re: "Upwork removed my contractor for something unrelated to our project together. This was after I had already paid him ~$4000. He took my entire project's IP and is holding it hostage. Upwork will not give me an recompense."
Anthony:
I don't blame you if you are frustrated by the current situation.
For OTHER clients reading this thread (and for future reference for yourself):
Don't put yourself into a situation where this can happen. Follow this advice:
I am a client.
I am paying freelancers money to work on a project.
This is MY project.
It is MY responsibility to make sure that my investment is protected.
Upwork will not do this for me.
I will imagine worst case scenarios, such as a hard drive failure or regional blackout or developer/programmer DYING or GOING ROGUE. I will proactively arrange things so that this WON'T HURT ME. ("Sorry you're dead. Not my problem.")
I will arrange for source code and data to be AUTOMATICALLY backed up and archived.
I have personally tested the backup/archive to make sure that I can get to it. This is not simply something that I have "talked about" with the developer(s). I have tested it for myself or confirmed with my designee (who is not associated with the developer(s)) that this works.
There is an archive with source code and data located in a place that the programmer doesn't have access to. If the automated backup/archive is one that the programmer set up, they probably have access credentials for the backup location. I also have access credentials. And I regularly use the access credentials to copy the source code and data to a place that the developer(s) don't know about.
