When Is Offshore NOT Really Offshore

I've been searching for a truly offshore hosting company (still vacillating between VPS and dedicated server, mostly because of my need to control my server) for my entirely legal, communications businesses websites that serve high profile individuals who like their privacy as much as I like mine. My goal is to be out of reach of the US civil legal system where anyone (American or not) can file frivolous lawsuits and use the purported power of the US subpoena to compel discovery and other information about me and my businesses that they couldn't otherwise obtain. They look at my businesses and see dollar signs; deep pockets they can get into with the right lawsuit.

It doesn't matter if a lawsuit has any legal basis here in the US; it's that one has been FILED that provides the right to subpoena and discovery. (I worked in law firms for years; I know how easily this can and is done.) And that means the defendant has the obligation to fight back or lose. Fighting, or even settling, can be costly to a small business.

There are people and lawyers here whose only source of income is such lawsuits--especially of the "John Doe" or "CyberSLAPP" type. Sometimes the only objective is the destruction of a business by a competitor or enemy--and a lawsuit targeted to a small business can have that affect. Those of you who are in the US know exactly what I mean; we have entire industries designed to protect us from frivolous legal actions that are costly to fight. Lawsuits are sport here and hosting companies, rather than be sued themselves, capitulate to a simple, threatening letter from a private attorney (or a bogus attorney letter from anyone trying to locate somebody), canceling private domain registration and revealing other information about a client. Many webhosts, here and abroad, don't even validate the letter or contact the client to allow them to quash a subpoena or respond to the letter before they "out" the client. I'm not talking about law enforcement agencies investigating a suspected crime; I'm talking about private citizens using a legal system gone haywire to harm those with American interests or connections.

There are numerous other threats to privacy here, too, including USA Patriot Act excused government snooping, stalkers and just plain nosy citizens sniffing traffic and hacking your website to learn things about you they want to know. But the legal actions are my biggest concern. Therefore, it's just cheaper to go offshore with my websites and domain registration (and take other protective actions to protect my privacy and content), making them as anonymous as possible, than to pay for all of the liability coverage I would need in order to protect myself and my businesses from lawsuits, which can be upwards of several thousand dollars a year AND require me to sign personal guarantees as well as put my name and contact information into one of those databases from which anyone, anyplace in the world can buy my info.

So, I need a hosting company in a privacy friendly jurisdiction (read, one that not only values free speech but won't "give you up" at the first hint of a legal threat) that has NO connection the to US, the surveillance societies that other countries have become or oppressive governments that harm those who speak out again political or other corruption or whatever. (That rules out MOST countries on the planet.)

However, most of the companies I've considered either use American servers to host their OWN sites, use American servers to host client sites or have some other connection to America! Some of them purport to be "truly anonymous" or "private" yet have American divisions or are American companies offering offshore privacy! Others register your domain privately or sell you DNS management and then park your domain on US servers! How can you claim that and be connected to the US or another surveillance society? (See the Privacy International website to learn what I mean by "surveillance society", if you don't know.)

It's gotten so that, in part because of one of my favorite Firefox add-ins that tells me where the server of a company is ACTUALLY located, regardless of their domain name's geo-designation, if I see an American flag on my browser bar, I don't even let the site load up before I close it. Connections to America mean client's privacy and confidentiality can be breached by an attorney letter or subpoena to the company hosting the server or to the American branch/hosting partner of the "offshore" company where the target has hosting. (And DNS cloaking or URL redirects aren't always successful.)

So, why do "offshore" hosting companies on American servers, using American hosting companies to serve clients, who are resellers for American hosting companies or that have other, direct or indirect connections to America, call themselves "offshore" when their assets are on American servers and subject them and their to American legal action and law (like the USA Patriot Act?)? Don't they know this is true?

Do clients desiring true privacy or anonymity (even those living outside the US using non-US hosting) understand the risks of hosting with or allowing your offshore registrar to park your domain on the servers of a hosting company with US ties (like a US division or parent) if they want to avoid US-related issues when hosting? I mean, even using Google ad dollars and similar US services if you're trying to remain offshore with your websites can subject you to legal action in the US and all that it means.

And, just who are the TRUE, reliable offshore hosts in privacy friendly jurisdictions who have great service AND price structure? Do they exist?