Last week, Go Daddy, the domain registrar for the domain names behind the JotForm web site, redirected all requests for the JotForm website to a special URL whose display states that the website had been suspended due to spam activities or other forms of Internet abuse. The order came to Go Daddy directly from the US Secret Service. By Thursday, however, JotForm had re-established its Internet presence by moving its domain registration to two other domain registrars, Hover and NameCheap.
The attempted passage of both the Protect Intellectual Property Act (known as PIPA) proposed in the US House of Representatives and the Stop Online Piracy Act (known as SOPA) proposed in the US Senate failed when the US Congress returned in late January. The enforcement powers described in both bills mentioned cutting off the domain access for any American web sites that were suspected of involvement with product pirates and counterfeiters. Even though both bills failed to pass, these methods appear to have become a way in which national law enforcement agencies in the US plan to safeguard Internet security.
JotForm's executive management suspects that a user had created a form on their site for phishing purposes in order to steal visitor identities. JotForm has stated that they are well aware of the danger of phishing activities and long ago had instituted monitoring filters to discover the development and use of such forms on their web site. During the last year, JotForm suspended over 65,000 user accounts because of phishing-like activities on the JotForm web site.
The reputation of Go Daddy had already been sullied because of Go Daddy's initial backing, since retracted, of the SOPA and PIPA bills. Most web hosting providers agree that they will obey an court order from a law enforcement agency to deny access to a fraudulent web site, but, short of that, would not deny access for a site only accused of criminal activity. It appears there was no court order for the JotForm shutdown, though the details may become clearer when the US Secret Service and Go Daddy make their public statements in the near future.
Kimberly Dovander
Kimberly is the pro blogger in the WHS family. WordPress, Blogger, Tumblr... It doesn't matter - she knows them all. Send her a question, or a drop a line in the comment section below, and she'll get back to you.
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