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Is Your Domain Safe From Being Censored?

It may not be if you have GoDaddy as your hosting service. The domaining company recently took down a site called RateMyCop.com on grounds that stink of censorship, according to Kevin Poulsen.

RateMyCop.com allows users to rate and comment on the uniformed officers in their community, and "GoDaddy unceremoniously pulled-the-plug on the site in the wake of outrage from criticism-leery cops," Poulsen said. In an interview, site founder Gino Sesto said he received conflicting statements from GoDaddy about why his site had been taken down, ranging from alleged "suspicious activity," to a claim that the site had passed its three-terabyte bandwidth limit--which Sesto says is impossible.

The startup garnered media interest this week, as cops around the country complained that they'd be put at risk by having their info (just names and badge numbers) in one database, or face "unfair maligning" by disgruntled citizens. And Poulsen says that GoDaddy caved under the pressure. "Unfortunately for [RateMyCop.com], the company it chose for hosting is known to be quick to censor its customers," Poulsen says.

Read the whole story at Threat Level »

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