Dodgy Web hosts

Hi all i know a person here in England who runs a web hosting company. We found out that he has made out hes part of American Express Fraud trust guarantee and hot linked the logo from another site . Im worried that he may get in to trouble. Whats the penalty for this ? Plus he has made out he is part of the BBBonline privacy program, but his site is not listed there. Lots of things from his site is hot linked or pics ripped from other sites .

Im really worried he may get in to trouble , if i can tell him the ramifications of all this he may listen.

Any input guys ?

Thanks in advance

Hi Fergal i think Sharkys the man to speak to as he seems really clued up on the law and internet stuff.

sounds suspicious to me, but i'm not a legal eagle :/ Anyone in here more of an expert?

WHat i dont get it.

basically his friend is getting in trouble for running an illegal web hosting co.

I dont understand what you dont get . Its written down clear enough. Ok is there anyone who knows law here ?

He can get in trouble for:
1. Claiming he's part of an organisation which he is not part of.
2. Ripping pictures off other sites if they're copyright.

Note: If they aren't explicitly copyrighted, I'm sure he'll just suffer flames and hatemail, because eBaum's World has used other people's pictures since heaven knows when.

I don't know law, this is just what I've seen on other forums on similiar topics. Generally, the thing is that it usually isn't worth the time to prosecute people over this, but it is bad internet etiquette to hotlink, thereby stealing bandwidth.

I'm sorry I couldn't give you any real help, but I'd tell this friend of mine to cut it out.

Perhaps you should get some real legal advice instead of counting on nearly anonymous forum members who can or cannot be lawyers when they claim to be.

Hope it all turns out ok.

Good advice thanks. Reason i asked here is im not paying for legal advice for him, i just need a rough guide, If he gets caught thats his look out.

Plus i know hes broke his ISP's T&C. By using his home connection to do all his hosting on and he has web servers in his bedroom and tells customers he has a dedicated data centre. So hes misled his ISP, who i know are investigating him and misleading his customers with lots of hot links and false information

Originally Posted by Argie

He can get in trouble for:
1. Claiming he's part of an organisation which he is not part of.
2. Ripping pictures off other sites if they're copyright.

Note: If they aren't explicitly copyrighted, I'm sure he'll just suffer flames and hatemail, because eBaum's World has used other people's pictures since heaven knows when.
.

thats a good explaintion

But this poster is asking what will happen when his friend
get's caught..

I dunno man.. but i hope the "Cyber police" dont contact him, he will proly have to pay a fine or something.

Cheer's
Masta

he didn't say it was he's friend! he just knows him.