The Texas whistleblowing website setup for people to anonymously dob in doctors performing what are believed to be illegal abortions in the state following the signing into law of the Texas Heartbeat Act is finding it difficult to find a domain name registrar and webhost. First up after the issue was pushed on Twitter, GoDaddy booted it saying the website violated their terms of service.
According to media reports, the site at prolifewhistleblower.com violated a GoDaddy rule that website operators may not “collect or harvest (or permit anyone else to collect or harvest) any User Content or any non-public or personally identifiable information about another user or any other person or entity without their express prior written consent.”
The site operated by Texas Right to Life was then down for a day or two and moved to Digital Ocean as its webhost, and Epik for domain registration. Then Digital Ocean booted it with the site then using Epik for its name servers and as its domain registrar. Apparently right-wing Christian groups don’t mind who they mix with as Epik is registrar and webhost for some of the internet’s most disgraceful sites and those that others reject, such as Gab and 8Chan. Epik was listed as hosting nameservers and domain registrar on 4 September, but never as webhost.
But now even Epik has reportedly found the anti-abortion website too distasteful, saying a form for collecting data hosted on the domain name violated Epik’s terms of service. According to a report in the Washington Post, “Epik would no longer offer its services if the group continues to collect private information about third parties through its digital tip line.”
The Texas law, which President Biden said “unleashes unconstitutional chaos” against women, is written so that it relies on private citizens to dob in doctors performing abortions on women after around six weeks into a pregnancy, a timeframe in which many women aren’t aware they are pregnant. The reference to the “heartbeat” is a fallacy, as a foetal heartbeat is not present at six weeks according to doctors. Following the establishment of the tipline, many thousands of mostly fake tips were made.
The operators of the whistleblowing website are still hoping to find a home for the site, and currently there is a redirect to a Texas Right To Life website. In a statement on the Texas Right to Life site, it is claimed the whistleblowing website would be restored within 24 to 48 hours, but obviously they are finding it difficult to find a new home.