NearlyFreeSpeech

Here’s an interesting hosting company I came across today. It’s called NearlyFreeSpeech and is and came to my attention when I was researching a host for a friend who wanted to host a controversial website. They seem to be pretty unusual in that they have a very libertarian attitude to hosting and won’t take down a client’s site unless the accuser can prove that some wrong-doing has been perpetrated. Here’s how they describe themselves:

Due to our libertarian Terms & Conditions of Service we allow many things that other hosting companies do not. Consequently, we receive a large number of abuse complaints. Unfortunately, most of them are spurious or non-actionable….

In other words, if it’s not illegal, your content will not be compromised and your identity will be protected. I find this pretty commendable, and the threads on their forum show a passionate and vibrant community behind the website.

They have an interesting charging model too. Clients are charged by usage, not by monthly subscription. So, if you have a website about your mum’s collection of golf equipment, you probably won’t pay more than a few cents per month. If you decide to run an adult site and get thousands of hits, then your charges increase as your popularity does. I was pretty impressed with the service, so I thought I’d blog about it for posterity.