Technology has helped mankind evolve from the Dark Ages to the Information Age in the 21st Century. Yet, there are numerous service providers who offer religion-based web hosting services and overtly express their preference towards people of the same belief system. Would you trust your online business or website in the hands of a provider only because they share your own religious beliefs?
A couple of years back, ICANN received an application for registering the Top Level Domain .halal and .kosher. This means that if the application is approved, in the near future, you could register domain names ending with .halal or .kosher rather than the conventional .com, .net or .org. Its quite amusing to know that religion also plays such a big role in marketing your goods and services even in the electronic world.
Religious Web Hosting: What does that mean?
A simple search on Google reveals that there are many organisations offering Religion-based hosting. There are numerous Christian hosting and Muslim hosting providers who claim to have been in business for a long time. Their Unique Selling Proposition is that they offer customer-service backed by religious values.
GraceNet hosting's website states that: "From the beginning, our desire has been to enable those who have been redeemed through faith in Christ to have a safe place to impact the world, using the technology of the Internet......we are committed to providing the finest in Christian Web Hosting services in a God-honoring manner...."
UmmahSoft's website states that: "UmmahSoft was launched to cater specifically for Muslim and Islamic websites and customers."
This seems to be quite a myopic attitude towards business. These websites are highlighting the fact that they prefer business from members of their own religion and not people who dont have the same faith. While it sounds like a very strategic marketing plan targeting a niche audience, not many people sharing the same faith would relate faith with technical competency. Moreover, it gives a clear message that they are a closed group who are overtly biased towards what your thoughts are.
On the Sabbath Day (Sunday) Jewish Web Hosts not only go off work and avoid answering support calls, but completely turn off their websites and leave an "Under Construction" message. That's like the Police Department refusing to attend to your Emergency Call on Full Moon nights.
Times may not be far when Web Hosting is based on your political ideology. Marxist Hosting and Communist Hosting will do well in some countries, especially where the censorship laws are strict. Most of us would prefer Democratic hosting though. Hosting based on dietary preferences may also become a reality some day. 100% Vegetarian Hosting will be a big hit in India. The Middle East would definitely go for the Non-Vegetarian option.
The Purpose of the Internet
The whole purpose behind having an international network of computers is so that there is free unfettered flow of knowledge and information all across the world. Its no surprise why the Internet has been nominated for the Nobel Peace Prize multiple times. The internet is not a shallow system which can be controlled or captured or monopolized by a limited section of society. The internet can be censored but cannot be controlled.
In the 21st Century, providing technology services based on caste, religion, sex, race or any other man made boundary, is laughable. The whole concept of technology outshines these boundaries and transcends them. If it were not for innovations in Information Technology, we would still be in the Dark Ages.
Soft Targets
Servers on the internet are constantly susceptible to all types of malicious attacks and hack attempts. Shared hosting servers have to face a larger share of these attacks, due to the multitude of data flowing through them and the vast variety of physical locations accessing them.
Hosting servers in some countries are often specific targets for attacks from hackers from other countries. India and Pakistan have consecutive Independence days on 14th and 15th of August. "Hackers" from both countries try to hack websites based in the other country just for kicks and to show off their technical prowess on those 2 days. Several sites and servers in those 2 countries are hacked or defaced, with the name of the defacer proudly mentioned on the website.
Offering religion based hosting may become a magnet for people who are against that particular religion and want to express their feelings by hacking or malicious attacks. Being a client of that company exposes you directly to server downtime, excessive security measures and various other restrictive actions taken by the server administrators to secure the server.
Whatever your religious views or political ideology, if you are rational or business oriented, you would definitely choose a web hosting provider who is inclusive and does not discriminate against you based on your thoughts or opinions, neither do they make you feel uncomfortable by allowing their opinions and ideology to affect your business.
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