: Under what circumstances is a website subject to United States laws? I'm a Canadian student currently hosting a website using a German VPS service, which I want to put a forum on in the near
I'm a Canadian student currently hosting a website using a German VPS service, which I want to put a forum on in the near future where users can submit content. However, all of my domains are .com, which is an American registry under an American registrar, and the website is made accessible to American users although the target audience is worldwide.
I'd like to avoid subjecting myself unnecessarily to United States laws, in order not to be required to comply fully with things like the DMCA safe harbour provision and COPPA (although I might implement similar measures to the extent I find reasonable and to maintain compliance with the local laws of both Canada and Germany). I don't plan on doing anything illegal with the site itself, however, unlike a similar question posted here.
In this situation, does the United States have any power or jurisdiction over my website? Do I need to comply with US laws just because I make my site accessible to them or because my domain name is under American control?
More posts by @Debbie626
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US can always block your site within US itself through a court's order if you've broken their laws.
If you are member of any country having extradition treaty with US then you can be brought in US to face their courts(that's why Julian Assange does not want to come out of Equador embassy in London as Sweden has extradition treaty with US).
Even if yours is not a member country, if you visit any member country, you can be caught and deported to US.
Sometimes US has also used brute force to capture their enemies in the foreign countries without even getting it ratified it before the UN or so.
Kim Dot Com was a German operating servers in New Zealand and yet the FBI still raided him. Despite the raid being deemed entirely illegal in hindsight, that data and business was destroyed regardless.
Basically you can not avoid the US claiming jurisdiction wherever they please unless you work in countries like China because the US has no regard for foreign law.
The more US visitors you expect to have, the more you need to comply with US laws even though they don't technically apply. Your edits don't change the fundamental answer, the amount of attention your site will get depends on who it is aimed at and what it does, not where it is hosted.
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