November 14, 2005 — (WEB HOST INDUSTRY REVIEW) — San Francisco authorities are scouring computer records and questioning Arizona based Web provider Go Daddy (godaddy.com) in its investigation into a hacking of a local high school Web site. The perpetrator posted a vulgar photo montage using the face and name of a student and included racist and gang-related captions.
District Attorney Kamala Harris referred to the incident as “extremely offensive and troubling,” adding that it could qualify as a hate crime. However, she declined to say whether any subpoenas had been issued.
San Francisco school district legal counsel David Campos called in law enforcement last Wednesday after unsuccessfully lobbying Internet company Go Daddy to shut down the hijacked Washington High School Web site. Go Daddy spokesman Nick Fuller initially denied any responsibility for the Web site, saying Go Daddy merely registered an Internet address to the school for about $9 a year.
Fuller said that the site’s host, Yahoo! (yahoo.com), was the only one that could shut it down. Yahoo! spokeswoman Kelly Delaney said that Go Daddy, in fact, had the power to take the site down. Yahoo! finally shut the site down Wednesday afternoon, several hours after school administrators discovered the problem and attempted to close off access.
