Right-wing friendly Parler announces re-launch

BOSTON (AP) — The right-wing friendly social network Parler, which was forced offline following the Jan. 6 attack on the U.S. Capitol by supporters of then-President Donald Trump, said it is re-launching.

The Twitter alternative has been struggling to return online since Amazon stripped it of web-hosting service on Jan. 11 over its unwillingness to remove posts inciting violence. Google and Apple removed Parler’s app from their online stores for the same reason.

An interim CEO, Mark Meckler of the Tea Party Patriots movement, said in an emailed statement Monday that Parler would be brought back online for current users this week with new users being able to sign up next week.

The only content available on the website, however, was a single, static page whose lead post reminded viewers of “technical difficulties.” An attempt to log into the Parler app on Monday failed, citing a “network error.”

Public internet records showed that Parler was being hosted by a Los Angeles Company, SkySilk. Ron Guilmette, a California-based internet researcher and activist, said SkySilk appeared to be a small outfit and that it was not clear to him whether it could provide adequate security for the site.

In particular, Guilmette cited the need for robust defense against denial-of-service attacks, which flood a site with data traffic to make it inaccessible. Such attacks are a threat to any major internet site — especially if their content is at all controversial.

A SkySilk representative did not immediately respond to questions about support the company is providing to Parler. For a time after Amazon dropped it, Parler was receiving denial-of-service protection from a Russian-based outfit called DDoS-Guard.

That ended following revelations that DDoS-Guard had provided...