Dear fellow webmasters
I want to ask a question which is a problem for webmasters.Who should be held responsible for the content of a website?The webmaster or the owner of the website?I have an account with a hosting company(name withheld) for 4 years now.
Last 3 months ago,i was contracted to build a website for a company based in India in which i added the domain of this new website to my existing host website.Last week one of my clients called me that on accessing their website their was a message saying that the website was suspended.
I checked my hosting account and discovered that all my sites where suspended since they all where on one hosting account.
I contacted the hosting company and was told that it was due to a report of a particular domain.I have sent them email requesting for my hosting account to be restored so that the affected domain can be manually removed but up till now i have not received a response from them.Below is copy of the email i received from them and also a response i sent to them.Please i need only reasonable advice please

Here is the email i received from the hosting company

Dear Client,

Please find below report from our data center on the suspension of
xxxxxxxltd.com account with us. xxxxxxxxxxltd.com was suspended
because of 419 activity of xxxxxxxxxK.COM hosted as an
addon on primary account of xxxxxxxxltd.com


''Hello,

It has come to our attention that an account under your control appears to
be involved with advance fee fraud, which is not acceptable for hosting on
our network. Please note that our Terms of Service specifically prohibit
sites of this nature in the following section :

- Fraudulent Sites (Including, but not limited to sites listed at
aa419.org & escrow-fraud.com)

At this time, as the account is not suitable for continued hosting on our
network, it has been suspended.

http://db.aa419.org/fakebanksview.php?key=xxxxx


Because of 419 activity of xxxxxxxxxxxxxxRK.COM both
xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxltd.com and xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxTWORK.COM have been
blacklisted on our server and may not be hosted again on our server.

We require to investigate activity of xxxxxxxxULTINGNETWORK.COM as
published on this website http://db.aa419.org/fakebanksview.php?key=xxxx


Please feel free to contact us should you have any contrary information


Thank you


xxxxxxxHOST.COM SUPPORT


Here is my reply to them

Thank you very much for your email.Fraud is a serious crime and nobody wants his business to be associated with such.All action you have taken are appropriate and it is only a fool that will
associate a fraud website with a legitimate hosting account(which obviously i am)

I was contracted to build a website by a Nigerian based in India for a chemical website.I was also told to google up the word (SSD CHEMICAL SOLUTION) and after i did there were results in
organic and paid search results on Google.

Even though there are so many other similar websites carrying out their legitimate businesses i am not ruling out the fact that my client possibly might have used his website for scam activities as fraudulent reports are likely to be true in most cases.

At this point are webmasters are to be held responsible for the content of their work whether good or bad ? and if there are legal issues relating to fraud in regards to the reported website i can be
incriminated and face legal prosecutions while the culprit will be at large.

I wish to state that i did not intentionally host content on your host with the knowledge that such content will be used for criminal activities and i have also learn t that if for any reason in the future i wish to host a website for my client that it will be better i use separate hosting accounts.

I have used your services for over 4 years and have not had any kind of problems with your service except with drupal installations.I truly regret that my account has been terminated and even though i am not the one who owns the website i am being held responsible because i am the one who hosted the content even if done without any criminal intentions

I have done a background research on Google and discovered your report to be correct as i have discovered several reports relating to the domainxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx and all efforts to contact my client in India to get an explanation has proved abortive.

My hosting account is suspended and my client www.xxxxxxxxtd.com have contacted me

demanding for an explanation why their website is not up and running.I have no prior knowledge that my client had any intention of using his website to perpetrate fraud.

I plead with your company to please restore my hosting account and let the domain xxxxxxxxxxxork be manually removed from my hosting account.I pledge to make it a point
of duty to thoroughly and meticulously screen any type of business i wish to use with your service in order to avert such future occurrences..You take your hosting business seriously that's why its still there for people to use.I have learn t a very bitter lesson.Have a wonderful day


My brothers abeg advise me on wetin i go do?

You pay if your script was infiltrated or hacked but the client does if you can instantiate it. If he complains, bring him here.

Didn't you Guys some kind of contract or something like that

Well you are to be hold responsible in one hand (You are the one that hosted the website), but on the other hand, the hosting company should only suspend the affected account and not all the accounts in your reseller.