Is your host old enough to vote?
by Sapphire (July 6, 2006)
I posted a few days ago that one of my webhosts, Infexion.net, had gone down without explanation or communication. This wasn’t the first time, so I found other hosting and canceled the account.
Recently, I received some very interesting information about the guy who runs Infexion.net, Seth Baumgartner. Seth is a 16 year old kid living in Tennessee with his mommy. He also resells server space under the names SV1hosting.com, SV1Europe.com, and SV1.us, so do avoid for all of those. In the case of Infexion, he put his name and contact info right there in the Whois info, so add him to your list of Webhosts To Avoid when you check out WhoIs before buying a hosting plan.
I just don’t know what to say here. I’m starting to think half of what’s wrong with the internet is that kids who aren’t legally old enough to enter into contracts are able to run sites without business licenses. Who would you sue, in the case of a serious loss? The parents? While parents are worrying about their kids running into porn and predators, I’m starting to wonder how many 14-year-olds are running porn sites. It’s all just too damn easy. And while that’s great for people who want to make a little extra honest income, and eventually a big juicy honest income.
Don’t get me wrong. Kids are great. Kids write a lot of the brilliant open-source software we all enjoy and benefit from. I just don’t want to get into business with someone who can’t legally be held accountable for taking my money and running. And yet, online, how do you find out who you’re doing business with? Sometimes it’s just not possible.
Posted in Hosting
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August 24th, 2006 at 6:11 am
slander
Law. Oral communication of false statements injurious to a person’s reputation.
A false and malicious statement or report about someone.
Who is the child here?
August 24th, 2006 at 6:12 am
Actually, libel is the term you’re looking for - this isn’t oral communication. This is written communication.
Your first hurdle would be to prove that I knowingly transmitted false information, which I did not. In fact, if you’d like me to retract and report that it’s a grown man who can’t keep his hosting services from going down for days and sometimes weeks on a none-too-infrequent basis, I’ll be happy to do that. And secondly, libel cases are only winnable in civil court IF you can prove the libel has cost you money. You’ll have a tough time doing that, since you’ve taken money for services you failed to provide as agreed - be a bit hard to sort out your unfair profits from any alleged costs to potential business.
You see, accepting money and then failing to provide a service… that’s a more serious offense than libel anyday.
August 24th, 2006 at 6:14 am
I had a reseller account with Seth from a long time ago I had some customers on it who realized how that worked, they wanted on the reseller because it was cheaper than the dedicated server, anyway long story and all ended in a big catastrophy and currently debating legal action where he has commited more than just the crime of not providing service.
1. False advertising for more than one thing
2. breech of contract (more than once)
3. to come, still reviewing some issues to see if they will stand in court/