Behind Your Business

April 13, 2012 -- A US judge told the lawyers for Megaupload, the US Department of Justice, web hosting provider Carpathia Hosting, and other parties involved in a dispute over the maintainence of the 1,100 servers previously used by Megaupload, that they should discuss the situation and arrive at a resolution.

March 26, 2012 -- Web hosting company Carpathia Hosting, which continues to host Megaupload's frozen content even after the file-sharing website was shut down, is asking for the US government's help to pay its unpaid bills.

(WEB HOST INDUSTRY REVIEW) — The US Congress has postponed on Friday its decision on Protect Intellectual Property Act and Stop Online Piracy Act, the controversial bills that are aimed at blocking access to websites that contain pirated content and counterfeit material.

Senate Democratic leader Harry Reid said he would delay a critical vote that was originally set to take place on January 24.

“In light of recent events, I have decided to postpone Tuesday’s vote on the PROTECT I.P. Act,” Reid said on Friday, and later in the day, House Judiciary Committee Chairman Lamar Smith (R-Texas) said that his committee will not vote on SOPA until “there is wider agreement on a solution.”

This week, several high-profile websites including Wikipedia, WordPress, Tucows, Mozilla, and Google protested the bills, leading at least 18 senators to withdraw their support for PIPA and SOPA.

Meanwhile, anti-SOPA and PIPA legislation group Save Hosting Coalition has been working with Engine Advocacy, a group that focuses on similar efforts but is specifically directed at the startup community.

The groups have been promoting the use of a call tool for individuals and companies to generate calls to their Senators and Congress people. Many of the blacked out websites have used the call tool.

The organization has also released an animated video, written and directed by Save Hosting Coalition co-founder and ServInt COO Christian Dawson, that shows how the bills would negatively affect hosting providers.

On Thursday, NetCoalition held a press conference to recap the protest events as well as the need to continue protesting PIPA. Dawson participated at the conference, which can be streamed here, as a representative of the Internet industry on the speaker panel.

A group of Coalition members including representatives from Carpathia Hosting, FortressITX, Hedgehog Hosting and ServInt, visited Capitol Hill on Wednesday for meetings with Senators and Congresspeople.