Need help about my webmaster please
Hi everyone! I know this is a forum for webmasters, but I need a little advice. We have a webmaster for our company (fine dining restaurant in North Carolina) who actually used to work for our company before he went off and started his own web design company. While he was with us he started to build and maintain our current website. It is a beautiful website, but he is the actual owner of the website even after he left the company. He basically is holing us hostage with the website saying that if we don't pay him "x" amount of money he will shut down the site. He actually did shut it down yesterday for no reason just to prove he could. Is there anything legally or that any of you know of that can be done to make him turn over the ownership with the username and password of our website? Any help or advice would be of great help. Thanks!
DavidIpswich posted this at 16:06 — 2nd February 2011.
He has: 117 posts
Joined: Aug 2009
If you type your domain name into http://whois.domaintools.com/ it will tell you the name of the hosting company, the address of the server company, who owns the domain name, the company the name is registered with, when it was registered and when the registration ends, and who the admin contact is for the domain.
You may find that the company owns the name, but the individual is named as the contact.
You may be able to contact the hosting company and get them to change their records, so that (armed with a new username and password) someone can alter your site and lock out your former employee.
You may be able to contact the registering company and get them to change the registration details.
If you have an internal email, for example [email protected] or [email protected], etc., you would probably have more chance of successs, as an internal email would help prove that you were genuine and not a con to try and take over someone elses site.
If not, and if your company actualy paid for the registration and you have a receipt to prove it, you may consider going to the police. There may be two offences. 1. He may have appropriated a site he's not entitled to (stolen it), 2. He may be guilty of blackmail.
Hope that helps.
Greg K posted this at 03:34 — 9th May 2011.
He has: 2,145 posts
Joined: Nov 2003
Although this thread is old, this thread interests me.
It is said that the site was done while the person was "With Us". If that refers to the person being a full time employee, and the site design was done during work hours, and there was no employment agreement stating otherwise, then (double check with a lawyer) the company owns the copyright to site.
Regardless, either way, use a tool like http://www.httrack.com/ to grab a static copy of your site.
This is a good example of why something like this needs to be in writing. You may think someone will never leave, but you never know.
keyideas posted this at 04:55 — 9th May 2011.
They have: 24 posts
Joined: Jan 2011
Check your websites ownership and try to change your hosting provider. You can also change domain registrant by requesting your present registrant
C0ldf1re posted this at 06:05 — 23rd May 2011.
They have: 20 posts
Joined: May 2011
I agree with Greg K. If an employee constructs a website for his employer, then his employer owns the website. If the employee paid for the domain with his own money, he nonetheless holds it "in trust" for his employer. I have actually faced the same situation, albeit in another jurisdiction.
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