Mixed Signals
Any sufficiently advanced information is indistinguishable from noise
Wednesday 20 February 2008, 12:28 AM
If you fancy running a controversial website...
There was an amusingly caustic site called Quackometer, which specialised in spotting and publicising, well, quackery. Of which there is no shortage, even in these enlightened times.
But Quackometer is no more. Its web hosting company, Netcetera, has thrown it off. Has Andy Lewis, aka Le Canard Noir, proprietor of the Quackometer, committed some terrible sin, some libel, slander or other inappropriate act?
Not as far as I can see. The Duck's crime was to collate newspaper reports concerning one Joseph Chikelue Obi, 'world's top expert in nutritional immunomudulation', and head of the "Royal College of Alternative Medicine in Dublin". There's lots out there about Professor Doctor Obi, although it can be a bit challenging finding out much concerning his establishment, and although he is reported as responding to linky publicity with legal letters I have little compunction about furthering your education.
Unfortunately, Netcetera is rather more cagey and has responded to Distinguished Provost of RCAM (Royal College of Alternative Medicine) Professor Joseph Chikelue Obi FRCAM(Dublin) FRIPH(UK) FACAM(USA) MICR(UK)'s complaints by de-ducking with alacrity, telling the hapless quackbuster that:
"We do not wish to be in a position where we could be taken to court, and incur the loss of time and expense that would involve. Consequently Netcetera have decided to suspend the Quackometer website, with reference to our Acceptable Usage Policy, the first part of which is quoted below. The full policy can be found on our website www.netcetera.im/SiteInfo/AUP/
"Acceptable Usage Policy
This policy is subject to change, without alternate notice, so please check regularly for updates. This policy is in addition, and considered part of Netcetera's Terms and Conditions.
Netcetera will be the sole arbiter as to what constitutes a violation of this provision.
1) Web Hosting
1.1) Netcetera reserves the right to suspend or cancel a customer's access to any or all services provided by Netcetera, where Netcetera decides that the account has been inappropriately used. Netcetera reserves the right to refuse service and /or access to its servers to anyone."
We will prevent public access to the site as of noon today 18th February 2008. You will be able to access the content to be able to transfer it to another host if you so wish.
We will hold the content available to you for 30 days, and then we will remove it from our servers."
Charming. I do wonder what legal advice Netcetera took before arriving at this conclusion, because as far as I can tell no amount of nutritional immunomodulation will effect the sort of complete lower body transplant necessary to give Professor Doctor Obi any legs to stand on.
Meanwhile, if you fancy doing some waterfowling of your own, do check whether your hosting contract says, as Netcetera's does, that you can be terminated without recourse and without reason. You might like to take your punt gun elsewhere.
[Update: As the Duck has done. He's back, courtesy of Positive Internet. I don't know much about Positive, but I like what I see. His Serene Majesty, The Bountiful, The Right Reverend Professor Herr Doctor Pope Highness Obi-Wan has yet to pronounce on this development.]
PreviousComments on this post
Netcetera are indeed spineless - and they're not alone. It seems that almost any quack, charlatan, snake-oil salesman or Awful Poo Lady can silence critics by waving a writ at their ISPs - and down they come.
It even works with quackbuster sites hosted by august institutions like universities, as Prof David Colquhoun found when his Improbable Science site was shut down by his own institution.
Happily, it appears that Positive Internet (q.v.) is made of sterner stuff than some. When Dr. Ben Goldacre's Bad Science site was in similar peril, he found Positive extremely, er, positive, and they provided much more than an ISP. Check out his glowing tribute at
http://www.badscience.net/?p=446
Good for them!
(Not a customer or in any relation to Positive - just impressed and grateful.)
CD
- goodbye Netecetera ?
- who would host with them now ?
- Ah I guess they worked out there are more quack sites than anti-quack sites and they don't mind taking the dishonest money.
- Maybe they will do something to redeem themselves.
- They can write all the small print they want, but when they take money from a client to provide a service and the client is going about his business in a normal and legal way they are certainly in breach of the spirit of the law in withdrawing this service without a reasonable notice period. It would be different if there was any proper evidence, but in this case it's hearsay.
- If I took money from you to provide a service say flood insurance , when it starts to rain heavily would it be OK for me to say "from today I decided not to provide this service to you anymore" ?
