No new users?

[Leonenine]

Hello,

Reading through the forum, I see several posts on issues regarding new users, mostly from small or shady countries. I have the same problem, trying to open a new domain from The Netherlands. Is this country also considered too small or shady?

The message reads: (We are not currently accepting new users from your country (NL).)
I also read a post by someone from the US, who states an IP issue. Hopefully that's the case here al well (?).

Hope to hear from you, all the best,

Leon

 

[bdistler]

see --> [ http://community.x10hosting.com/threads/country-restrictions.166022/ ]

 

[essellar]

In case you're wondering why, it has mostly to do with the differences between copyright laws in the US and (non-British) Europe. There are a lot of "personal use" exemptions in European law that can't be used on a service based in the US (and, like "fair use" in the US and "fair dealing" in the old British colonies, most people think they're entitled to a lot more than they really are anyway — once you put it publicly online, it's not "personal" anymore). That leads to a lot of violations of US copyright and trademark law, even if the users don't intend to break any laws. (I would have said "don't intend to violate the Terms of Service", but hardly anybody reads them until after their accounts are suspended.) And it's only US law that matters. (And Mexican law, too, wherever it forbids things that US law allows, since that's part of offering x10.mx subdomains.) So nobody is saying that the Netherlands is shady, just that too great a percentage of accounts created from there have had to be shut down for violations of US law, intentional or not.

 

[Leonenine]

In case you're wondering why, it has mostly to do with the differences between copyright laws in the US and (non-British) Europe. There are a lot of "personal use" exemptions in European law that can't be used on a service based in the US (and, like "fair use" in the US and "fair dealing" in the old British colonies, most people think they're entitled to a lot more than they really are anyway — once you put it publicly online, it's not "personal" anymore). That leads to a lot of violations of US copyright and trademark law, even if the users don't intend to break any laws. (I would have said "don't intend to violate the Terms of Service", but hardly anybody reads them until after their accounts are suspended.) And it's only US law that matters. (And Mexican law, too, wherever it forbids things that US law allows, since that's part of offering x10.mx subdomains.) So nobody is saying that the Netherlands is shady, just that too great a percentage of accounts created from there have had to be shut down for violations of US law, intentional or
not.

Thanks! That helps. Or at least towards understanding.
Indeed, legal complexity and difference is a major issue. Internet doesn't sit in one place anymore, since even server parks are x-border. Who knows wheter my cloud data with Google is stored in the US or in NL or IRL? Is data passing through a country subject to its laws? In that case NL is major, as Amsterdam is getting to be the largest global internet hub. Harmonising in EU is underway, but it will be a long time until global solutions are in place.

Of course, I am not willing to wait eternally.
Is there any chance of NL being lifted from the blacklist any time soon?

 

[essellar]

I'm afraid that no-one here (besides, perhaps, Corey, the CEO) is in any position to say. All that the volunteer staff here can do is encourage you to check back from time to time, and apologize for the inconvenience (and point out that there are no such restrictions on the paid services, since the hosting fee offsets the administrative costs of policing the service — though we know that if your budget tops off at zero, that's not much consolation). There are occasional windows open, and if you can get an account during one of those periods and keep it active and in good standing, you are normally able to keep the account even if your country gets cut off again due to the same kinds of problems (unless, you know, there's a war with the Netherlands or an economic blockade or something like that, which isn't likely). Again, I'm sorry that x10Hosting can't offer you Free Hosting at this time.

 

[bdistler]

here is something to think about...
my ISPs are within the U.S.A. - but when I use "CloudFlare" - the code (some of) of my site is stored on (in) CloudFlare's data-centers throughout the world...
which 'law' (jurisdiction) is my site under ? - for which data center ?

 

[essellar]

Cloudflare would not be considered a "host" for the purposes of any law or litigation since their storage is volatile; they're essentially a pass-thru, and would be treated pretty much the same as "the series of tubes".

 

[leafypiggy]

In cases like that, Essellar is right, Cloudflare would be considered a CDN--not a host. Just like akamai isn't responsible for any content they cache.