Wikipedia sites leave GoDaddy due to SOPA concerns

[Rick]

The Wikimedia Foundation announced it has ditched GoDaddy in favor of a new domain registrar. The foundation claims it had been mulling over the idea for some time as their legal department believed GoDaddy was a poor fit for Wikimedia, but the registrar's initial support of the controversial anti-piracy legislation, SOPA, ultimately set the process in motion.

The foundation's new registrar, MarkMonitor, was a natural choice according to Wikimedia. The company currently provides brand protection services for Wikipedia's umbrella organization. Their blog says the foundation has been impressed with MarkMonitor's exceptional customer support and they appreciate the efficiency of combining the two services.

After months of deliberation and a complicated transfer, the Wikimedia Foundation domain portfolio has been successfully transferred from GoDaddy to MarkMonitor. The portfolio transfer was formally completed on Friday, March 9th, 2012. The transfers were done seamlessly and our sites did not experience any interruption of service or other issues during the procedure.

As the provider of the 5th most visited web properties in the world, the Foundation cares deeply about who handles our domain names. We had been deliberating a move from GoDaddy for some time -- our legal department felt the company was not the best fit for our domain needs -- and we began actively seeking other domain management providers in December 2011. GoDaddy’s initial support of the Stop Online Piracy Act (SOPA), the controversial anti-piracy legislation in the U.S. House of Representatives, reaffirmed our decision to end the relationship.

Source: wikimedia.org

GoDaddy has garnered a great deal of public ire over the years. One of Godaddy's most widely criticized features is the basis for its advertising campaign: sex appeal. The company's ads typically ooze with unwholesome allure, exploiting scantily-clad women and sexual innuendo to sell its services.

At the center of the company's public image troubles is GoDaddy's founder, Bob Parsons. The boisterous CEO has drawn public criticism for being "sexist", "selfish" and continues to be lambasted for his periodic elephant-hunting safaris. In 2011, PETA issued this strongly worded statement suggesting users boycott GoDaddy's services.

From a more technical perspective, GoDaddy has made a number of controversial domain deletions and suspensions on behalf of corporations and government officials, sometimes with seemingly little second thought. Interestingly, the company has often been involved in periodic domain seizures by ICE and court orders, sometimes even when GoDaddy isn't the registrar. The company has also been accused of cybersquatting. 

Permalink to story.

https://www.techspot.com/news/47783-wikipedia-sites-leave-godaddy-due-to-sopa-concerns.html

 

[Mister_K]

Owned, GoDaddy just suffered another hit, one of the majors this time.

 

[Ranger12]

I personally can't stand companies who think they can get my business by flashing women in front of me. It's insulting to my intelligence and I'm not unusually bright. GoDaddy can crash and burn for all I care.

 

[cliffordcooley]

@ Ranger12, You have my vote.

 

[Darkshadoe]

and yet GoDaddy does nothing about Chinese knockoff sites...sigh

 

[Burty117]

We just started using GoDaddy at work for domain registrations, Man are they cheap, I guess they are trying to bring in business and have managed to fool our Director with Naked Lady's.

Shows the intelligence level of our Director in an "I.T." company...

 

[Guest]

Ranger12 +1

 

[TJGeezer]

Ranger12 - +1
Wikipedia - +many

 

[Guest]

Well, i used wikipedia from time to time but I was pretty unbiased about it overall... until now. This would be one of the few times id say this about something on the internet but here it is: ****ing thank you, wikipedia, for having a pair. I mean that in a good way.

 

[jackal2687]

I would never boycott something because PETA wanted me too. Those guys are supporters of domestic terrorism. Otherwise Godaddy had it coming and they will have to adapt or die like everything else.

 

[Tygerstrike]

Yes Im glad to see Wiki pulling back to a different domain name as well. And I would boycott a business who's owner went on safari and killed elephants. Not many of those left and im sure not the easiest of creatures to breed. It shows a strong lack of moral fiber and a general selfishness to go kill an elephant for kicks IMO.
Godaddy is still expecting the average MALE consumer to pay with his dingdong. Like they think we are all slavering slack jaw gravy sweating cousin...lovers. I can appreciate a smoking hot woman as well as the next guy, but I in no way see how said hot chick equates to a website address that doesnt involve titles depicting porn. Maybe we as Americans are maturing a bit. Sure sex sells, but too much sex just makes whatever youre selling seem tawdry and cheap.