The website RateMyCop.com is back online today after webhost GoDaddy took the site offline Monday for undisclosed reasons. The new site allows users to rate individual police officers in 500 different police departments. Police around the country became upset when the site's administrators began making public information requests for the names and badge numbers of officers. Citing public safety, police groups are even lobbying to have legislation passed that would make the website illegal.

GoDaddy officials aren't commenting on the reasons behind their decision to take the site down, and according to a RateMyCop.com representative, the company has already given them two conflicting explanations ("suspicious activity" and exceeding bandwidth limitations). It remains to be seen whether or not pressure from police played any role in the situation.

It's doubtful any law passed to outlaw RateMyCop.com would pass Constitutional review, particularly considering that rating college professors and other individuals has long been fair game on sites like RateMyProfessors.com. Police officers have the same litigation options against defamatory commenters as private citizens, and in their role as public servants, officers should expect some form of accountability for their behavior to the citizens they police.

RateMyCop.com founder Gino Sesto told Wired.com yesterday that he had already arranged for a new web host and hoped to be back online by last night. A whois search of the domain today identifies the site's host as HostForWeb, Inc.