A screen capture of a CNN video shows Pastor Terry Jones, whose church website and the website for his book, “Islam is of the Devil”, were taken offline for violating the terms of their hosting agreements.
(WEB HOST INDUSTRY REVIEW) — A small Florida church that has been making headlines the world over for its planned burning of the Koran on the anniversary of the September 11, 2001, attacks, has voided its Web hosting contract with Rackspace (www.rackspace.com), effectively shutting down the church’s website, www.doveworld.org.
According to a report by CNN, the Vatican, US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, Gen. David Petraeus, and a variety of other organizations and individuals are opposed to the Dove World Outreach Center’s Saturday book burning.
After Rackspace investigated the site, CNN said, it was found that the church website, and the website for the book, “Islam is of the Devil”, written by Dove World Pastor Terry Jones, violated the conditions of their hosting agreement with Rackspace.
“This is not a constitutional issue. This is a contract issue,” Rackspace spokesman Dan Goodgame told CNN. He noted that Rackspace had given the church until midnight Wednesday to find another host and move its content.
With about 100,000 customers, Rackspace could not make a statement on how long it had hosted these sites.
Jones, however, is suspicious of Rackspace’s motives. “We feel that it’s definitely an indirect attack on our freedom of speech,” Jones told CNN, noting that Rackspace is “trying to shut us down,” and adding,”[t]his is not going to affect the event going forward.”
While this may be the case, it must be noted that the Internet has had a tremendous impact for campaigns such as Jones’. Without the visibility gained via online communication, it’s hard to imagine this small Florida church’s message extending far beyond its county.
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