Whatever Go Daddy’s current share of the web hosting market, I expect it to decline significantly as soon as bloggers and others get wind of what’s under the hood of their Terms of Service Agreement. I’ve rarely seen a more obnoxious, in-your-face demonstration of PC/moralistic gobbledy-gook — a certified case of Lawyers Gone Wild. What I find most absurd in this disgusting piece of legalese is in bold italics below:
Except as set forth below, Go Daddy may also cancel Your use of the Services, after thirty (30) days, if You are using the Services, as determined by Go Daddy in its sole discretion, in association with spam or morally objectionable activities. Morally objectionable activities will include, but not be limited to: activities designed to embarrass defame, , harm, abuse, threaten, slander or harass third parties; activities prohibited by the laws of the United States and/or foreign territories in which You conduct business; activities designed to encourage unlawful behavior by others, such as hate crimes, . . . ; activities that are tortuous, vulgar, obscene, invasive of the privacy of a third party, racially, ethnically, or otherwise objectionable; . . . and activities designed to harm or use unethically minors in any way. Notwithstanding anything to the contrary herein, in the event Go Daddy cancels Your Services during the first thirty (30) days after You purchase the Services, You will receive a refund of any fees paid to Go Daddy in connection with the Services being cancelled. In the event Go Daddy deletes Your Services because they are being used in association with . . . morally objectionable activities, no refund will be issued. You agree You will not be entitled to a refund of any fees paid to Go Daddy if, for any reason, Go Daddy takes corrective action with respect to Your improper or illegal use of its Services.
What this “agreement” does (can it be said to be an agreement since it has been changed retroactively for current service recipients?) is puts Go Daddy (of all companies) in the position of policing the morality and “objectionableness” of what bloggers put on their websites. This itself, is immoral and objectionable.
Go Daddy ought to be ashamed of pulling such a stunt. And, yes, Go Daddy, I am writing this for the purpose of shaming and exposing your company and whatever legal Smeagol wrote this awful language into an agreement governing a tool that is essential to the maintenance of free speech in these United States. This has no place in a pluralistic, democratic society.
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Reads like contracts I’ve had with a few local governments, where about the only thing identified due me was compensation for the products if they were provided in a manner which met all the terms and conditions. Those contracts always said I’d be paid within 30 days after approval, most often without any restrictions limiting how long it took to get to that stage of “approval”.
The pressure right now on Craig Newmark to pull the “erotic services” section from his website is getting unbelievable. It’s hard to believe how much people hate freedom of speech and would pull the plug on it in a heartbeat over some smooth-talking politician’s demogoguery. If they can strangle the freedom of speech of private web service providers and their patrons on a few “extreme” kinds of speech like prostitution advertisements or rhetorical racism, then it’s a slippery slope from there to quelch freedom of speech of any kind that is deemed “harmful” by the majority.
It is my understanding, correct me if I’m wrong, the Supreme Court has already given the go-ahead to states that want to censor movies if they want, since it’s not “speech” but just “entertaining” drama. I don’t think it’ll be long before the states get to criminalize other forms of expression as well. How long before we have our first acknowledged political prisoners, I wonder.
Go daddy?
Kurt, I’m trying to show my grandchildren the dance at antwerp station and the video doesn’t come up, how do I get it?
Guess my website at Go Daddy is going, going, gone. No way will I put up with that kind of PC garbage.
Freedom of speech–Constitutionally speaking–means freedom of religious and political speech–the right to disagree and speak our minds on vital issues. It does NOT, and until the Warren Court, Joey, did not include “freedom to porn.”
Go Daddy’s letter goes way beyond that. It’s intentionally vague and all-inclusive language makes it clear its objective is to silence dissent.