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Starting a public hosting company - legals
I am thinking about selling hosting to the public (as I did until now to my clients who requested me related services like web applications, websites etc), but I started to worry about the legal part. I am located in the EU so will complain with GDPR (will respect the rights - data change, deletion, portability etc and will encrypt the data (?) probably encode the data - will read more on that). The problem is I don't want to be liable of anything or get sued by a customer etc. What and how should I do? I searched on the web but I can't find something useful. I know there are many offering hosting services who can help me. Also, do I need to do something like checking the content and data of the customers as to not store something illegal on the server? Or should I add a form on the website as to be able to report a website?
Thank you very much!
EDIT: I would also like to translate the website to english. As I am not a native english speaker, I won't be able to translate the ToS nor the Privacy Policy (etc). Can I translate only a part of the website and add a note that the ToS in another language applies?
Comments
You will be liable no matter what. You can't escape from that. You can shield yourself to some degree with LLC or something equivalent in EU but, if you screw up bad enough and repeatedly, it will be on you regardless one day.
Consult a lawyer. (Will cost money.)
Great time to start a hosting business, beginning of summer.
You're in the right place, lots of people here "complain with GDPR".
many websites have TOS in english and translate pages but not TOS, if it works for them it will likely work well for you. #LowEndLawyer
I believe that in most countries you can have your ToS be in the language of the country where your business is incorporated. Consult a lawyer to be sure.
You can't start a business and have zero personal responsibility. If you want to do something with minimal personal responsibility, work for someone else and clock in at 9 and out at 5.
Hint, find a lawyer that needs a website.
Like with Brexit. Eat cake and still have it.
To be honest, judging by the fact that you use LET to get support on semi-basic issues - perhaps starting a host is not the best idea. There already are quite a few providers that are completely clueless.
Although it is summer..
So I guess good luck with your summerhost.
I believe the 'gentle' approach is to start by using reseller cpanel accounts. For all intents and purposes that's you selling hosting, just the technical aspect is left to the hosting provider. You just have to worry about keeping your invoice details and access to the reseller accounts secure.
The OP said "requested ... related services like web applications, websites etc), but I started to worry about the legal part"
If it was only hosting I'd agree. But since websites and apps are being offered as a service, why not go for it? I use legal language, no liability beyond the amount paid.
To be WSSfully honest, when someone says he wants no legal obligation whatsoever, it reeks of scamming.
But that's just me. I am too crooked.
No legal obligation beyond the amount paid is different than no legal obligation whatsoever.
Good luck with your provider tag.
Some local hosting providers have pages in local language only. Seems to work for them.
Some have the translated pages, including the TOS, clearly not written by a (good) translator.
If you want to offer hosting services to foreigners as well (and have the likes of me pist suport tickits in bid inglish), then hiring a certified translator would be a good thing, but, as noted above, apparently not crucial (not sure how many foreign clients the noted companies have though).
Hiring a lawyer to check the legal stuff is recommended. Finding a good lawyer (with knowledge of the industry) is a problematic part there.
Whatever you do, make sure you offer PHP 5.2 SELECTER OK?
Can only agree to the others in this thread, you should spend some money on a lawyer and get some legal counsel. A good lawyer will always save you money down the road, especially when setting up a business and ToS PP etc.
Don't end up being p*ss poor and in debt for the rest of your life because you cheaped out on something essential in the beginning.
Yeeeeeeees, and after the summer ends, the magic happens...
Thanks!!
I only saw this now and hope it is ok to still reply. I would not recommend to go the easy way and just believe that it would be all right to have the TOS and the privacy declaration in only one language. I cannot but imagine that most legal orders will actually require to have the legal part in the same language as the website. In the end, it may depend on various factors, and I would rather recommend meticulous research (best, of course, to ask a lawyer...) than simply believing what is said somewhere. For Germany, e.g., there is an overview about potential constellations here.
Also, in terms of the idea to perhaps have a reseller account, you will still have to make sure that the provider enables you to comply with the GDPR. When checking out some for myself, I realised I could not even necessarily believe that they comply even if they insisted. In this context, heard very strange ideas of providers in terms of what is compliant... So you do need to (really) understand the GDPR (or, again, ask a lawyer) if you want to make sure that you comply. You can have a look at some aspects of my own attempts to look for a compliant provider here. Apart from that, please be aware that very probably the legal order of a country where you are trying to find or accept customers will have to be observed by that countrie's standards, even though your company may be elsewhere.
Wait, did you not start a thread about a hosting panel you are creating, to sell to customers, and you are asking here about the legal implications of starting a hosting service to avoid any liability and have not considered how much more potential liability you are going to have with selling the panel...
Read about DPOs, consult with a lawyer. As a company, you're responsible for your client's information, and that means you need to do it properly.
Many service providers also provide a ToS in each language but state that the English version is the binding one, and the translated ones are nothing but references.
Thank you all!
@starlight Very good points. Thanks.
@Lee I personally wanted to launch a hosting company, on my own... The panel is created by a team whose member I am.
Thanks! I just found Server4You https://www.server4you.net/legal-and-documents stating that:
I just started my hosting company. I just bought a privacy policy (which you can generate in 6 languages) for about $100.
Further more I bought a Wordpress template and for $75 more they did the GDPR implementation for me (so cookie warning, ability for users to download their data, or to opt-out of google analytics).
Anyway there's a lot of costs involved. I had to buy WHMCS, Solusvm, I had to hire some freelancers to do some custom work, buy a domain name and the list goes on and on and on.
Then there's the marketing and advertising, there's so much competition it's hard to stand out, but if you already have a customer base that is sure to buy your products then it's not a big deal.
Good to know. Thank you!
Well, paying for lawyer made ToS and Privacy Policy there is no way around. However the wp gdpr part you could've probably saved on as there are many plugins that handle it and even WP has a standard feature now to export user data. Since you got it in a bundle: Why not