First, I suggest each and every one of you read the TOS and AUP of your own hosting companies, if you own sites, before looking any further. After that I suggest you follow this link: http://www.ivanhoffman.com/interactive.html and really read what it says there... and I mean read it several times. I've noticed many of you seem to have problems reading whole sentences and seem to insert your own words as truth. For those of you who don't have your own sites, do a google search and randomly pick out a few hosting companies and read theirs.
There is a reason for hosting companies to have Terms of Service Agreements(TOS) and Acceptable Use Policies(AUP). Under the law they are considered somewhere between an individual user and an ISP, defined as an internet service provider who provides internet access via a telecommunications device. The further along that continuum from one extreme to the other a particlur service places, the more liability that service incurs under the Communications Decency Act. In other words, the more control you have over the content, the more liability you have. Hosting providers institute both a TOS and AUP to prevent such abuses to not only other customers who share the same space but to protect individuals who may be wrongfully treated due to such abuses. Before you can complete the signup process to become a customer of any web hosting company, you have to agree to that company's TOS and AUP, usually by clicking "I accept". Hence, it becomes your contract for services. It is legally binding in a court of law. To deny knowledge of the contents is no excuse. You, or a designated representative of your company, entered into the agreement.
Hosting companies that don't enforce their own TOS and AUP end up with bad names; rightfully so. Yes, most terms are strict and there is always some leeway or relaxation depending upon circumstances. However, when a violation has the potential to affect other customers' service, a hosting company that doesn't take action isn't worth considering and should be avoided by legitmate businesses. If a customer in violation of those terms refuses to correct the violations, the hosting company has NO FURTHER OBLIGATION to that customer.
Since we were basically crucified on account of a person named Barbara Bauer, Ph.D. let's look at some of the issues surrounding that violation. Was it illegal by law to post the person's email address on a public forum? Perhaps not. Was it illegal to post that person's email address followed by posts encouraging the harassment and spamming of the person? Quite possibly.
Now, let's look at some nonlegal aspects that could have affected our business. Ms. Bauer read our TOS and AUP before contacting us. She knew what her rights were before contacting us. Suppose Ms. Bauer decided that since we don't enforce our own TOS and AUP she should go to every hosting rating site and every forum about web hosting she could find and state that fact. What could we do about it? Nothing. She would be telling the truth. The fallout from that would have been a mass exodus of all our customers who depend on us for honesty, integrity, and the security of their sites. In addition, she could have just as easily contacted our data center and made the same complaint to them that she made to us... in writing... and the result would have been an entire server shut down, causing other customers' sites to also be shut down... for being in violation of the terms we agreed upon when contracting the services of the data center. The server houses several ecommerce sites whose livelihoods depends on the income made from those sites. Now, what do you suppose would have happened to them? Over an act that is ethically and morally questionable regardless of where the law rules on it and a clear violation of our Terms of Service and Acceptable Use Policy? For an ethical and moral reference follow this link: http://www.wiredsafety.org/cyberstalking_harassment/help.html and read the first paragraph. There is no distinction made between good people and bad people.
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Let's look at where this fell on the offending site owner's level of concern:
-----Original Message-----
From: Jenna Glatzer [mailto:xx@jennaglatzer.com]
Sent: Tuesday, May 23, 2006 10:33 AM
To: Stephanie Cordray
Subject: What?
Stephanie,
I don't appreciate the fact that you are, absolutely, giving ammo to the enemy, without even giving me ONE DAY to get legal advice as I said I would. Do not post on the boards to let scammers know how to get to the site! You just let every other scammer in town know that if they call and yell at you, you'll pull down the site. Great. I'll be out of your hair as soon as I can. (My reply) I fail to see how my post did that when I said it wouldn't happen without the proper legal documents but I'm willing to listen if you would care to explain it to me. All other considerations aside, legal or otherwise, she was within her rights according to our Acceptable Use Policy and Terms of Service, which are standard with any hosting company. All I asked for was removal of the email address. That's all. In return, I was told I was wrong for requesting it… one simple little thing that really doesn't affect any other information you have on that person but could have saved me an enormous headache and a conflict of interest. Aside from personal preferences, I have a business to run and responsibilities to other customers who share the same space as you.
And why am I getting a "suspend" notice when I never got a bill before this? I paid the bill last month, now I've got a double-priced bill claiming I'm late in paying. The site is up for hosting services renewal. The bill you received last month was for bandwidth overages for that month. (My reply)The suspend notice is kicked out automatically by our billing software since renewal was due on May 16 th . Your previous partner obtained 6 months hosting at one time, which is why it looks so high. He chose the mini-reseller plan which comes with 2GB webspace, 25GB bandwidth @ $25/month. I tacked on another 25GB bandwidth according to what he said was being used. The site is using over 100GB/month. I have a partner, too, and he said I couldn't give more than 25GB away but I did work it out where you didn't pay more than I have to pay for bandwidth usage. I fear that your initial invoice for renewal was sent to your partner and not forwarded to you. It's sent out early to allow plenty of time for payment. However, if you are moving the site, it's all a moot point.
Jenna Glatzer
Editor-in-chief, http://www.absolutewrite.com
Author of The Street-Smart Writer and many other books
See Jenna's books at http://www.jennaglatzer.com/
Her reply to me after the above email:
I have managed to keep this site running for about 7 years, with near-daily threats from some scammer or another. If you give them an inch, they take a mile. You have informed them-- and every other scammer in eyeshot-- that you could take us down if we don't bend to their wishes. The way I handle these threats is NOT to jump and cave in to whatever they want, but to actually take a breath and get legal advice when warranted to know what the laws are and who's in the right. Bending to your "request" is also bending to a scammer. Would you have felt any different if this were Miranda Prather, Larry Clopper, and Willem Meiners yelling that I should take down the address support@publishamerica.com from the threads? It's a business address readily available online, and her spam claim is an absolute red herring. It's just another way for her to test to see if she can take down people who expose her for the fraud she is. And voila. Now she knows she can because you've told her publicly that she's in the right and next time, you'll treat me like "any other client" (presumably, shut me down, ask questions later), scolding me on my own board and showing scammers that all they need to do is get angry and make threats.I have NOT violated your TOS, and it was not your business to post *my* business on my board. That was something for me to deal with, not to make public, where every scammer I've ever exposed can find my "weakness" (get to me through my hosting company). But never mind all that. Obviously I can't be in this situation and neither can you. I will transfer hosts. I need to create a backup of the site to do that, though, so I need about double the disk space temporarily. Please let me know when that's done, and what I owe for it. I should only need the extra space for a day or two. Jenna Glatzer
Editor-in-chief, http://www.absolutewrite.com
Author of The Street-Smart Writer and many other books
See Jenna's books at http://www.jennaglatzer.com/
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Ms. Glatzer made it plain that our business interests meant nothing in the face of her wishes and basically told me to butt out of something that could affect my business. In addition, she demanded more and expected it to be given to her. At this point, considering that I had been placed solidly within a conflict of interests due to personal preferences being at odds with business responsibilities, I turned the entire matter over to my partner/husband.
For the record, I now understand the last part of that email. However, I am not and have never been a Publish America author. How gratified I am to learn that I must be because someone else said so and that I must be really stupid because I am. I wonder how many PA authors and former PA authors feel about being insulted by the very people who constantly tell them it's not their fault they were scammed... an insult based on a lie, to boot.
As far as the suspend notice and the account being in arrears. Ms. Glatzer's former partner took care of that side of the business until she bought him out. Every month he received an invoice for bandwidth overages barring the first month. Every month he paid those. When the site owner bought out her partner, the only thing that changed on the contact information in billing was the email address. The site owner didn't check her account and didn't update the billing information in any way. We have no other contact information for her except the email address. All the other information in billing remains to be that of her former partner. Her former partner gave the email address to update that. Her business management is not my concern but something between her and her former partner. It was her responsibility, not ours.
The date of the following email is 5/1/2006; Time: 11:06PM
Stephanie,
Can you change the contact and billing information to Jenna ( xx@jennaglatzer.com ). I will be leaving the company soon and I want to make sure that she gets all of the information. Right now, xxxxxxx@absolutewrite.com is the main contact address.
Thanks. Bob Wagner
Given the fact that he responsibly sent us the email address for billing, how do we know that Ms. Glatzer is telling the truth about not having received the first invoice for hosting renewal, even if it did go to Mr. Wagner first? I did give her the benefit of the doubt about it, in spite of my suspicions. However, the rest of the email from her shows an utter lack of concern for anyone but herself. Looking at the email from Mr. Wagner, she had 3 weeks to find out the status of her account. You'd have to ask Mr. Wagner if she got any account details from him. I do know she didn't ask us.
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An explanation of why I posted publicly in the first place.
I had hoped I could handle it as a member of the community instead of in the official capacity of being the hosting company. The site owner has a history of nonresponsiveness to late response with emails at times, unless it's a matter of urgency to her. At first the email address was removed, then it was reposted. Had it stayed at just being reposted and nothing else said, I would have dropped the matter. However, not only did they repost it, they followed up with comments encouraging harassment and spamming of the person. In the process of belittling a person who may or may not deserve it, they belittled me as a member of the community showing an utter lack of regard for anything or anyone besides their own gratification and flaunting their violation of our Terms of Service and Acceptable Use Policy.
Why my second posting began with, "Well I'm a fool...": That's what they were calling me without using the actual words. Besides, I felt like a fool trusting in the integrity of this group. And they were handling out legal advice without any real knowledge of our liabilities. If anyone cared to look at the page first linked above there are a lot of gray areas in the Communications Decency Act which can lead to legal action. Whether Ms. Bauer would, or will in the future, pursue legal action is entirely up to her. Just because many consider her a scammer doesn't mean she's stupid. Some of the best scammers are also some of the most intelligent people in the world. I don't know whether she is or isn't and the opinion of whether has absolutely nothing to do with me. Aside from those legal considerations, Ms. Bauer had other recourses before taking legal action which could have jeopardized not only our business but that of our other customers. She knew exactly what she could do and what rights she had. Even a temporary shut down by the data center until we agreed to compliance would have been devastating. As evidenced by the emails included here and others to come in succeeding pages, no one cared about that, except us.
From here, I turned it over to my husband/partner. Note the time.
From: Stephanie Cordray [xxxxxx@jc-hosting.net]
Sent: Tuesday, May 23, 2006 1:44 PM
To: JamesC
Subject: Emails
Here are the last few emails concerning this subject, including one from the person who lodged the complaint. I’ll send another with my reply to Jenna from this morning. I’m taking myself out of it due to a conflict of interests… personal versus business.
The emails were forwarded as attachments because there were several.