My question comes in two parts. The broader of them, I wonder if anybody can describe getting a foreign web host? Foreign meaning "in a country other than where you [the customer] live". That's applicable to everyone on the net, although I'm sure the answers will vary?

More specifically, I read about a nascent industry of Big Brotherism on the web. Spiders like Google Bot wander the net, scraping data, building lists of all pages that mention their nefarious customers, etc. An article in Wired (?) mentioned the ability of some of these to geo target, specifically talked about finding pages on the web written by people who don't like Windows Vista and live in either the US, Canada, or France, and especially the distinction between French Canadian, and "real" French.

I'm in northern California, and take privacy pretty seriously, especially online. I realize nobody is going to come knocking on my door, and yet, I feel almost like it's my duty to "poison the well" with "impure" data to make this kind of stuff less valuable in the aggregate, in hopes that marketing companies will leave us all alone. I can't really explain it any better than that, it's like a beaver that hears water, having no choice but to build a dam. So, I'm giving a lot of thought to hosting my WP blog elsewhere in the world.

I'm not sure I quite understand the question. What exactly do you want to know that needs describing?

Well - are there any complications with having your site hosted in another country? I don't think there would be tariffs or anything like that (?), but is there anything tricky I should know about?

How far are you looking to host? Also, have you talked to your current host - and asked them where their servers are located?

The only problem you could experience would be a slower connection (very minuscule) and problems with persecution (if anything does happen). Most people host in distant locations in order to avoid sketchy actions such as warez hosting.

specifically talked about finding pages on the web written by people who don't like Windows Vista and live in either the US, Canada, or France, and especially the distinction between French Canadian, and "real" French.

The site's owner is not necessarily the one who's opinion or interests are presented on the site. Site's are quite often hosted away (1000 or more miles) from the place where the owner lives in.

If you're worried about whois based spam, I guess it makes sense to use privacy services.

The main goal for the web hosting - your site has to be reached as quicker as possible and as Dan said it can be far from you. It doesn't matter where that is hosted more important how fast your audience can reach it

I am already hosting in a foreign location, and I don't find any issues with this.

If you're worried about whois based spam, I guess it makes sense to use privacy services.

But how web hosting location and whois connected with each other?
I'm sure that you can get spam without even having web site and hosting account.

Does the hosting location is important for you? you current hosting very difficult to access?

no it has no different where your site is hosted it just on how fast the connection can be made in some cases say your site was only going to be use by uk people they you may want to think about geting a hosted server in the uk but most of the time now as long as you chose the right host with the right datacenter then you should be ok with hosting it there.

try to mach a host to where u live has not real diffents to your customers or you

it did used to be said that google would rank you better in say the uk serch if you host the site in the uk but i dont think this is a ture as people say.

i would just host your site is the fasties place as you can eg the one with the best datacenter

I'd stay ride with free hosting...And you don't have to worry about anything like that, no matter where in the world your located.

I'd stay ride with free hosting...And you don't have to worry about anything like that, no matter where in the world your located.

If you have site you do not forget to lose

Your website can be accessed anywhere in the world so its hosting location doesn't really matter. When I set up my first website, I didn't ask for the hosting's location. I asked for the price so that I could fit it to my budget.

I assume that it is important to understand web hosting services from which countries do you consider as foreign host?

it did used to be said that google would rank you better in say the uk serch if you host the site in the uk but i don't think this is a ture as people say.

Web host location do not influence on the SEO. But uptime does. That is the main index you should do the search for the web hosting on.