Earlier this week Boing Boing posted a link to the Electronic Frontier Foundation's new Takedown Hall of Shame, which is exactly what it sounds like: a place to highlight some of the most egregious attempts by companies to use the law to bully critics into silence. Included on the site is a handy guide that explains steps you can take to help prevent the sudden shutdown of your site due to an angry business.

The guide won't replace actual legal counsel and isn't meant to, but it does provide a lot of tips on how to shore up your fair use claim before any trouble starts.

Of course, the weak link in any online legal bullying is the web host that serves your site. Most web hosts will yank a site at the first sign of trouble because that's how they can guarantee they won't be included in a lawsuit. The EFF offers a link to a list of web hosts with spines, who won't crumble at every letter a lawyer sends. They also suggest MayFirst, which I'm including here only because it's the one host they named that isn't also on that linked list.

Takedown Hall of Shame [EFF via Boing Boing]