaddy to do this. Then again, what do you expect from Slashdot readers? Last week everyone was up in arms because the RIAA and a SWAT team arrested a guy for "making mix tapes" when in fact he was a bootlegger with over EIGHTY THOUSAND bootleg CDs that got confiscated and it had nothing to do with mix tapes.

    [ Parent ]
  • Re:Am I the only one wondering this? by bluelip (Score:1) Friday January 26 2007, @02:29PM
  • Re:What's the problem? by Jack Sombra (Score:1) Friday January 26 2007, @03:07PM
  • Re:Utter Stupidity. by znx (Score:1) Friday January 26 2007, @03:38PM
  • 16 replies beneath your current threshold.