There hasn’t been a lot of discussion on this forum about the proposed Stop Online Piracy Act (STOP) which if passed could give USA government agencies the power to shut down any web site without due process. That’s pretty scary. Recently GoDaddy was in the news because they apparently helped write the law (which would conveniently exempt companies like them, by the way) and supported its passage until an outcry from customers made them reverse course. As a GoDaddy customer I decided to contact them with the below letter. I know many people are moving their domains and dropping GD service but I’ve actually been fairly happy with their service and pricing over the years so I want to give them a chance to explain their position on this subject. If I find out they helped get STOP passed in any way I’ll drop them faster than a hot potato.
I’ll report back with any response they send me.
My letter to GoDaddy:
I am writing to ask for a clarification regarding GoDaddy’s official position on the Stop Online Piracy Act (STOP). As a long time GoDaddy customer it is important to me that GoDaddy take a position against this law because its passage could be devastating to small business owners and webmasters such as myself, who could see their websites shut down at the whim of a government agency without due process.
Recent rumors on the net indicate that GoDaddy was involved in the writing of this law and originally supported its passage. I need to know GoDaddy’s current position. There are many other hosting companies and large internet companies like Google who are officially against the law and if necessary I will move my domain registration and hosting business from GoDaddy to one of these companies if I discover that GoDaddy is supporting STOP.
I also request that this message be forwarded to GoDaddy CEO Warren Adelman and founder Bob Parsons.
Still, their response to the boycott has resulted in them loosing a lot of business. It seems that a CEO glorifying in the slaughter of animals is a little less offensive than insulting their customers, and it took this to get people to wake up about their dodgy practices.
I’d still be moving my business if I were with GoDaddy. They only seem to make the news when they’re doing something negative and I wouldn’t want to support a business that even considered supporting this.
Re: My Warning Letter To GoDaddy (About The STOP Law)
Well with all these issue arising with .xxx and now with “STOP”…perhaps the DVD market will bounce back…Hmmm! perhaps its time to start producing DVDs once again???
Re: My Warning Letter To GoDaddy (About The STOP Law)
They also park your domains before the due date on renewals its BS and pisses me off they go as early as 5 days now I have caught them. I am going to start moving some just for this reason alone, I used to have everything set to auto renew, but now i am dropping a lot of domains so I check each one so that is how I caught them at 1st it was 1 or 2 days now its out of control. They also dont put the domain back to the nameservers half the time after you renew, you have to do it manually, before it was automatic.
Re: My Warning Letter To GoDaddy (About The STOP Law)
I transfered all of my domains from GoDaddy when all the Elephant killing spree was published… I’m not sure why would anyone support a company that has been known for many dodgy practices, let alone for supporting things that you feel strong against…
Re: My Warning Letter To GoDaddy (About The STOP Law)
Let’s see. Hmmm Bob Parsons:
1.) Pulls IPO
2.) Fails to find buyers for Godaddy
3.) Go Daddy hasnât had a profitable year since it was founded in 1997. In 2009, it had a net loss of $11.6 million.
4.) The stupid “gay” TV ad that got pulled ie. Slutty advertising demeaning women & gay people.
5.) The silly SOPA thing.
6.) Bob gets pulled and replaced by CEO Warren Adelman
Sorry forgot to mention Bob’s elephant hunt.
And then there’s those of you who patronize such companies.
:bang:
Re: My Warning Letter To GoDaddy (About The STOP Law)
Here is the response I got from Go Daddy:
Dear Go Daddy Customer,
We recently published our position on the Stop Online Piracy Act (SOPA). Many customers responded, and we want you to know that we listened.
Go Daddy is no longer supporting SOPA.
“Fighting online piracy is of the utmost importance, which is why Go Daddy has been working to help craft revisions to this legislation - but we can clearly do better,” Warren Adelman, Go Daddy’s newly appointed CEO, said. “It’s very important that all Internet stakeholders work together on this. Getting it right is worth the wait. Go Daddy will support it when and if the Internet community supports it.”