The sexual exploitation of minors (including child pornography) is strictly against US Federal law and (it goes without saying) our Terms of Service.
Our rules
We at DreamHost do not tolerate child exploitation (including the distribution, acquisition or storage of child pornography) in
conjunction with our services. Offenders will be immediately reported to law enforcement officials and - with any luck - find themselves
serving an incredibly lengthy prison sentence in due time.
Common questions & misunderstandings
There are a couple of common questions and misunderstandings about our policies on child exploitation and child pornography. We hope to clear
these up below.
"What is child pornography?"
Legally, for something to be considered child pornography under US Federal law it must portray minors (that is, children under
the age of 18) engaging in sexual activities or posed in a sexually suggestive manner (cite: United States v. Knox).
Actual children must be portrayed, so (for example) drawings or written fictional accounts are not illegal.In any case, if a specific instance even appears to be at all border-line, we would still like to be notified.
"How come that site is still up?"
At times, people may notice that clearly illegal sites reported to DreamHost remain online for some time.While we recognize that such sites staying online for any length of time seems abhorrent, the real damage that occurs with child pornography - the abuse of those children pictured - is our primary concern. It is also the primary concern of law enforcement, including the Federal Bureau of Investigation. For this reason, we are often asked to keep such sites online during the investigative process as this greatly facilitates actually catching the criminals involved and bringing them to justice.
Unfortunately, due to the nature of such investigations we are unable to comment on what is taking place behind the scenes. However, if you want to make absolutely sure that the matter is followed-up upon you may file a formal complaint with the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children, here:
http://www.ncmec.org/
They have an official relationship with many law enforcement agencies (including the FBI), and will route your complaint to the proper location.
Reporting child pornography to DreamHost
If you have encountered child pornography (or any form of sexual exploitation of minors, for that matter), please contact
us immediately. You may also want to contact law enforcement as well, either directly or through the NCMEC
as described above.
"Okay, so where do I send my complaint?"
You may send your complaint to the following email address:abuse(at)dreamhost(dot)com
Please include any relevant URLs, ie. direct links to illegal images or pages containing such images.