Protection From Online Eviction?

AOL has been shutting down its free Web services, in some cases with little or no notice to users, and they are not the only ones. This blog post on the coming "datapocalypse" makes the case that those who host Web content should be required to provide notice and access to data for a year, and be held strictly accountable the way landlords are before they can evict a tenant. Some commenters on the post argue that you get what you pay for with free Web services, and that users should be backing up their data anyway. What do you think, should there be required notice and access before online hosts take user data offline for good?

Re:A Year? Hell.

[Tubal-Cain]

This is AOL we are talking about here. A month is barely enough time to recover the text of the website, much less the images.

Of course

[Paradise Pete]

Yes, absolutely. There should be a law against anything that might cause even the slightest inconvenience. Nothing bad should ever happen to anybody, and if it does, someone has to pay.

What AOL is...

[jcwren]

...is the public housing project of the internet.

Re:Here we go again...

[Bill, Shooter of Bul]

Please tell me there was another sign in the laundry room reading

Rule 3: Always make a backup ( This is an offsite backup of rule 1)

Ask for a refund

[TheZed]

If you kick up a big enough stink, I'm sure they'll refund the purchase price... heck, they may even double it in this case!

Advertisements On Line.....

[IHC Navistar]

AOL offered something FREE?! Did you look for the asterisk that came after the word 'FREE'? Hmmmmm..... me thinks not.....

The TEN COMMANDMANTS OF AOL:

1) THOU SHALT NOT OFFER ANYTHING FREE, UNLESS IN CONJUNCTION WITH #3 AND/OR #4

2) THOU SHALT BONE THY CUSTOMER FOR EVERY PENNY THOU CAN GET.

3) THOU SHALT DROWN THY CUSTOMER IN ADVERTISING, PROMOS, AND PRODUCT TIE-INS.

4) THOU SHALT COVER THY EARTH WITH AOL DISKS.

5) THOU SHALT PROVIDE CUSTOMER SERVICE AS HORRIBLY AS THY CAN IMAGINE.

6) THOU SHALT DISAPPOINT THY STOCKHOLDERS.

7) THOU SHALT HOLD DATA FOR RANSOM.

8) THOU SHALT NOT PRACTICE BUSINESS ETHICS.

9) THOU SHALT COLLABORATE WITH BIG BROTHER FOR LIFE-SUSTAINING CASH.

10) THOU SHALT PLACE EMPHASIS ON THE MEANING OF THE PHRASE "Caveat Emptor").

If you take the bait of a 'free' (or ANY) service from AOL, then you shouldn't be using the internet. Or running a web site.