Websites shutdown for illegal

hello
Pls clear this up for me

How come some sites still up and running if it's obvious that they are promoting illegal products? (example- http://www.smashinglists.com/10-things-you-shouldnt-be-able-to-buy-at-internet-but-can/)

How come there's active sites that are blogging "how to" about illegal activity- like "how to grow weed" "how to buy cigarettes online" "how to buy drugs" etc.

So is it ok to build up blog or set up forums site about illegal stuff (activity/ product/ matter), but not to sell or buy?

example - some of blackhat methods are illegal and violates google policies. yet there's many forums / blogs / sites that are talking and discussing and guiding, publishing how to guides, etc.

how come all these sites / blogs / forums are alive and kicking?

what is the difference between them to MEGAVIDEO that were shutdown, or others that were shutdown?

NOT refering / talking about cases like silkroad. its really not my point.

 

Some countries already legalized this and they probably host the sites there!

 

which countries legalized?

 

As far as I know Holland is one of it..

 

Violating a company terms of service (like Google) is not a reason to be shut down. Also it all depends where the site is being hosted and if it really sells the products or just teaches how to get them.

 

so where should a site that violating company terms like google / amazon / facebook should be stored?
which countries? how come rules doesn't apply if it stored there??

 

Do your research on torrent sites and you might find your answer.

 

I see, thank you very much. i get the picture

 

Yeah, weird right? That's how the internet works. You can talk about it, teach it and you'll be fine until you start selling it. Government doesn't care until you act upon it.

 

@John Lucas Or when the Govt sees that you're earning and wants a share of it. Haha

 

The Internet, while tamed slightly from a decade ago, remains the wild, wild west. However, some governments are beginning to patrol it for a variety of reasons, perhaps the most important of which here in the U.S., are the potential for taxes. There is one particular state here, in fact, that hits one of my websites all of the time from its tax offices in the desperate hope that they can link the website to their state and start charging taxes, etc. There is no relationship, so they are wasting their time, but it was eye-opening the first few times I saw it happen. In the U.S., anyway, follow the money and you will find where the government is interested in the Internet.

 

Also, it is important to remember that it takes time to shut down the massive amount of sites that are doing illegal things. These sites that you see still up and running may be in line to be shut down some time in the near future.

 

Just to add:

I think it takes quite a lengthy & costly legal proceeding to bring down websites.

 

It really comes down to who is the more stubborn. When it comes to websites and legal boundaries, there are a ton of loopholes, as you mentioned it yourself - location of servers and physical user location are among the most significant. As far as I know Holland is indeed pretty loose when it comes to many websites that are normally out of the rules for other companies - like warez sites, marijuana growing etc. Sweden, for example, is a heaven for illegal activities, because companies there have very strict privacy protection policies and rarely cooperate with just anyone that wants to take your site down (example: PirateBay's elaborate move there).

As for the ones that violate search engine policies, like Google's, they are mostly penalized, however, even the most elaborate algorithm cannot catch them all. Want to know why Black Hat forums exist? Because Black Hat methods, done in small amounts and professional enough WILL work. And it will take Google a pretty long time to fight that. As soon as a new algorithm update is up, there are already people testing and trying to find how it can be exploited. It was like that 5 years ago, its like that now and probably will 5 years from now

P.S. @sarahk really like the bike from your profile pic. I am a cyclist myself and those are the kinds of bikes I mostly enjoy

 

@Ethan Alvin That is true! And we are the only ones going to jail for it. Sigh.....

 

didnt get you there..:/
why black hat still exist?
google can sue black hat
and Im sure other Private firms, not goverment,
Private firms can sue other sites that are talking/guiding/posting things that violate policies
Like..amazon can sue a site that publish post - example: how to benefit from amazon- best secrets methods"
and this post explain guidelines/things that against amazon policy

So the site can get sued by amazon, right?
where does free speach placed next to business affairs?

 

Sue? Google can't SUE anyone for violating their algorithm rules, they can only penalize them....IF they catch them. And, as you can see, they cannot catch them all. Strictly black hat practices would surely raise an alarm quicker, however most black hatters are smart enough to combine black and white hat (grey) so they stay off the radar