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Threats to the web hosting industry (Anti-SOPA and Anti-PIPA)

January 10, 2012

Dear Hosting Providers,

We believe the Stop Online Piracy Act (SOPA) and the Protect IP Act (PIPA) bills recently introduced by the U.S. Congress pose severe threats to the hosting industry as a whole and we ask that you take a few moments to understand why.  
 
While created with the good intentions of combating widespread copyright and trademark infringement, cPanel opposes these bills for a number of reasons due to their impending negative impact on hosting providers around the world.
 
First, these bills will legally destroy the Internet’s basic organizational structures by attacking the domain name system, service providers, financial providers, and hosting providers by inhibiting their ability to generate revenue and access to advertising.  Armed with only a mere accusation of infringement, under the current vague language of these bills a U.S. Attorney can obtain a court order requiring web hosting providers, Internet service providers, financial transaction providers, advertising services, and search engine sites to block access to accused websites. In addition, the bills will:
 
  • Restrict online free speech. 
  • Obstruct the “safe harbor” protections given to website operators by the Digital Millennium Copyright Act.
  • Block online payment processors and advertising networks from doing business with websites suspected of infringing. 
  • Allow for the arbitrary creation of “blacklists” of websites suspected of infringing.
  • Scare investors away from funding Internet startup companies.
  • Potentially criminalize currently legal conduct.

 

The most troubling aspect of SOPA and PIPA is that they will do little to stop online piracy since most violators will simply open a new website within hours of being shut down.

Congress’ current session will resume soon and hold votes on these bills. If you also agree that SOPA and PIPA are detrimental to the web hosting industry it is important that you take action by contacting members of Congress and voicing your opposition.  Additionally, if you want to help in opposing SOPA and PIPA by being part of a grassroots movement within the web hosting industry, you can find more information at: http://savehosting.org. 

To help in this fight, cPanel is donating $5,000 to the Electronic Frontier Foundation, which has been fighting to preserve individuals’ digital rights since 1990. (https://www.eff.org). In addition, for every tweet our hosting providers post with the hash tag #cpanel4antisopa, cPanel will donate an additional $2.50 (up to a total donation to the EFF of $10,000).

 

 

 

Thank you for your time and effort in combating SOPA and PIPA. More information to assist you may be found below.

Sincerely, 
/s/ Nick Koston
J. Nick Koston
CEO of cPanel, Inc.

 

 

Find your Congressmen to e-mail your SOPA and PIPA opposition
https://action.eff.org/o/9042/p/dia/action/public/?action_KEY=8173

Further Details of SOPA and PIPA 

Christian Dawson from ServInt provides an in-depth explanation of SOPA and PIPA:
http://blog.servint.net/2011/12/16/what-is-sopa-and-pipa/.

What is The SaveHosting.org Coalition about?

According to SaveHosting.org: “The hosting industry in the United States, and the security of private data in general, is under threat. Legislation that is making its way through Congress represents a sea change in the way our government has regulated data in our country. HR 1981 – for instance – would dramatically increase the logging and data retention rules for hosting companies, allowing the government access to the online habits of countless Americans.”

“The hosting industry is made up of small to medium service businesses. So as new bills hit the floor of Congress, such as last year’s net neutrality bills or this year’s PROTECT IP bill, we need to start getting worried – because we have no voice at the table. The SaveHosting.org Coalition is our first step towards trying to change that.”

 

 

 

 

cPanel to Offer Enkompass For Free

October 15, 2011

After much consideration, cPanel has decided to offer Enkompass free of charge beginning October 12, 2011. cPanel Vice President of Product Development Ben Thomas made an announcement today during cPanel Conference about the plans for the future of Enkompass.

 
Thomas told the audience that although Enkompass is considered a stable, mature, and feature-packed product that is capable of enterprise- and production-level hosting, sales and distribution have not met expectations.
 
“All options for moving this product mainstream were considered, but ultimately the decision was made to move Enkompass to a no-cost control panel,” Thomas said.
 
With major concepts such as unlimited reselling, robust APIs, familiar interfaces, and multi-server technology, Enkompass was, and is, the most powerful Windows shared hosting product on the market. Coupled with familiar automation processed and Microsoft technologies, Enkompass has the ability to become the next de facto Windows control panel for web hosting providers.
 
Following a final release in Q4 of 2011, major feature development will slow, but our teams will continue to fix bugs and hot patches.
 
cPanel, Inc, remains healthy, strong, and focused on delivering mainstream hosting automation solutions. As part of the efforts in making Enkompass free of charge, cPanel will free internal resources, teams, and increase development hours on this product and other projects.

cPanel Announces Bundling of SEO Tools by Attracta

October 13, 2011

cPanel, the leading Web Hosting Control Panel Software provider, announced today at its annual conference that Attracta’s Free Search Engine Optimization (SEO) Tools will become a standard feature in future releases.   

cPanel powers the web hosting industry with its point-and-click software that automates the provisioning and management of websites.  The tens of millions of website owners who host their websites with cPanel’s hundreds of hosting partners use cPanel’s easy-to-use interface to manage every aspect of their websites. The bundling of Attracta adds the ability to easily manage their search engine presence with point-and-click SEO Tools.

As the Internet matures, and more businesses have websites, two things are happening:  the web hosting industry is getting more competitive, and it’s getting harder for website owners to make their sites stand out.  Attracta’s SEO Tools help solve both of these problems through giving web hosts a way to be more competitive by providing their customers with the tools to more effectively promote their websites.

Attracta is the world’s largest SEO service.  Over one million websites use the Attracta suite of tools to increase their traffic search traffic.

Attracta’s Free SEO Tools include:

  • 1,000 page XML Sitemap Submission to Google, Yahoo!, Bing and Ask
  • Google Blacklist Check
  • Link Building Tools
  • Social Networking Tools
  • SEO Tips and Tutorials

Website owners who want more traffic can upgrade to paid plans that include automated SEO Tools and XML Sitemap submission, along with guaranteed listings in up to 100 of the world’s top search engines.

“Attracta is one of the first third party integrations to ever to be bundled in cPanel” said Aaron Philips, cPanel VP of Operations.  “Every website needs traffic, and since Attracta’s XML Sitemap technology has proven to work well for our customers, it only made sense to include it as a core feature of our control panel software”.

“cPanel is the world’s most popular Web Hosting automation.  When two industry leaders join forces the market benefits by having greater access to technology that helps both websites owners and web hosts become more successful” said Troy McCasland, VP of Business Development for Attracta. 

About Attracta:
Founded in 2009 by a team of successful Internet entrepreneurs in Napa, CA, Attracta develops innovative search engine visibility technology that helps customers of all sizes build search engine traffic. With over one million websites using its services, Attracta has quickly become the world’s most popular Search Engine Optimization provider. The company sells its services directly, and through a channel of web hosts, web designers and search industry agencies. For more information, visit http://www.Attracta.com or call 888-317-3994.

About cPanel:
Since 1997, cPanel has been a leading innovator and developer of control panel software for the web hosting industry. Headquartered in Houston, Texas, cPanel builds software that allows web host professional to transform standalone servers into fully automated point-and-click web hosting platforms. cPanel licensed software allows owners of servers and websites, along with resellers and developers, to optimize their technical resources and replace tedious shell-oriented tasks with dynamic, intuitive web- based interfaces. For more information, visit http://www.cpanel.net

 

Help us shape the future of cPanel: Annual Customer Survey

October 6, 2011

At cPanel, we thrive on feedback.  We utilize internal and external feedback in various forms to drive change and fine-tune our work lives and products.  Our CEO has championed this open environment for over 11 years.

We know a major key to our success is being focused on communication and staying connected with the individuals and organizations using our product.  Throughout the year, our Accounts Management team makes trips around the world to visit with partners, asking how we might improve and help usher in your success.  This feedback drives internal change, new features, and the direction of our products.
 
If Nick (our CEO) could have us visit every single customer, we’d be starting today.  In an effort to reach a wider range of the cPanel community and hear your voice more clearly, we’ve developed the cPanel Climate Survey.
 
The cPanel Climate Survey is a new tool we’re using to gain a broader scope and reach customer’s opinion that may otherwise be falling through the cracks.  It doesn’t contain any gimmicks, sweepstakes, or special incentives beyond asking you to help us improve.  We want to know what you specifically enjoy about cPanel, glaring details you see that need improvement, and creative additions that would help you better serve your clients.  We’re seeking your opinion through communication with willingness to expand our vision and product.
 
These surveys will be carefully read by various team members throughout cPanel, as well as being intimately reviewed by our executive team.  While our CEO can’t expect us to make 4,282 trips a year, he certainly can expect us to read 4,282 surveys, and we gladly will.
 
The cPanel Climate survey is open until 11-05-2011 and will take approximately 15-45 minutes to complete.
 
You can access the survey online at http://go.cpanel.net/survey
 
We sincerely appreciate your help and look forward to reading your thoughts, opinions, and suggestions of cPanel!

Liquid Web, Inc. makes substantial donation to the Perl Foundation

September 22, 2011

LANSING, Mich.-  Liquid Web, Inc.,(http://www.LiquidWeb.com), a rapidly growing managed Web Hosting company, with locations in Michigan and Arizona, recently made a significant donation to assist in the continued development and maintenance of the dynamic and powerful Perl programming language. The donation is reported to be $10,000 toward to Perl 5's Core Maintenance Fund (Perl 5 CMF). With a clear commitment to innovation and development, Liquid Web is certain that this gesture will help to ensure the continued advancement of what it considers a powerful resource.

 
 
Liquid Web has developed much of its software using perl and continues to do so. The programming language serves as an integral tool for the continued development of the company's existing systems such as its billing, support and monitoring programs.
 
Liquid Web Founder and CEO, Matthew Hill, speaks on the importance of the Perl Community:
 
Giving back to the Perl community is something we've been interested in for some time. As Liquid Web continues to expand and grow, we find the need for more developers proficient in perl grows in kind. Supporting Perl's continued excellence ensures that important programs that have proven invaluable to Liquid Web's success will continue to perform to our specific needs. 
 
Karen Pauley, President of the Perl foundation, was delighted with the news of the donation. "This investment in Perl's future from Liquid Web will go a long way to help maintain the viability of Perl 5 as a platform for the many businesses that depend upon it and will deliver a positive impact upon the entire Perl community,” stated Pauley upon hearing of the donation. The Perl Foundation is encouraged with success stories such as that of Liquid Web and other companies that have been built on the programming language's strong foundation and is excited to continue moving forward with them.
 
###
 
Liquid Web Inc. is a privately held managed web hosting company founded in 1997, with three wholly owned data center facilities located in Lansing, Michigan. In 2010 Liquid Web opened a software development office in Scottsdale, Arizona. Liquid Web is a leader in the professional web hosting market with an unwavering dedication to providing the best hosting products available.  Liquid Web has over 20,000 clients served in over 120 countries.  To service our customers we have assembled a world class Heroic Support staff and a proactive Sonar Server Monitoring team, professionally educated and easily accessible 24 hours a day, 7 days a week. Liquid Web received the INC.5000 Fastest Growing Companies award in 2007, 2008, 2009, 2010 and 2011.
 

 

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