web hosting advice

carlclancy

if someone wanted to host copyrighted material online, what are the best options? i've heard of someone doing this on a server that they own themselves, which resides on rented rackspace somewhere in sandyford. this person would have a huge amount of experience with interntet security and the like, and justifiably doesn't seem to have any concerns about getting caught by the authorities.

so i suppose what i'm asking is if anyone can definitively tell me if irish hosting services pay any attention to what's on their servers, and if they ever take action against people hosting stuff they shouldn't be?

does anyone know if owning a server and renting the rackspace would be a considerably safer method?

of course my question is only an academic one, and i have no intention of breaking any laws myself...

Seth Brundle

The copyright will be yours (assuming you have legally enforceable copyright on it) but making it public will not guarrantee that others will rip it off! If you don't want others to copy your work then don't let them see it!

Tails142

I would say that a hosting company would be more than happy to take your money, as if you're hosting popular files that will be downloaded many times you'll be munching through bandwidth which will make it costly for you and profitable for them.

However one sniff of trouble from the company that owns the copyright to the material you're distributing illegaly and I'm sure they will suspend your account, keeping your annual fee, another bonus for them.

carlclancy

i'm talking about copyright material that i don't own the copyright to!

i appreciate the replies, but what i'm kinda hoping for here is that someone who works/worked for a hosting company can definitively (and, i assume, anonymously!) tell me to what level your average hosting company would look into someone hosting a lot of mp3s and .avi files on a server that got a fair bit of traffic.

Seth Brundle

The likes of IRMA will love you - the amount of legal work you ill save them by supplying your contact details to your host, etc. making it a lot easier for them to sue you!

aidan_walsh

Contact the hosting companies in question. Also, read the charter.

5) Discussion of illegal activity will result in a ban.

There won’t be any more warnings. Just banning and post deletions. Discussion of illegal activity (warez, cracks, where to download copyright material, posting links to sites that provide links to download warez, ripping copyright DVDs, bypassing firewalls, etc) puts this whole community in danger of being shut down, so it won’t be tolerated.