"Account suspended" site of former client I'm suing

April 23, 2022 6:43 PM

I'm suing a former writing client who used my name in authorized ways on their website. They didn't respond to my attorney's letter or remove uses of my name. The warrant hasn't been served yet. In the meantime, the website has an "account suspended" message. Guessing they took it offline over my case (I have screenshots) but there are a few other things it could be, including being busted by Viacom for using the MTV name. Is there any way to tell what's going on with the site suspension?
posted by mermaidcafe to Computers & Internet (4 answers total)

No.
posted by bitdamaged at 7:12 PM on April 23, 2022 [7 favorites]

No. The people that would know are either the people you're suing, or the webhost, and neither of them are going to be inclined to talk to a third party over the issue without something to legally compel them to do so. In the webhost's case specifically, it's possibly illegal and is definitely not in their best interest for them to disclose any details to a third party without a subpoena.
posted by Aleyn at 7:20 PM on April 23, 2022 [5 favorites]

You may be able to hire domain name attorney who wants to buy the domain and make an oblique query, but agree with above that registry is unlikely to divulge any information.
A domain name attorney may be able to find out when the domain went off line. But what will that really gain you?
posted by kschang at 8:16 PM on April 23, 2022 [1 favorite]

Small clarification question: do you mean “unauthorized ways”?
posted by profreader at 1:41 AM on April 24, 2022 [3 favorites]