As previously reported, Righthaven.com was sold in an online auction, and now, there is a big pro-content message on it, as a Switzerland-based hosting provider gears up to launch services at the site.
For more background on why this amusing, peruse our past Righthaven coverage.
First, just read the message:
Most Revered Content Creator,
You are the most important part of the digital economy. Period.
You drive the discussion. You draw from the well of ideas, and refill it. You apply your particular character and unique vision to those ideas. You synthesize. But most importantly, you publish. That actually deserves its own line.
You publish.
But somewhere, sometime not too long ago, a large part of the global economy simply forgot about you and the importance of the simple act of clicking the “submit” button.
In retrospect this seems strange. By and large the big, flashy heroes of the digital age (and we love them, we really do) claimed their laurels for producing tools like operating systems, software, communications networks, and hardware for you. To make it easier for you to hit “submit.” To extend the range your content could travel after that mouse click.
And yet, to much of the economy today and certainly to most politicians, you have become little more than a means to an end.
That is a sad state of affairs.
It is also why, as international SOPA/PIPA blackout day fades from view (but not from importance), we are immensely proud to announce the planned opening of Righthaven.com.
Righthaven.com will provide shared and dedicated server hosting services to clients who expect just a little more backbone from their provider. Well, actually a lot more backbone.
We call it “spineful hosting” and not only do we think it is a “great idea”™ but as nearly fanatical advocates for the freedom of expression we are pretty sure it is also “the right thing to do.”™ Then again, we are prone to agree with ourselves quite often.
It is probably impossible in this medium (how’s that for irony?) to express how excited we are to be partnering with exceptional legal counsel in the United States. The United States is, let’s face it, the leading source and exporter of frivolous intellectual property litigation in the world. Therefore, we are beyond pleased to have retained the services of internationally known First Amendment and IP lawyer Marc J. Randazza, of The Randazza Legal Group and Kenneth White, a Partner at Brown White & Newhouse LLP, whose practice includes First Amendment and federal criminal defense. Some of you might even recognize their names.
Recent events and the pavlovian salivating of certain legislators upon hearing the fundraising dinner bell ringing from the Beverly Hills Hotel have certainly reminded us that the internet naming system is a serious choke point for any online enterprise. In selecting our partners we wanted to make sure we teamed up with a domain registrar and DNS host who had a history of treating third party requests skeptically, but respectfully. We wanted a partner who wouldn’t dissolve into incontinent fits and roll over on getting a call from United States Senator Joseph Lieberman’s office intern, for instance. We found that partner in Toronto based easyDNS. easyDNS has been providing clueful and spineful DNS and registry services since 1998. Their four-continent anycast DNS cluster fits the bill. Plus, easyDNS’ founder, Mark Jeftovic, is the essence of a spineful owner.
We will make announcements with some additional details in the coming weeks (watch this space!) but for now you may be interested in our list of Answers to Frequently Asked Questions.
You might also find our SOPA/PIPA blackout page and our essay on its meaning entertaining. Also, reading it is a great way to discover HavenBlog, our collective op-ed scratchpad.
Finally, we want to point out that Righthaven.com and our medusozoa-free hosting service is a means to an end. You are that end.
We are curious to know what you think, what you want, and how we can give it to you. Let us know if you have a fantastic idea by emailing [email protected][PIPA]haven.com (Kill [PIPA] to bypass our spam censorship). It is going to be a busy several weeks, so we hope you will understand if we don’t reply to everyone.
Until next time, keep publishing.
Righthaven.com
The aforementioned FAQ has a little nugget about Righthaven itself:
Righthaven, LLC is a United States based firm in the state of Nevada that amassed some notoriety for aggressively suing bloggers and internet forum commenters at the drop of a hat. In fact, they might fairly be counted among the “prolific litigants” we mentioned in our answer to the previous question.
Initially, we were merely casually interested observers in the legal wrangling that followed and eventually resulted in the auctioning off of the righthaven domain. Once we noticed that, however, we couldn’t resist acquiring it.
It will be interesting to see how the service unfolds on the site. And Righthaven’s response to it for that matter.
