Parler is back online fully, or so it seems.
A couple of updates below
The site is now being hosted by Cloudroute SkySilk who seem to specialise in reselling Microsoft services. It looks like they might be offering some kind of private cloud hosting and that is what Parler is using. The IP address space the site is on appears to be linked to another company, SkySilk, who are based in Los Angeles.
SkySilk have issued a statement via Twitter confirming that they are hosting the social network site:
Whether the site’s new hosting will be resilient enough to keep it online, even if you ignore any of the inevitable calls to providers to shut the site down, is unknown at this time.
How much of the original data they’ve managed to resurrect is unclear, but apparently the accounts (ie. the users) were recovered, but for now at least all the posts including images and videos have been wiped.
Their app is still banned from the Apple store, but they’re offering an Android app which they expect you to “sideload” and thus sidestep the Google Play store.
The site is still making a number of highly questionable claims about user privacy and security:
Parler protects our community members’ rights and privacy. Parler is here to help people with varying life experiences, and from all walks of life communicate on a platform which treats them as equals.
Parler believes that people are entitled to security, privacy, and freedom of expression. All personal data is kept confidential, and never sold to third parties. Our concise Community Guidelines are based on fair and just legal precedent, and are enforced by a Community Jury.
While those statements might seem reasonable it’s pretty clear based on past history that unless the site has made significant changes to how it handles user data that privacy and security are far from guaranteed.
