7 replies to this topic

[Shulk]

So I work for a company where I use another wonderful form generator to create the forms I need and embed the source code into my html pages. However, the US government has now suspended the domain name of jotform.com.

Source Story

The other day while I was creating some new pages I noticed that my registration form for customers was not working. I tried to go to jotform.com to see what was going on but I couldn't get through. My first thought was perhaps the url was down, but there was no message or anything. Still being part of internet forums and running websites I know it happens sometimes. 4 hours later, the same thing. I let another 4 hours go by and still nothing. So I got the idea to check facebook.

Why facebook? Well there was no information on google and I figured everyone uses facebook these days. Low and behold they had a fan page and stated their domain name was suspended. Now users of these forms had to go and edit all the source codes for every form created to change the .com to .net instead. >_<

Well that was pretty annoying. Finally today Jotform emailed their customers and told them to do this, but it wasn't until a few hours ago we got the full story.

So what do you guys think of this now? Even though the Protect IP act and SOPA didn't pass, there still is apparently ways the government can control your internet usage. I don't think we've heard the end of this.

[Slasher]

See. This only proves the government already has enough power over the internet. They don't need SOPA. They were only trying to use it to get even more control of the internet, which they obviously don't need.

[Trinity]

I personally find it funny how some other people think that this whole anti-piracy fiasco doesn't relate to them because they don't torrent, and then something like this happens and reality hits. No, the lack of a silly piece of paper isn't going to stop government from doing what they want to. It's not going to stop until an overwhelming majority of the public demands that it stop, and for better reason than a simple inconvenience in their work. They're not just controlling your internet usage, they're watching you. With every site they take down, they gain information on its users, and any site you use can be taken down, exposing anything you've done to the government. And they will throw people into prison for any monetary infractions.
Fun Fact: The United States of America current imprisons about the same amount of its population as the USSR at its peak.

Edited by Trinity, 17 February 2012 - 12:04 AM.

[Shulk]

Well the thing that sucks in this case here is that rather then going after the users that abuse the service being provided, the government takes it away from everyone and hurts tons of business people in the process. This wasn't about pirated things either. Jotform is used to create forms and surveys that gather people's information. Apparently some people used it for illegal activity.

Point is, I was directly effected and for two days no one in the world could register for a course with my company. Then I had to edit around 20 HTML oages to fix this. Other businesses though, have 100's and some 1000's of pages of code to edit. They could have and should have got warrants for the accounts doing the illegal activity. Not try and stop the domain.

Plus stopping the domain obviously didn't stop the service but just made it extremely incontinent for everyone in the world that used the service. >_<

[Joshua]

This wasn't about pirated things either. Jotform is used to create forms and surveys that gather people's information. Apparently some people used it for illegal activity.

This entire situation is absurd. I'm glad to hear the suspension was lifted, but it shouldn't have ever happened in the first place.

If we're going to judge websites based on their ability to be used for illegal activity then you might as well shut down the entire Internet. Google Maps can be used to plan a crime and Facebook allows me to post whatever I want about whoever I want. Should we begin blaming Google every time a criminal used the website to search for the tools they needed? Websites are tools; like a hammer. You can't blame the hammer if someone else throws it at you. Unless the website owners were willingly and knowingly helping the crimes take place then the owners and their websites should be immune to prosecution (including a temporary shutdown). /rant

Plus stopping the domain obviously didn't stop the service but just made it extremely incontinent for everyone in the world that used the service. >_<

Exactly. The Techdirt article had a very interesting (and very true) section at the end. I'm quoting:

For a government that insists it's trying to help small businesses and startups, to go and disrupt one and all of its users over some possible illegal usage by a small number of users is just crazy. It's this kind of overly broad censorship (and, yes, this is clear censorship) that is what people were afraid of under SOPA. As JotForm notes, it's important to recognize that the US government already believes it has these powers. And the damage here for a small business is massive. JotForm has been filling its Twitter feed with customer service attempts at helping upset customers, and making it clear it has no information on why the .com disappeared. It looks like the US government asked, and GoDaddy just took away the domain. If you've never worked for a startup, perhaps you can't imagine just how insanely disruptive and destructive such a situation can be. Everyone is so busy working and building a company -- but something like this means suddenly all of their time has to switch over to help all of those upset customers (and doing so without being able to use the site that everyone will go look at first!).

Activities like this will chill innovation and entrepreneurship in the US. Why locate here or even setup under a .com if the US government might kill your business with no explanation at any moment?

[Shulk]

Wow that was lifted really fast. I didn't even know the suspension was up. The Feds must have got a ton of complaints O.o. I'll have to read the news on that one, but yeah I totally agree with you. Any sight could be used for crimes. This was a very stupid move especially with all the things going on currently regarding the Internet. Now if the bills ever come to face again and they try to pass them through, the lobbiest will have a great example as to why the government should not try to regulate websites content, but to continue going after individuals only.

It seems that they just wanted an easier way of doing things, but when it comes to cyber crimes, nothing will ever be easy.

[Chris-TWA-]

If I am not mistaken, but didn't they already showed they could do this by taking out Mega download?

[Shulk]

Yeah, but mega upload was an obvious site used for putting up pirated materials. I never got a link to anything there that wasn't illegal. Jotform is a business solutions tool.

Anyways, here is the customer email sent out today from Jotform:

Spoiler

JotForm.com is Back Online
We’re happy to share a good news with you. The domain suspension at jotform.com has been lifted. If you have changed your forms to one of the alternative domains, you can keep them as they are. We will keep the new domains permanently.
I wish we could provide more details about what happened, but we are also in the dark. We have not been given any information by Godaddy or the Secret Service, other than our domain being suspended “as part of an ongoing law enforcement investigation”. You can read more details about it on Arstechnica, Wired, Forbes, CNET, Techdirt, and TheNextWeb.
In the next few days, we will work hard to restore your confidence in us. A suspension at the domain level is a very harsh punishment for a web service provider. However, we are not in a position to make excuses. You have trusted us and added JotForm forms into your web pages. It's our top priority to make sure that our service is reliable, and robust.
So, here are some of the permanent solutions we are working on right now.
1. Forms on Separate Domains
Depending on your risk profile, or the country you are in, we will assign a separate domain name to you. (i.e. jotform.us) Any new forms created will only work on that domain name. Our goal is to limit the impact of any possible domain suspensions in the future.
Note that, this will not apply to any existing forms. Your existing forms will work with all domains. This will only apply to the new forms you create.
2. Moved Domains from Godaddy to NameCheap and Hover
Namecheap has been very publicly against SOPA and internet censorship. Hover’s General Manager has personally contacted us and offered his support during our difficult time. I have always been an admirer of the simplicity and beauty of Hover’s user interface. So, we have moved our domains to these registrars.
3. Launched JotFormStatus.com
We have just launched a new independently hosted site to post about our service status updates. You can also contact us from Twitter or Facebook.
4. Use Your Own Domains on Your Forms
It is now possible to use your own domain names on your forms. You can read more details about it here. We have just launched a simple version of this feature, and we are planning to improve it in the next few days.
5. DMCA Safe Harbor
We are considering applying for DMCA Safe Harbor. Although, the requirement of no active monitoring of user activity would not work for us, since we have to actively stop the phishers. Anything less would be irresponsible.
6. Increase Our Efforts to Stop Phishing
Our existing Bayesian phishing filter has been pretty successful at stopping phishing. We are currently discussing what additional steps we can take to stop phishing forms on JotForm. We have scheduled a hackaton next week to try out new ideas.

We’d like to thank everyone who has been patient with us. We believe that without the support provided in the social news sites such as Hacker News, Reddit, and Slashdot, plus the journalists who covered the story, the suspension might have continued.
Sincerely,
JotForm Team
http://www.jotform.net/contact
Twitter: @JotForm