What, you thought NSI was bad enough already?

[unixronin]

Just to make sure everyone knows they suck, NSI just pulled the plug on a site a Dutch film-maker is using to promote a film critical of Islam.  Because, you know, "it might violate Network Solutions' Acceptable Use Policy'.  Because God er, Allah forbid he should say that a religion that effectively enslaves women, and seeks to enslave or kill all non-Muslims, is an enemy of freedom.

(Besides, they're afraid Islamic extremists might send them more complaint letters.)

Comments

[house-pundit.livejournal.com]

Yeah, Fornits--a site dedicated to stopping the Troubled Teen private prison ("Program") industry--had to move to a Canadian ISP when they got canceled by their old US one and had trouble finding another US ISP with stones.

I betcha an old friend "Evil" would do it on his ISP (host of my xring.com), but he probably wouldn't have the resources to take all those hits and would have to charge out the ass to upgrade for it.

That is the only legitimate argument NSI has--that the site will get so much traffic and so many hits it will overload their resources. In which case, the proper solution would be to charge the film-maker for the necessary upgrades and bandwidth to handle all his hits.

It does, apparently, violate their policy--particularly the bandwidth parts of it. I can totally understand the bandwidth.

I can also understand, unfortunately, that the owners and employees do not want to endanger their own lives. I think they're moral cowards and feel nothing but contempt for that, but I do think people who risk their lives--and this would, in a major way--should be volunteers.

What would be constructive would be if the film-maker would find a small ISP whose owner doesn't have ballzheimers (I think Evil would have the courage, forex, and he can't be the only one), and then publish how much the upgrades are anticipated to cost, set up an escrow-type account, and take donations from the public until they have enough money to do the upgrades and put out the film.

What matter its release be delayed, so long as it gets published as soon as it becomes real-world possible?

Once it got up on a main site, mirror sites would take care of reducing the ongoing traffic to a manageable level. The brave ISP would get the reward of the upgrade in exchange for the very real risk to their lives, and a small reward it is, relative to the risk.

As it is, the filmmaker is probably looking for an ISP with balls that won't need an upgrade, just a fair price for the traffic. Or multiple ISPs to mirror the film from day one.

Unfortunately, I've lost track of Evil and no longer have much of a personal friendship, or I'd put it to him as a possible idea. It would also drum up a whole lot of business for him from users who want to support the cause but can't donate--they can at least move their sites and pay him what they're paying now anyway.

[unixronin.livejournal.com]

I betcha an old friend "Evil" would do it on his ISP (host of my xring.com), but he probably wouldn't have the resources to take all those hits and would have to charge out the ass to upgrade for it.

If it's ther "Evil" I think it is, yeah, he probably would :)

I probably have the hardware to handle the traffic, if I put babylon4 online again; what I don't have, and can't feasibly get, is the bandwidth. As for potential risk, personally and speaking for myself, "Bring it on, let's see what you got."