Major Eccie Changes . .... Now Just a Discussion Board

[Westley]

It is not so much the Texas law but any website where the server it runs on is in the USA means US laws can be applied.

There is 1 caveat - the server can be in a different country but because we have extradition treaties with that country means we cannot apply the law directly to the server but we can get the country to help in either taking down the site or gaining access to its internal information. Especially if they believe in human trafficking or underage porn.

There can be some Geo-boundaries set on the server firewall.. IE, if your IP address is listed as one from the USA, you cannot get to the server but that gets defeated via a VPN service.

If the site host puts their server in some country we do not have extradition agreements with then anything can go.

Good point! Racketeering and asset forfeiture laws as well as extradition agreements can all have unintended and undesirable consequences for the casual hobbyist. Especially when unethical members of law enforcement and overzealous prosecutors are part of the equation. The Internet makes the world a smaller place placing hobbyist within reach of the long arm of the law. Independent contractors operating on the Internet are in many instances multinational business endeavors by default.

This is why increasing one's digital foot print outside and inside the USA in a deliberate planned manner is important. The smaller, more compartmented and secure one's digital footprint is the more resilient and secure your global online business operations are probable to be. Many laws are just now starting to catch up to certain scientific and technological advances. This is yet another learning opportunity that seems to be ignored by hobbyists.

It is only logical to assume that the alignment of International Treaties and diplomatic agreements will soon follow. Critical thinking, planning ahead as in a social media contingency plan as well as migrating web content to more secure server locations (less vulunerable to racketeering, asset forfeiture and extradition laws) now could pay dividends in the future.