Do You Trust Your Web Host?

from the sneaky dept

With Google trying to launch their own WiFi network (at least in San Francisco) some people have been worrying that the company will now know everywhere that you surf. This may be true, but how come people aren't just as worried about the fact that their current ISPs have that same info? Generally, people have to trust their service providers to do the right thing -- but should those providers violate that trust in any way, it can completely destroy the business. Beyond ISPs, web hosting firms are in the same boat. Web hosting firms are useful for those who don't want to manage their own server somewhere, but those firms have access to everything you put on your server. It's very rare that you hear of a web hosting firm violating that trust, but apparently one such firm has been involved in a sneaky link spam technique, dynamically adding a bunch of spam links to the bottom of their customers' pages any time a search engine spider crawled the sites. Not only is this obnoxious, it risks getting these sites completely kicked out of search engines for spamming. Of course, it's doubly stupid for the hosting firm that did this, because as soon as the news gets out, there's almost no way for the firm to win back the trust of its customers.
Hide this

Thank you for reading this Techdirt post. With so many things competing for everyone’s attention these days, we really appreciate you giving us your time. We work hard every day to put quality content out there for our community.

Techdirt is one of the few remaining truly independent media outlets. We do not have a giant corporation behind us, and we rely heavily on our community to support us, in an age when advertisers are increasingly uninterested in sponsoring small, independent sites — especially a site like ours that is unwilling to pull punches in its reporting and analysis.

While other websites have resorted to paywalls, registration requirements, and increasingly annoying/intrusive advertising, we have always kept Techdirt open and available to anyone. But in order to continue doing so, we need your support. We offer a variety of ways for our readers to support us, from direct donations to special subscriptions and cool merchandise — and every little bit helps. Thank you.

–The Techdirt Team


Reader Comments

Subscribe: RSS

View by: Time | Thread


  • identicon
    Tim, 7 Oct 2005 @ 8:18am

    Borgification

    Being in both the content(-searching) and ISP businesses will open-up a whole new can of worms about their status as "common carrier" or not, too.

    link to this | view in chronology ]

  • identicon
    Denis, 7 Oct 2005 @ 8:57am

    No Subject Given

    Home office, much? Looks like a small time web host... the contact address is a house in a residential neighborhood.
    1343 Mulberry Lane,Cary, IL 60013 (looked it with google sattelite map...)

    link to this | view in chronology ]

    • identicon
      Blaine, 7 Dec 2005 @ 9:33am

      Re: No Subject Given

      Denis,
      I found your comment by googling the address you referenced (Mulberry Lane.) I've been trying to get in touch w/ this guy for abt 2 weeks in regard to a software upgrade we bought from his company.

      I'm trying to see whether he's alive and not attending his business or whether he's dead or sick . Were you replying to "Mike" re Google WiFi, or something else?

      Thanks,
      Blaine

      p.s. I came to the same conclusion about the address being a residential neighborhood, also by using google sattelite

      link to this | view in chronology ]

  • identicon
    whosawhat?, 7 Oct 2005 @ 12:28pm

    No Subject Given

    Why is everyone making a fuss out of trusting google. You should be able to trust your ISP because you pay for that service. If google is just going to give it away you have no right to bitch.

    link to this | view in chronology ]


Follow Techdirt
Essential Reading
Techdirt Deals
Report this ad  |  Hide Techdirt ads
Techdirt Insider Discord

The latest chatter on the Techdirt Insider Discord channel...

Loading...
Recent Stories

This site, like most other sites on the web, uses cookies. For more information, see our privacy policy. Got it
Close

Email This

This feature is only available to registered users. Register or sign in to use it.