Earlier today, we debunked rumors that Blogetery.com was shut down due to an anti-piracy effort headed by ICE and reported that it was an FBI investigation probing terrorist related activities. This evening, Blogetery.com web host Burst.net confirmed these reports.
Blogetery.com was a site that hosted over 73,000 blogs. That was true all the way up to this week after an FBI investigation ultimately led to the shut down of the site. After confirming accusations, Burst.net pulled the plug on the blogging site.
When the site was initially shut down, panicked ensued. Theories were flying about an internet crackdown on free speech all the way up to rumours that this shut down was related to an anti-piracy crackdown headed up by ICE on behalf of the RIAA. Earlier today, comments by ICE, the RIAA and the FBI pointed to something else – terrorism activity found on the blogging service. Among allegations were Al-Qaeda creating a hit list as well as posts on instructions on how to make bombs.
These comments were confirmed this evening by a statement issued by Burst.net.
“BurstNET Technologies, Inc™ (http://www.burst.net),” the statement begins, “the largest web hosting and co-location provider in the Northeast Pennsylvania (USA) region, has been the subject of recent news headlines regarding the termination of service to popular website Blogetry.com.”
(note: the website in question is actually “blogetery.com”, not “blogetry.com”)
The statement continues, “BurstNET® is releasing the following information, in order to set the record straight regarding the matter:”
“On the evening of July 9, 2010, BurstNET® received a notice of a critical nature from law enforcement officials, and was asked to provide information regarding ownership of the server hosting Blogetry.com. It was revealed that a link to terrorist material, including bomb-making instructions and an al-Qaeda “hit list”, had been posted to the site. Upon review, BurstNET® determined that the posted material, in addition to potentially inciting dangerous activities, specifically violated the BurstNET® Acceptable Use Policy. This policy strictly prohibits the posting of “terrorist propaganda, racist material, or bomb/weapon instructions”. Due to this violation and the fact that the site had a history of previous abuse, BurstNET® elected to immediately disable the system.”
What’s more revealing is that Burst.net is a hosting service located on US soil. No wonder US authorities worked so quickly. It’s hard to say whether even a statement directly from Burst.net will quell rumours that this was a censorship sweep or an anti-piracy crackdown given how much easier it is to push a headline like, “Government Cracks Down on Blogs in Censorship Sweep/Anti-Piracy Crackdown” out online. The only thing we can really do is publish the facts and hope for the best.
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BurstNET – very bad and slow hosting. Their attempt for them to see not come out. Now you just do not respect