Rackspace Shuts Down Koran-Burning Web Site

Rackspace Hosting is in the news today after the company invoked its terms of service in terminating web services for the Dove World Outreach Center, the controversial Florida church that has scheduled a Koran-burning event for this Saturday.

Rackspace said it received a complaint about the site's content, and a review found that the center's web site "violated the hate-speech provision of our acceptable-use policy," Rackspace spokesman Dan Goodgame told CNN. Goodgame said Rackspace discussed the issue with the church and gave it an opportunity to revise its content to adhere to its hosting agreement. When it was clear that changes were not forthcoming, Rackspace informed Dove World that its services would be terminated and advised it to find a new provider.

Pastor Terry Jones of Dove World complained to the media about the web site termination. "We feel that it's definitely an indirect attack on our freedom of speech," Jones said.

"This is not a constitutional issue," Goodgame told CNN. "This is a contract issue." Rackspace's Acceptable Use Policy includes a clause prohibiting content that "is excessively violent, incites violence, threatens violence, or contains harassing content or hate speech."