Users threatened to boycott GoDaddy's internet domain service for hosting the tip line that allows Texans anonymously to spy on anyone suspected of performing an abortion within six weeks. The company then abruptly announced that it was removing the site from its servers due to violations of terms of service.
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We have informed prolifewhistleblower.com they have 24 hours to move to another provider for violating our terms of service, Dan C. Race, a GoDaddy spokesman, told Gizmodo in an email. The New York Times was first informed by the company of the 24-hour window for finding another hosting provider late on Thursday. This means that it has only hours to do so, or it will likely go offline.
The anonymous tip page of the site appeared to be offline at the time this article was published. Gizmodo tried multiple times to access the tip page, but was denied access.
Texas Right To Life, an anti-abortion group which has long fought against women's rights in Texas, created the site. Gizmodo reported that the site's very nature was in violation of GoDaddy's terms of service. These stipulate that customers can not use the platform in any way that violates privacy or publicity rights of any other User or other entity or breach any duty of confidentiality you owe another User or other entity.
A site that explicitly encourages people to narc on their neighbors by revealing privileged medical information seems to be in pretty clear violation of those standards, one might think, which is exactly what prolifewhistleblower.com did.
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The website states that any Texasan can file a lawsuit against anyone who aids or assists in an abortion. This is after six weeks. These individuals must pay a minimum $10,000 fine if they are found to have violated the law.
Twitter users demanded a boycott of GoDaddy after outrage at the passing of an anti-abortion bill, which effectively bans the procedure altogether, spread online. Trolls filled the digital tip line with anything from Shrek porn to fake tips. To avoid such efforts, the site set up CAPTCHA protections. However, now everything is offline.
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It appears that the Sucurisecurity service, which GoDaddy still owns, is still hosting the tip-line. This means that it will have to be evacuated to another host or go dark very soon. If the pro-life groups' shady legal maneuver to block the legislature's six-week ban in the first instance is any indication, there is a way. Even if it has to temporarily recalibrate, we will undoubtedly see this scourge come back online.
