Just ot give a bit of background, we run an internet company (sell domains and webspace). One of our employees got a call from the FSA today saying that one of our customers who has a name and website with us is "cold calling" and that this is against their policy. That is pretty much all they said and that they would write to us.
I am wondering: A) why did they contact us and not the customer directly? / what has it got to do with us? B) what kind of authority do FSA have? (Can they ask you to shut someone's web site down etc?) which leads to question C) who has the authority to ask an ISP to shut a website down?
Unless the website has illegal content or copyright violations, tell them where to go, activity which does not involve the website is rightly nothing to do with the ISP, sounds like they are trying it on.
Most ISP's will react to complaints at their own discretion, although some do bow to pressure from government bodies or indeed other bodies, they would need to take the ISP to court to enforce removal of the site from the host, which unless it contains illegal or defamatory material is highly unlikely.
Do not concede to this kind of bully boy pressure.
This statement is inaccurate, in that responsible ISPs consider the "spamvertising" of any given web site (its promotion by means of unsolicited electronic advertising of various kinds, the most common being Unsolicited Commercial Email, Excessive Multi-Posting and/or Excessive Cross-Posting on Usenet and Windows Messenger Service "pop-up spam", although there are others) as being an Acceptable Use Policy violation punishable by suspension and/or termination of the web site concerned, even if the unsolicited electronic communication concerned originates from a different network or networks.
A web site's promotion by means of unsolicited telemarketing calls however is a somewhat different issue, and I am not aware of any ISP who would regard that as actionable abuse (however, there may be some). I would imagine that a request for a web site's suspension by a recognised regulatory body such as the Financial Services Authority may result in such suspension however in some cases, although that would depend on advice provided by the ISP concerned's external or internal legal counsel since most abuse teams would refer such an unusual request to their relevant legal folks.
I have, though, some considerable doubt whether the Financial Services Authority have contacted an ISP in this case. Based on the original poster's article, I suspect a practical joke of some kind may be being played, and I would recommend that the ISP concerned take careful steps to establish the bona fides of any callers contacting them regarding this issue. The Financial Services Authority's web site, together with contact information, is available at:
formatting link
Most ISPs have a prohibition on "illegal use" in their Acceptable Use Policy. If the Financial Services Authority approached an ISP with a statement that an organisation who fall under their regulatory remit were acting illegally, and that the organisation's web site were a significant part in that, I believe that many (perhaps most) UK ISPs would be likely to suspend the site concerned, erring on the side of caution (although, as mentioned above, that decision would in all probability be made by their lawyers).
If the contacts which the original poster describe are indeed from the Financial Services Authority (and I have some doubt, as expressed above, whether that is in fact the case), I would not regard that as "bully boy pressure". The Financial Services Authority have a responsibility to protect the public, and I would regard an approach of that kind as in a different category than (say) an approach from a firm of solicitors representing a corporate client, claiming that a web site which was clearly not defamatory was so, and insisting upon its removal.
It is when taken out of the context of 'cold calling' which the OP was referring to.
So, basically the same as my statement above, if it proves to be illegal then it is a different matter,
You have basically repeated exactly what I stated in more depth, the FSA have not stated that any illegal activity has taken place as of yet, so no action is necessary, the expected letter may however state otherwise, and the site may need to be removed.
So as I say, unless the website has illegal content or copyright violations, tell them where to go.
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