Social Network Gab.com being threatened by GoDaddy: 24 hours to transfer or suspension

robepik said:

it is imperative to let freedom ring.

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JB Lions said:

Further, You may not use the Site or the Services provided through or in connection with the Site to:..............publish, post, distribute, disseminate or link to any: (i) inappropriate, profane, defamatory, infringing, obscene, adult content, nude, indecent or unlawful topic, name, material or information;

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anantj said:

Does that apply to Abortions as well and does it apply to letting women have their own reproductive choices?

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anantj said:

Oh this is a nice quote. @robepik Isn't this censorship by Epik?

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mr-x said:

Because intolerant jack-holes consider anything that contradicts the current liberal pet peeve as hate speech it will probably get worse.

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anantj said:

Does that apply to Abortions as well and does it apply to letting women have their own reproductive choices?

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JB Lions said:

Or maybe they consider hate speech as hate speech. What do you call this:

https://web.archive.org/web/20181027160428/https://imgur.com/a/cwB9QkR

Take a real good look, go thru each posting. See the killer is reposting a lot? You notice a lot of Pro accounts? If you had a company, would you want to be associated with stuff like that? Simple question.

Even the Stormer dude wrote in an article today that he isn't surprised. You have a lot of people banned from various social networks for good reason, they all get together here and what do you expect.

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dna said:

But surely, in the land where the first amendment guarantees free speech,
there must be a registrar in the United States that will allow the gab and
the Stormer to have their web sites..

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• We and your Primary Service Provider may reject your domain name registration application or elect to discontinue providing Services to you for any reason within thirty (30) days of a Service initiation or a Service renewal. Outside of this period, we and your Primary Service Provider may terminate or suspend the Services at any time for cause, which, without limitation, includes (i) registration of prohibited domain name(s), (ii) abuse of the Services, (iii) payment irregularities, (iv) allegations of illegal conduct or infringement of any third party intellectual property right or other right, (v) failure to keep your Account or WHOIS information accurate and up to date, (vi) failure to respond to inquiries from us for over fifteen (15) calendar days, or (vii) if your use of the Services involves us in a violation or alleged violation of any third party’s rights or acceptable use policies, including but not limited to the transmission of unsolicited email or the violation or alleged violation of any intellectual property right or other right. No fee refund will be made when there is a suspension or termination of Services for cause.
• At any time and for any reason, we may terminate the Services thirty (30) days after we send notice of termination via mail or email, at our option, to the WHOIS contact information provided in association with your domain name registration. Following notice of termination other than for cause, you must transfer your domain name within such thirty (30) day notice period or risk that we may delete your domain name, transfer the registration services associated with your domain name to ourselves or a third party, or suspend or modify Services related to your domain name. If we terminate Services for a reason other than cause, we will provide a pro-rata refund of your fees.
• If we terminate or suspend the Services provided to you under this Agreement, we may then, at our option, make either ourselves or a third party the beneficiary of Services which are substantially similar to those which were previously provided to you. If we have grounds to terminate or suspend Services with respect to one domain name or in relation to other Services provided through your Account, we may terminate or suspend all Services provided through your Account.
• Your registration of a domain name is subject to suspension, cancellation or transfer by any ICANN procedure now in affect or which may come into effect at a later date, by any registrar or registry administrator procedures approved by an ICANN-adopted policy or any policy adopted by any ccTLD registry or governing body, to correct mistakes by us, another registrar or the registry administrator in administering the domain name or for the resolution of disputes concerning the domain name or as a result of any government decree, rule, law or regulation.

• 
  I placed “for any reason” in bold, this is important to understand, that it does not matter the name or the reason given, it’s there to protect against mistakes. The fourth point of the Enom agreement even includes the language “to correct mistakes by us.”

equity78 said:

The first amendment does not guarantee free speech,. If you invite someone to your house for dinner and they say, your parent/spouse's cooking sucks? Can they stay in your house after you tell them to leave? They were just using freedom of speech. No. Freedom of speech is a principle that supports the of an individual or a community to articulate their opinions and ideas without fear of retaliation, , or sanction by government. There are plenty of private citizens, organizations and entities that might retaliate in a big way.

In the workplace:
No Constitutional Free Speech At Work

Employees don’t have a Constitutional right to free speech or freedom of expression at work. The Constitution’s right to free speech only applies when the government is trying to restrict it. Even then, it’s not absolute. There is no free speech in your house; ask your mom. And there is no legal right to free speech or expression at work. (If you work for the government, there is a special set of rules that apply.)

So employers are generally free to restrict employee speech, at least while they are at work.


Leisure/Entertainment

A Casino can ask you to leave and refuse service at any time, for whatever reason they like, just so long as it's not discrimination against a protected class.




Businesses:.
Now some really take things to the point of potential illegality, but that depends on the jurisdiction, there are states and counties where there is no law against discriminating based on political affiliation.

Here is an example although the New Mexico station that covered the story no longer shows the story and the link to the website's blog no longer links to the post.


… 1st In SEO will no longer do business with any person that is a registered Republican or supports Donald Trump. 1st In SEO will also not do business with business interests that support either the Republican Party or Donald Trump. 1st In SEO obviously has no actual means of determining our clients’ or prospective clients’ political standing. We will rely on the integrity of the men and women who are our clients currently to find another Search Engine Optimization provider if they are Republicans, voted for Donald Trump or support Donald Trump. If you are a Republican, voted for Donald Trump or support Donald Trump, in any manner, you are not welcome at 1st In SEO and we ask you to leave our firm.

1st In SEO will do everything in our power to ensure that we break ties with any person or business that supports Fascism. We will communicate our political stance clearly to all prospective new clients. We will also aggressively advertise the fact that 1st In SEO will not do business with Republicans or anyone who supports our country’s president elect.

We ask you, our current clients, to please respond to this letter and confirm where you stand politically. If you are a Republican or support Trump, we will no longer serve you. You will need to find a new SEO provider. 1st In SEO will, of course, provide your website with the same high quality service you have enjoyed until you are able to find a new provider….

Is a private business’s refusing to serve people based on their political affiliation legal? How about firing employees for their politics (something that might be implied by “you are not welcome at 1st In SEO and we ask you to leave our firm” and “break ties with any person”)? It turns out that this depends on the jurisdiction, and on whether the business is discriminating against clients or employees. The First Amendment doesn’t apply to such private businesses (incidentally, whether or not the take government funds, see 1982)), and federal law generally doesn’t ban political affiliation discrimination, so it ends up being a matter of state and local law. In New Mexico, for instance, discriminating against clients on this basis is legal — but firing employees, or threatening to fire them, based on their politics is a felony.

Click the link here you see th the links in the story no longer work,GoDaddy says:

You acknowledge and agree that GoDaddy and registry reserve the right to deny, cancel or transfer any registration or transaction, or place any domain name(s) on lock, hold or similar status, as either deems necessary, in the unlimited and sole discretion of either GoDaddy or the registry: (i) to comply with specifications adopted by any industry group generally recognized as authoritative with respect to the Internet (e.g., RFCs), (ii) to protect the integrity and stability of, and correct mistakes made by, any domain name registry or registrar, (iii) for the non-payment of fees to registry, (iv) to protect the integrity and stability of the registry, (v) to comply with any applicable court orders, laws, government rules or requirements, requests of law enforcement, or any dispute resolution process, (vi) to comply with any applicable ICANN rules or regulations, including without limitation, the registry agreement, (vii) to avoid any liability, civil or criminal, on the part of registry operator, as well as its affiliates, subsidiaries, officers, directors, and employees, (viii) per the terms of this Agreement, (ix) following an occurrence of any of the prohibited activities described in Section 8 below, or (x) during the resolution of a dispute.
the first 30 days of registration or renewal they don't any reason, "Don't like your face"

So let’s look at Enom’s TOS,

We and your Primary Service Provider may reject your domain name registration application or elect to discontinue providing Services to you for any reason within thirty (30) days of a Service initiation or a Service renewal. Outside of this period, we and your Primary Service Provider may terminate or suspend the Services at any time for cause, which, without limitation, includes (i) registration of prohibited domain name(s), (ii) abuse of the Services, (iii) payment irregularities, (iv) allegations of illegal conduct or infringement of any third party intellectual property right or other right, (v) failure to keep your Account or WHOIS information accurate and up to date, (vi) failure to respond to inquiries from us for over fifteen (15) calendar days, or (vii) if your use of the Services involves us in a violation or alleged violation of any third party’s rights or acceptable use policies, including but not limited to the transmission of unsolicited email or the violation or alleged violation of any intellectual property right or other right. No fee refund will be made when there is a suspension or termination of Services for cause.
At any time and for any reason, we may terminate the Services thirty (30) days after we send notice of termination via mail or email, at our option, to the WHOIS contact information provided in association with your domain name registration. Following notice of termination other than for cause, you must transfer your domain name within such thirty (30) day notice period or risk that we may delete your domain name, transfer the registration services associated with your domain name to ourselves or a third party, or suspend or modify Services related to your domain name. If we terminate Services for a reason other than cause, we will provide a pro-rata refund of your fees.
If we terminate or suspend the Services provided to you under this Agreement, we may then, at our option, make either ourselves or a third party the beneficiary of Services which are substantially similar to those which were previously provided to you. If we have grounds to terminate or suspend Services with respect to one domain name or in relation to other Services provided through your Account, we may terminate or suspend all Services provided through your Account.
Your registration of a domain name is subject to suspension, cancellation or transfer by any ICANN procedure now in affect or which may come into effect at a later date, by any registrar or registry administrator procedures approved by an ICANN-adopted policy or any policy adopted by any ccTLD registry or governing body, to correct mistakes by us, another registrar or the registry administrator in administering the domain name or for the resolution of disputes concerning the domain name or as a result of any government decree, rule, law or regulation.


I placed “for any reason” in bold, this is important to understand, that it does not matter the name or the reason given, it’s there to protect against mistakes. The fourth point of the Enom agreement even includes the language “to correct mistakes by us.”

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domainguy50 said:

you misinterpreted what he wAs trying to say. In my opinion he meant "it would be sad if in the land of free speech (1st amendment), an american company didn't stand for the right and host the site or serve the domain name.".I agree with that position. He wasn't referring to the actual first amendment or some catch-all clause in godaddys terms. We know that All domain providers have catch-all clauses and they can deny service to anyone but at least ONE or a few should still stand for free speech otherwise that is a sad state of affairs for American tech.

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domainguy50 said:

Sidenote- gab says they will be up by weekend they have a new host and DNS I believe

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equity78 said:

What a lot of people really mean when they say I have freedom of speech, is hey, I have a mouth and I am going to use it, no one will tell me what I can and cannot say. The truth of the matter is there are plenty of laws that govern what you can and cannot say.

You can't yell Fire in a crowded theater

I got a bomb at an airport

I am going to eliminate the President

You cannot slander someone or write a libelous statement.

So no you don't have the right to say whatever you want without consequence, of course if you have the ability to speak you can get the words out, it's what comes next is the most important aspect.

Most of the conversation is never constructive, people aren't going to change other people's minds on a lot of hotly debated topics.

Today social media and the Internet has allowed people to easily seek out others who share the same opinion no matter how logical and sane or how violent and potentially dangerous.

It's this outlet that has caused the greater divisiveness. In 1985 for example there was no commercial Internet or social media, if you had an opinion that your family and friends and community did not share, perhaps it was seen as dangerous or just alternative, you really would have to go searching for someone who had the same values, you might have to uproot your life. That required cost, risk, and a lot of other things. Today you just Google and find a group that does believe in the most outrageous topic or opinion you hold, We pick out those bits of data that make us feel good because they confirm our prejudices. Now you can interact, be apart of an echo chamber. By searching out these people you now have a community to call your own. You would have never found so many people in a non Internet/ Social Media world.

It's funny I hear some people now look at two worlds, they live in the real world and check out what's going on in the Twitter world, which they believe to be a separate universe which is not the real world. Look at all the drama in domaining some people say some screwed up stuff, but you never hear about a brawl at T.R.A.F.F.I.C. or Merge or Namescon. The social media world of blogs and forums and Twitter is a separate world for those people when they are out in the real world.

You have to know when you are standing up for something important and can affect positive change and when you are in a circle jerk of nonsense where people only feel important by a like or a tweet but have accomplished nothing.

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equity78 said:

I don't believe I misinterpreted anything, a company is free to do business with anyone they like. That's why people get to vote with their wallet, don't like it leave GoDaddy. I don't think and @Joe Styler could comment better, that GoDaddy is going to care.

American tech is going to do what they want to do, just like every customer is free to do what they want to do. It's that simple. If GoDaddy made the wrong choice they will lose thousands of customers and see profits drop and potentially go out of business. I think they are betting that ain't going to happen.

Today's Internet outrage is quickly forgotten and washed over. You could write a long book detailing Internet outrage incidents over the last 15 years.

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domainguy50 said:

If companies can work with who they want, how long until the electricity company cuts off gab cuz they don’t like its speech?

“They won’t cuz it’s regulated critical infrastructure”

Then I think it’s time to update the law. Social networking is critical communication in modern society. Therefore we not only need protection for social networks, we need internet infrastructure companies to not cut an entire platform of 800,000 people off with “24 hour or else” demands all because 1 user said a cuss word. It’s absurd. It’s as if AT&T cut off connection to an entire city because 1 guy used profanity


How do we know some people didn't use gab as their only means of communication? I'm not joking or exaggerating. In some countries, facebook is banned like the "great firewall of China " ... Some people around the world can't afford cell phone plans.. Gab is popular with people in oppressive states or people in poverty as well, and thanks to godaddy, they can no longer connect with family and friends. 800,000 users around the world but its no big deal because you never heard of it?

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domainguy50 said:

If companies can work with who they want, how long until the electricity company cuts off gab cuz they don’t like its speech?

“They won’t cuz it’s regulated critical infrastructure”

Then I think it’s time to update the law. Social networking is critical communication in modern society. Therefore we not only need protection for social networks, we need internet infrastructure companies to not cut an entire platform of 800,000 people off with “24 hour or else” demands all because 1 user said a cuss word. It’s absurd. It’s as if AT&T cut off connection to an entire city because 1 guy used profanity


How do we know some people didn't use gab as their only means of communication? I'm not joking or exaggerating. In some countries, facebook is banned like the "great firewall of China " ... Some people around the world can't afford cell phone plans.. Gab is popular with people in oppressive states or people in poverty as well, and thanks to godaddy, they can no longer connect with family and friends. 800,000 users around the world but its no big deal because you never heard of it?

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JB Lions said:

This post is a bit absurd. It wasn't 1 user saying a cuss word. Gab isn't the only place on the internet people can interact.

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domainguy50 said:

There's other websites so it's 100% ok and justified that an entire community of nearly a million people are wrongfully silenced?

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equity78 said:

I do believe it will be trickier to say a private company has to provide service to someone they don't want to do business with.

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domainguy50 said:

Update: Pennsylvania attorney general is vowing to look into gab and possibly see if criminal charges can be filed. This is quickly becoming a 1984-style un-personing of an entire movement. Why doesn't the PA AG hold twitter to the same standard, where ISIS and pedophiles organizes. The magabomber and the Boston bomber both used twitter frequently. It is going after the smallest target. Grandstanding on a soapbox for political points and vowing to wrongfully charge a protected platform.


You actually can legally yell fire in a crowded theater. Proof: (Google "theatlantic fire theater" click first link)

Your other examples aren't protected speech and aren't allowed on gab. They are legitimate threats of violence. Violence is prohibited on gab

You tried desperately to look for examples of speech that isn't allowed and you couldn't find it... I wonder why ?
You're not understanding the core Crux of the issue- entire internet infrastructure cohorts are banning gab ln the same day using their "we can cancel at anytime for any reason" excuse even though 1 user simply said some protected speech. like rob said, its a lynching

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equity78 said:

I didn't try desperately to do anything I wrote that post in about 60 seconds.

The core crux is exactly that any company can choose to do business with who they like, until laws are enacted that say they can't.

There are lots of companies that do stuff I don't like, so I don't do business with them. You don't like what GoDaddy is doing, I understand that, and you have every right to not like GoDaddy doing that, my point is they have every right to do what they wish as well.

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domainguy50 said:

just curious- Whats your position of the supreme court case where the christian baker refused to bake the cake of a homosexual couple?

Im actually Curious of the position of everyone in this thread on that court case

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domainguy50 said:

I think there's a valid case for a violation of the Sherman antitrust act when 2 companies who control 99% of mobile app distribution (apple and Google) ban gab from entering their app store for "hate speech" even though hate speech runs rampant on twitter but its allowed. Gab even offered a version of the app that blocked the hate speech but they still blocked the app.

Especially since both apple and Google have business deals with gabs competitor twitter, they have a vested interest in blocking competition

I feel like you don't understand the magnitude of big tech and how it illegally stomps competition from entering the play field

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