14 DAY TRIAL // Blogging platform Ghost has decided to upgrade its server infrastructure and will be moving to Digital Ocean while also leaving the UK for Holland due to concerns about the country's position on user privacy.
John O'Nolan, former WordPress lead designer, has started the Ghost project back in 2013, providing a blogging only platform built on top of Node.js.
Since its launch, the service has provided a free self-hosted version for anyone to download and install on their own servers, and a Pro service that offers paid-hosting on Ghost's infrastructure.
The Pro platform's success has taken a serious piece of WordPress.com's market share and also allowed the company to acquire competitor Roon.io last December.
In an update on the company's blog, Mr. O'Nolan has announced the Pro platform will be dropping its own servers infrastructure and moving to Digital Ocean due to the huge influx of users they have been getting at rates higher than expected.
UK's constant prodding at user privacy laws may scare away other companies as well
While infrastructure updates are nothing new nowadays, every online service going through one, two, or even more as their activity expands, few companies take time to specifically point out they are moving to another country altogether because of privacy concerns.
Because that's what Mr. Nolan did, shaming the UK government for its narrow-minded approach to online privacy, and its constant efforts of knocking down any laws that may stand in their way, even if they are basic human rights.
Since the platform may end up hosting bloggers with unpopular opinions towards the UK government, Ghost aims to protect freedom of speech by moving to a country that not only appreciates it but also takes the proper legal steps to defend it.
Ghost's new servers will be housed in Amsterdam, Holland, a country ranked second in the world by the Reports without Borders organization when it comes to freedom of the press.
