The website Blogetery.com was home to more than 70,000 bloggers before its dramatic shutdown just a few days ago. The server shutdown was conducted after law enforcement officials informed BurstNet, the hosts of the server, that terrorist materials and even an al-Qaeda hit list were to be found amidst the many blogs. Not to mention instructions detailing how to build your own bomb. Despite this seemingly good reason for shutting down Blogetery.com, the move has been met with fierce anger from those users that had their blogs removed without warning.
A temporary message found on the Blogetery.com website reads “After being BurstNet customer for 7 months our server was terminated without any notification or explanation.” The message goes on to insist that the site is doing what they can to attempt to resolve the situation.
BurstNet however have not budged an inch from their hard line position, insisting that the information to be found on the blogging platform violated the terms of service of the server, providing them with a valid right to terminate it. As the site already has a history of abuse of a similar nature, there was no sympathy to be found from BurstNet.
On the 9th of July, the FBI in America informed BurstNet of the al-Qaeda materials that were present on the servers of the Blogetery.com website. Messages from Osama bin Laden and other key leaders of al-Qaeda were reportedly discovered amidst the many blogs, as was a list of many Americans that have been targeted for assassination by the terrorist group.
The FBI don’t actually have the power to tell any website to stop operating, nor will the organisation offer any comment as to the exact situation or information that was discovered on Blogetery.com. Instead, the FBI issued a “Voluntary Emergency Disclosure of Information” request, making it BurstNet’s own decision to immediately shutdown the website, along with its many different blogs from individuals around the globe.
Due to the lack of information provided as to the cause of the instant shutdown at the outset many rumours have circulated around the blogging community, including suggestions that child pornography was found, or that the FBI were simply on a mission to silence the blogging public. Many angry users have attempted to contact BurstNet, only to find their calls not returned and their emails unanswered.
A part of the anger stemming from the user community is simply that they were unable to backup their information before the server was closed. Many others insist that the hosting company, BurstNet, should have been fighting for the website instead of simply shutting the door without any explanation. Free speech advocates are also up in arms due to the majority of the 70,000 blogs that were completely innocent also being removed from the World Wide Web.
The confusion surrounding this incident has not subsided, despite some information having found its way to the surface. Whether we shall see a return of Blogetery.com remains to be seen, but we can say for certain that bloggers around the world will be watching their own sites anxiously, wondering if a similar circumstance could place them in the same situation.
