This is the English translation of a post by the Persian blogger “1 Fathi”. This is an important development which has caused a lot of discussions and worries in the Persian blogosphere.
Persian blogs on Bluehost will be going down
There are certain events which happen at the backstage of the blogosphere, not where the readers of a blog would directly notice, but yet can have a serious impact on the performance of any blogger. The issues regarding hosting services are among these.
Since last week, Blue Host, the hosting service which is used for this very blog [and Kamangir as well], and the number one recommendation for Wordpress hosting by Wordpress itself, has adopted a policy of suspending its Iranian users. In some cases the bloggers have been given a short notice in order to back up their data and leave. This is despite Bluehost’s good reputation in the blogosphere.
The matter of fact is that many of these bloggers, including Arash Kamangir who blogs at kamangir.net, have no connection to the Iranian administration and have had to take use of a foreign hosting service in order to freely express their opinions.
The important factor is that Bluehost is not committing any illegal action. What is being done is exactly what article 13 in Bluehost Terms of Service mandates. The article does explicitly mention Iran among the sanctioned countries,
Sanctioned Countries presently include, among others, Balkans, Belarus, Burma, Cote d’Ivoire (Ivory Coast), Cuba, Democratic Republic of the Congo, Iran, Iraq, former Liberian Regime of Charles Taylor, North Korea, Sudan, Syria, and Zimbabwe…Each Sanctioned Country, all governmental, commercial, or other entities located therein, and all individuals located in any Sanctioned Country are hereby prohibited from registering or signing up with, subscribing to, or using any service of BlueHost.Com.
Therefore, we respectfully accept Bluehost’s right for implementing its Terms of Service. We want Bluehost to be safe and secure and will not commit any action which would undermine that. However, according to the current practice in every country*, giving service to individuals and organizations which act in conflict with the official policies of the administration is illegal. This will result in the Iranian opposition bloggers having no way to go and to be forced to shut down. The actions of Bluehost, therefore, will put a burden on these bloggers and will add to the pressure currently maintained by the Iranian administration on the opposition bloggers.
The matter of fact is, with Bluehost leading, other hosting services will follow very soon.
We respectfully acknowledge the rights of Bluehost and do thank their administration for their high level of service. We do hope that Bluehost drops its policy and does not disrupt the current level of discussion on Bluehost-powered blogs.
The Persian Bloggers who use Bluehost are dispersed all over the world and produce content for people from Iran, Afghanistan, Tajikistan, and other countries. The action taken by Bluehost, while entirely legal, will harm the Persian blogosphere.
At the end, 1 Fathi hopes he does not have to shut down his blog.
We need help.
* “Some countries” might have been a better choice.
For anyone who needs help we will offer any hosting needs free of charge, to as many people as we can get. A lot of Syrian and Sudanese bloggers are going through the same thing, it’s so unfortunate. But no one should stop blogging or have to suffer through this inconvenience just because of some dumb policies that exclude them from having a right to use any service that they pay for.
GoDaddy has the same policy, and increasingly more hosts in the USA are doing the same. However there are many excellent alternatives in Europe and Australia and we’ll be happy to help anyone who needs it.
Please get in touch with us:
http://mideastyouth.com/contact-us/
In the meantime everyone should start backing up all their files and databases as these kinds of hosts tend to pull the strings without warning.
Comment by Esra'a — February 23, 2009 @ 2:04 pm
This is not a good policy on Bluehost’s part. It is also a misreading of US sanctions, which are against governments, not individual bloggers or human rights groups in these countries. Bluehost also did this recently to a group in Zimbabwe. Ethan Zuckerman is much less generous than you are in his criticism. In addition to Esra’a’s suggestions, Ethan also has some recommendations for alternative providers:
http://www.ethanzuckerman.com/blog/2009/02/13/bluehost-censors-zimbabwean-bloggers/
Comment by Bruce — February 23, 2009 @ 5:07 pm
Not to mention the fact that their information is extremely outdated. Liberia and Iraq should not be on that list. Taylor no longer has a regime in power and Liberia is now a strong US ally, so how is it even relevant to state this in their policy?
Apparently if you contact them, they will claim that they have no power over this and that they are simply “following the rules” of their government. A U.S citizen (and preferably someone in power) should get in touch with them and the other hosts and services and let them know what’s up. Because as foreigners many of us have no power over the decision making of such things.
By the way, GoDaddy has the same policy, and we were always rejected from using their services. DreamHost has something similar in their TOS most likely, but we host a bunch of sites in Syria and Sudan with them and none of their staff have ever said anything for the 3 years we’ve been there.
Comment by Esra'a — February 24, 2009 @ 12:53 am
I am the webmistress of 5 Zimbabwean sites that suffered the same fate. It would be interesting to know what has prompted BlueHost to take this extreme action – especially in cases where it is clear they are not in danger of falling foul of the US govt’s targeted sanctions against some of our countries. We know too that websites in Belarus have also been suspended.
4 of our websites were eventually reinstated. Before the suspension was lifted we had already moved domain names and found a new host for 2 of the websites at http://www.rimuhosting.com, so the reprieve came too late. As an organisation, Kubatana is not interested in maintaining any further relationship with a company that has so little regard for the social and political concerns of activists in Zimbabwe.
If you are able to manage the inconvenience and costs involving in shifting your websites, I recommend voting with your feet and leaving BlueHost and its rotten customer service & business practice.
Comment by Brenda — February 24, 2009 @ 3:35 am
"Persion"?! correct the title
Kamangir: Wow! How come no one, including me, had not noticed? Thanks!
Comment by dr faust — February 24, 2009 @ 10:05 pm
BlueHost’s CEO also runs 3 other hosting companies that have and practice the same policy:
Hostmonster.com
Fastdomain.com
Comment by Esra'a — February 25, 2009 @ 1:09 pm
Off topic, but did you hear about this?
http://www.thestar.com/article/594493
“Minister backs refugee status for gay Iranians
OTTAWA – The cause of gay refugees who flee persecution in Iran only to face harassment in Turkey has caught the attention of the federal immigration minister, who says Canada is willing to facilitate their resettlement here.
Jason Kenney wrote the Canadian office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees to urge quick processing of their applications after a story appeared last month in the Toronto Star.”
Comment by Batman — March 1, 2009 @ 2:03 am
hi
salam
arashjan khobi?
man yeki az sampadihaye karajam , shahid soltani
to in majale sampadiya esmeto didam o khastam behet arze adab konam
hamin dige , felan mokhlesetam
eidetam mobarak bashe
hamishe mokhles , mehrshad
Comment by mehrshad dehghan ( ?????? ????? ) — March 19, 2009 @ 2:18 am
As much as I know, you (and 1 Fathi) are not living in Iran and those sanctions (imposed by US government) are against countries and their current residents. So, those sanctions do not apply to any of you and applying them to you just because of your language, audience or nationality is illegal and can well be interpreted as racism.
Kamangir: 1Fathi is a resident of Iran sir.
Comment by Koroosh — March 21, 2009 @ 8:03 pm