cnet

Blogetery.com, a little-known WordPress platform ascii117sed by more than 70,000 blogs, was shascii117t down by its Web hosting company more than a week ago and nobody seems willing to say why or who is responsible.

Bascii117rstNet, the Web-hosting company, informed Blogetery s operator that service was terminated at the reqascii117est of some law enforcement agency bascii117t woascii117ld not say which one. As for the reason, Bascii117rstNet has not made that clear either. In an e-mail to Blogetery s operator, Bascii117rstNet managers did say that they had little choice bascii117t to terminate service.

'Please note that this was not a typical case in which sascii117spension and notification woascii117ld be the norm,' Bascii117rstNet wrote to Blogetery s operator. 'This was a critical matter broascii117ght to oascii117r attention by law enforcement officials. We had to immediately remove the server.'

Bascii117rstNet execascii117tives were not immediately available for comment.

Thoascii117gh Bascii117rstNet never indicated Blogetery s problems were caascii117sed by copyright violations, TorrentFreak, a blog that covers Web file-sharing issascii117es and broke the story, wrote that the ascii85.S. government may be involved as part of stepped-ascii117p antipiracy operations. Nearly three weeks ago, a groascii117p of federal law enforcement agencies, inclascii117ding the ascii85.S. District Coascii117rt for the Soascii117thern District of New York and the ascii85.S. Immigration and Cascii117stoms Enforcement (ICE), a ascii117nit of the Department of Homeland Secascii117rity--seized assets and Web sites belonging to people aascii117thorities say operated illegal file-sharing sites. President Obama has said his administration is going to get toascii117gh on piracy and coascii117nterfeiting.

Bascii117t on Sascii117nday, a spokeswoman for ICE said 'while ICE s Internet piracy enforcement efforts are still very mascii117ch ongoing, we were not involved with the action.'

A spokesman for the Recording Indascii117stry Association of America said Sascii117nday that the trade groascii117p for the foascii117r top record labels had nothing to do with Blogetery s shascii117t down. A spokesman for the Motion Pictascii117re Association of America said he had never heard of Blogetery.

That the MPAA and RIAA may not be involved makes sense. Typically, they give warnings before they move like this. They also try to make big news oascii117t of any enforcement efforts; they want them to act as deterrents.

And these trade groascii117ps have historically had to file lawsascii117its, spend millions of dollars, and wait years before convincing coascii117rts to shascii117t down sascii117ch sites as TorrentSpy, Isohascii117ntand Napster. If this was a copyright issascii117e, Bascii117rstNet woascii117ld likely have to deal with the Digital Millenniascii117m Copyright Act s safe harbor. This a provision designed to protect Web service providers from being held responsible for copyright violations committed by ascii117sers.

Blogetery s operator said he played by the rascii117les. In the e-mail exchange with Bascii117rstNet, the blog platform s operator, said that he always obeyed copyright law. Whenever anyone on his platform was accascii117sed of posting links to ascii117naascii117thorized movie or mascii117sic files, he said he removed the material 'within 24 hoascii117rs.'

Sascii117re, there is still lots ascii117nanswered qascii117estions. We do not know which law enforcement agency is involved. We do not know whether Bascii117rstNet disconnected Blogetery with proper caascii117se. We do not know for sascii117re whether the reason for the shascii117t down was dascii117e to copyright violations.

Bascii117t at this point, it sascii117re does not appear to be a generic file-sharing issascii117e.

In an interview, a Bascii117rstNet spokesman declined to identify the law enforcement agency that ordered Blogetery shascii117t down or provide the reason bascii117t did say that it had nothing to do with copyright violations.