DO - TOS is like a slander clause
Yes it is, it's relative to the laws of a given country what is considered slander and what is not.
> I am saying that they are perfectly within their right to enforce their TOS how they see fit
There are laws around slander and DO has no right to enforce them, because last time I checked vigilantism was illegal.
> If the OP doesn't agree with them, there is nothing that says he can't move his content to another provider that may not make the same decision DO has.
How easy or hard to move his content is irrelevant, the fact is he paid for a service which the provider terminated citing unproven(innocent until proven guilty) claims based on a one liner email from some random person on the internet.
It is not vigilantism because DO is not threatening to throw the poster in jail over an allegedly illegal act. They are simply enforcing their contractual rights.
You could argue that this is a breach of contract, and that the poster must be shown in court to have defamed someone before the contract is terminated, but note that the section of the TOS that DO cites also says that the poster cannot "harass or embarrass" someone. That's pretty vague and gives DO a lot of leeway to argue that the poster breached the TOS. It's a pretty crappy TOS to be sure, but I wouldn't bet money on the poster winning a court case here.
> the fact is he paid for a service which the provider terminated
This makes it sound like they just shut down his account, when in fact they communicated with him, telling him exactly what he would need to do to bring his content into compliance with their TOS, at which point he would presumably have continued access to his account. At this point, it would be his choice about whether to continue his relationship with DO, or to move to another provider.
Relevant links:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Defamation
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vigilantism
There are laws regarding defamation, I don't think DO can just opt in to enforce them. They can write anything in their TOS, wether or not it's legally enforceable is another question.
This varies by jurisdiction.
You are generally free to speak with someone and report it.
And they are terminating a service that the OP paid with it's _own_ money. There are consumer protection laws.
> Is there a law stating that they don't have a right to do this?
They don't have the right to enforce the law, they are not the police, and as it turns out there are laws against slander.
If you get court order to take a page down do that - probably because it is illegal. IMO the more drama the more your business is visible. For one I heard very good things about Digital Ocean - however I am very libertian minded and I think whatever people go going between themselves - they should figure it out. If things turn criminal let police deal with it.
Ethics matter to me. And they matter to many people. This guy is pure bully and I feel bad for the Googler. I'm glad DO stepped in and politely asked him to anonymize his post.