Cloudflare

[[File:Cloudflare logo.svg|thumb|right|165px|]]
{{internet}}
'''Cloudflare''' is a technology company that provides {{wpl|reverse proxy|reverse proxies||,}}{{efn|Which also doubles as distributed denial-of-service (DDoS) protection services.|}} Domain Name System (DNS) servers, and domain name registration.<ref>{{cite news|last1=Perlroth|first1=Nicole|date=17 February 2012|title=Search Bits SEARCH Preparing for DDoS Attacks or Just Groundhog Day|work=The New York Times|url=https://bits.blogs.nytimes.com/2012/02/17/preparing-for-ddos-attacks-or-just-groundhog-day/?searchResultPosition=7|access-date=25 January 2021}}</ref> It has been involved in multiple controversies over it providing its services to [[far right]] and other unsavory sites in the name of [[free speech]].

==Formation==
Like many of the "Big Tech" cluster, Cloudflare is descended from a university research project. In this case, it's a descendant of Project Honey Pot,<ref>{{cite web| title=Our Story|  website=CloudFlare| url=https://www.cloudflare.com/our-story/| access-date=January 27, 2022}}</ref> a group that tracked and cataloged bots that scraped web pages to find email addresses for serving [[spam]]. The theory was that they could make money off honey pot data by charging to actually ''block'' the spambots.

What started as a simple service has, from there, ballooned in complexity, starting with just blocking spambots, moving on to blocking DDoS, moving on to providing caching even when the website is operating normally and not being attacked at all, to hosting static websites entirely on their own, to hosting dynamic websites, and on from there.

==Far-right pandering==
Cloudflare is known for refusing to stop providing their services to sites unless the [[government]] has all the needed legal paperwork.{{efn|However protesting against Cloudflare also works, and much better.}}<ref name=Kashmir>{{cite news |last1=Hill |first1=Kashmir |title=The Company Keeping Your Favorite (And Least Favorite) Websites Online |url=https://www.forbes.com/sites/kashmirhill/2014/07/30/cloudflare-protection/?sh=ac906f414555 |access-date=15 September 2021 |work=Forbes |date=17 August 2014}}</ref><ref>{{cite news |title=CloudFlare CEO blasts Anonymous claims of ISIS terrorist support |url=https://www.theregister.com/2015/11/18/cloudflare_ceo_rubbishes_anonymous_claims_of_terrorist_support/ |access-date=16 September 2021 |work=The Register |date=18 November 2015}}</ref> Not surprising since the company has a free speech absolutist, Matthew Prince, as CEO<ref name=timothy>[https://arstechnica.com/tech-policy/2017/12/cloudflares-ceo-has-a-plan-to-never-censor-hate-speech-again/ Cloudflare’s CEO has a plan to never censor hate speech again] by Timothy B. Lee (2/4/2017, 8:37 AM) ''Ars Technica''.</ref> in which they staunchly supported these sites in the name of free speech. This had (naturally) led to far right and other extremist individuals and groups using Cloudflare's services to protect their sites.

==Dropping far-right sites==
On occasion, Cloudflare will drop far-right sites from their services. However, this is not because of a realization that protecting far-right content that leads to real-world violence is abhorrent, but rather because of the public pressure against Cloudflare.<ref name=timothy/> So far, only three sites have been dropped by Cloudflare.

===The Daily Stormer===
{{Main|The Daily Stormer}}
The Daily Stormer was using Cloudflare's services until August 2017 when Prince stopped providing it because:

{{quotebox|...the people behind the Daily Stormer are [[asshole]]s and I’d had enough. Let me be clear: this was an arbitrary decision. It was different than what I’d talked talked with our senior team about yesterday. I woke up this morning in a bad mood and decided to kick them off the Internet.<ref name=kate>[https://gizmodo.com/cloudflare-ceo-on-terminating-service-to-neo-nazi-site-1797915295 Cloudflare CEO on terminating service to Neo-Nazi site] by Kate Conger ''Gizmodo''</ref>}} 

In reality, it was due to growing amounts of public pressure<ref name=timothy>[https://arstechnica.com/tech-policy/2017/12/cloudflares-ceo-has-a-plan-to-never-censor-hate-speech-again/ Cloudflare’s CEO has a plan to never censor hate speech again] by Timothy B. Lee (2/4/2017, 8:37 AM) ''Ars Technica''.</ref> and that The Daily Stormer said they were one of them.<ref name=kate>[https://gizmodo.com/cloudflare-ceo-on-terminating-service-to-neo-nazi-site-1797915295 Cloudflare CEO on terminating service to Neo-Nazi site] by Kate Conger ''Gizmodo''</ref>

===8chan===
{{Main|8chan}}
8chan was using Cloudflare's services until August 2019 after mounting public pressure due to terrorist attacks in 2019, such as the [[Christchurch terrorist attacks|Christchurch mosque shootings]] and the {{wpl|2019 El Paso shooting||,}} being linked to 8chan.<ref>[https://blog.cloudflare.com/terminating-service-for-8chan/ Terminating service for 8chan] by Matthew Prince ''The Cloudflare Blog''</ref>

===Kiwi Farms===
{{Main|Kiwi Farms}}
Kiwi Farms was using Cloudflare's services until September 2022, when it was dropped because of public pressure and what Prince described as imminent threats to human life<ref>[https://blog.cloudflare.com/kiwifarms-blocked/ Blocking Kiwifarms] by Matthew Prince ''The Cloudflare Blog''</ref> in response to growing threats from Kiwi Farms involving the campaign against it lead by [[trans]] [[Youtuber]] Keffals.

==Other dubious actions==
===Protecting terrorist sites===
Cloudflare has been aware of [[terrorist]] groups using their services to protect their sites since at least 2012<ref>[https://www.reuters.com/article/net-us-usa-cyberwar-cloudflare/selling-flak-jackets-in-the-cyberwars-idUSBRE8BC0OB20121213 Selling flak jackets in the cyberwars] by Gerry Shih ''Reuters''</ref><ref>[https://www.huffpost.com/entry/cloudflare-cybersecurity-terrorist-groups_n_5c127778e4b0835fe3277f2f U.S. Tech Giant Cloudflare Provides Cybersecurity For At Least 7 Terror Groups] by Jesselyn Cook ''The Huffington Post''</ref> and still continues to do so, because apparently allowing terrorist groups to spread [[propaganda]], encourage violence, and fundraising is something that free speech <i>has</i> to protect.

===Mishandling of reports===
Cloudflare like many other online services has a page for people to report abuses of their service. Cloudflare's process had people put in their name and contact information in the reports for the site owner to contact the reporter for any further questions. Cloudflare learned in early 2014 that contact information was being used in retaliation against people who made reports.<ref name=AaAR>[https://blog.cloudflare.com/anonymity-and-abuse-reports/ Anonymity and Abuse Reports] By Matthew Prince ''The Cloudflare Blog''</ref> Cloudflare changed their policy to send the report to the site's host and not the site owner. In May 2017 ProPublica published an article reporting that some hosts would also forward this report to site owners,<ref>[https://www.propublica.org/article/how-cloudflare-helps-serve-up-hate-on-the-web How One Major Internet Company Helps Serve Up Hate on the Web] by Ken Schwencke ''ProPublica''</ref> and you can guess what happened next. Shortly after the article was published, Prince released a statement saying Cloudflare would add an option to withhold a person's name and contact information from being sent in their report.{{efn|Not all reports allow one to withhold one's name and contact information, such as reporting a trademark infringement.|}}<ref name=AaAR>[https://blog.cloudflare.com/anonymity-and-abuse-reports/ Anonymity and Abuse Reports] By Matthew Prince ''The Cloudflare Blog''</ref>

==See also==
*[[Epik]] — another free-speech absolutist web host that has hosted far-right websites
*[[GoDaddy]]

==Notes==
{{reflist|group=note}}

==References==
{{Reflist|2|80%}}

[[Category:Alt-right]]
[[Category:Business]]
[[Category:Alt-tech]]

Categories: Alt-right, Business, Alt-tech