Now, of course that's illegal, but they did it after non-payment and we moved to a different host. Is it still illegal then, or can they do what they like?
Not paying and leaving is unethical but is at most subject to civilian law claims. But taking the data of client without permission even if the client has not paid is unethical and I would say illegal, have to clarify on that though. But it is between the pot and the kettle.....
Inethical from the host but you are not clean either, just assume the consequences of your acts and move on. And next time pay your bills.
If they are not willing to pay the outstanding for their web hosting fees, do you think they will engage a lawyer for this? Just talk nicely to the host, pay up the outstanding and get them to remove the site.
I'd be interested to see what host this was. It would make me and anyone else stay far away from them. you can PM me the name if you want... otherwise just post it here.. might save some people.
They do not have a right to steal your site content and set up a clone, even if you have outstanding bills with them. At the most all they can do with your account is suspend it, not steal it. Get a lawyer for this issue like some others suggested.
Let me see if I understood this right. You didn't pay whatever outstanding dues to your old host, they locked you out of your account with them, no backups were made (?), you've moved to a different host. Did I miss anything except the copied site part in the title, which I still don't really understand? So far, the old host doesn't appear to have done anything illegal. Whether it is unethical or not is subjective, depending where one stands or feels about it. As for the rest and whoever feels like posting in here, you might want to like hold your judgments against the host temporarily since no one knows what's fully happened here. The more details, the more we can understand and make sense of this. (or better yet, learn from it...)
From what I read 1. OP did not pay their hosting bills but move to another host. 2. Old Host took over their database and setup a new site with the OP contents and info 3. OP was asking about the legality of the Old Host actions. There are members suggesting suing the old host. But I find it rather funny, not that I support the actions of the Old Host. Just that both sides are in the wrong. The cost of suing is many many times more than the payment owed to the Old Host.