dslreports logo
 story category
GoDaddy Pulls Plug On Cop-Rating Website
Without warning amid police controversy

GoDaddy this week pulled the plug on a new website that was getting significant media attention for its mission: allowing customers to rate the quality of the police officers in their neighborhood. RateMyCop.com founder Gino Sesto says he was given no warning about the takedown, and when contacted, GoDaddy stated his account was terminated for "suspicious activity." Another rep told him he exceeded his 3 terabyte bandwidth limit, something Sesto denies given he had "80,00 page views today, and 400,000 yesterday".

Click for full size
GoDaddy isn't commenting officially citing their privacy policy. The hosting provider does have a bit of a history with taking things into their own hands. As with most terms of service, GoDaddy's is so intentionally vague it gives them the legal ability to do pretty much whatever they see fit:
quote:
Universal Terms of Service for Go Daddy Software and Services...Section 5...NO UNLAWFUL CONDUCT OR IMPROPER USE..."...Go Daddy may also cancel Your use of the Services, after thirty (30) days, if You are using the Services, as determined by Go Daddy in its sole discretion, in association with spam or morally objectionable activities. Morally objectionable activities will include, but not be limited to: activities designed to defame, embarrass, harm, abuse, threaten, slander or harass third parties..."
Sesto now hosts the website elsewhere.

Most recommended from 127 comments



Noah Vail
Oh God please no.
Premium Member
join:2004-12-10
SouthAmerica

3 recommendations

Noah Vail

Premium Member

RMC type sites becoming necessary.

As we go on, I'm finding the quality of police officers is declining, even though police departments are performing accountability better than ever.

I'm a big supporter of local police. I'd be stupid not to be, as I absolutely need them. I have actively taught my 5boys, youth groups, Boy Scouts, etc. respect for police and how to handle themselves if they are ever in a situation involving police.

It's getting harder and harder to do that, as department experience levels drop and they lose the ability to serve citizens effectively.

I believe nearly every police officer would put themselves between a bullet and my family. But on the smaller stuff that makes up 95% of what they do, my respect drops because they are intellectually (and otherwise) lazy.

An Example is:
Setting up radar traps, not where accidents happen (as is the stated purpose) but where they can capture the most speeders or on isolated stretches of road where the speed limit drops or is inexplicably low.

Another Example:
In handling citizen disputes or traffic accidents, they'll side with whichever party is the loudest or most manipulative because the officer doesn't check the facts before he cites or reams out the actual victim.

It's not that this stuff happens from time to time, it's that this stuff happens more often than not.

Now to be fair, the quality of citizens has also dropped dramatically. And that, BTW, is the pool where ultimately all police officers come from.

Fewer numbers of adults show necessary respect to police and even fewer parents teach it to their kids. The press is not only hostile to police, but teaching their readership to be hostile as well.

Police cheifs are more likely to invest money in adding officers, instead of investing in the corps of officers they already have. Experienced officers are not valued. Too much money goes to gimmicky equipment.

I don't need a motorcycle corps, a mobile lab or a talking police car. I need an officer with 20 years experience. Pay him what he's worth and get him on my street.

Since I don't have police with experience or have police with enough respect to do the tough things; I'd like to pick the best from the slim pickings my county offers me. I'd like a site like RMC so I'm not stuck, for 15 years, dealing with the fallout from an officer's poor decision.

The point of all this? GoDaddy sucks.

NV