Class Action Suit Against Bell For Throttling

doppiodave writes "Hard on the heels of the Net Neutrality bill introduced in Canada's Parliament, a class action suit was filed yesterday against Bell by Quebec's Consumers Union, asking that extensive compensation be paid to all Bell's DSL subscribers for fraudulent advertising and privacy violations. The press release is available in French. The timing of this suit coincides with several other developments that suggest Net Neutrality is finally coming to the attention of the general public and Canada's regulator, the CRTC, which recently required Bell to file responses (by May 29) to an exhaustive list of interrogatories about its traffic-shaping practices."

Comments

Press release translation

[Looce]

MONTREAL, May 29 /CNW Telbec/ - The Consumers' Union and a Montreal consumer, Myrna Raphael, ask the Supreme Court to authorise a class action lawsuit against Bell Canada on behalf of all Quebec consumers subscribed, before or after October 28, 2007, to one of its DSL Internet access services.
Bell Canada, which announces in the promotion of its Internet access services "a constant speed, an access that is always fast, without frustrating slowdowns, even at peak hours" has installed on its network since last fall, surreptitiously, a mechanism that deliberately slows down, at peak hours, the transfer speed of its subscribers' data.
To inspect the users' data and manage the Internet traffic, Bell uses a technology called Deep Packet Inspection (DPI) which breaches the right to privacy of the consumers using their Internet access services.
Myrna Raphael has signed in 2006 a 3-year contract, wanting to take advantage of the constant speed offered by Bell Canada. For this consumer, as well as thousands of others, the constant speed was a key factor in her choice. Since Bell has systematically applied its slowdown measures, Mrs. Raphael and her spouse could not, in the evening, perform on the Internet any of the activities for which she had subscribed.
The Consumers' Union therefore asks of the Court to declare illicit Bell Canada's policy regarding the unilateral and systematic slowdown of data transfer towards its hundreds of thousands of subscribers and to force Bell Canada to reimburse these consumers, to whom Bell does not offer what they paid for, 80% of the sum of their monthly subscription. The Consumers' Union also asks of the Court to force Bell Canada to pay 600 [Canadian] dollars in damages for any and all false representations made to their subscribers regarding the constant speed of the Internet access that it committed to provide them, to order Bell to cease all breaches to the right to privacy of its subscribers and to force the company to pay them 1500 [Canadian] dollars for breaching their right to privacy.

The Consumers' Union and Myrna Raphael, the designated person, are represented by the law firm Unterberg Labelle Lebeau.

Information: Anthony Hémond, analyst, politics and legislation for telecommunications, broadcasting, information technology and privacy, The Consumers' Union, (514) 521-6820 extension 253

Do not call this number if you don't speak French! The official language in Quebec is French, and this designated person may not speak English.

DISCLAIMER: This is not an official translation. I do understand French, however, as my mother tongue.

Also, first post.

Re:Press release translation

[billcopc]

Big warning: I'm Quebec-born French, but the only time I speak French anymore is when I go drinking with the boys. I live right across the river in hypocritically-correct Ottawa.

Montreal is about as un-French as it gets. Sure, it's the official language but French people may well be a minority in there, it is a very multicultural city. Quebec city, well I wouldn't expect *good* English but I'm sure they speak some, simply because of the tourist industry.

Anywhere else if you ask someone "speak english", you're likely to get laughed at and/or attacked (seriously!). The further you are from the metropolises, the stronger the anti-English (and/or anti-immigrant) resentment. Common sense ain't so common in Quebec.

Back in 1995, we had the big referendum on Quebec's sovereignty. The separatists lost by a hair, with 49.5% of the vote, and a frustrated (and drunk) Jacques Parizeau on live TV, blamed it on "money and the ethnic vote". He was absolutely right. The only people who care about Quebec's independence and French uniformity are the poor, uneducated, unmotivated, ignorant swine.

Let's face it: Canadians with money typically aren't in Quebec - its provincial tax system punishes wealth and encourages low-expectation breeding imbeciles. I left Quebec because I don't have/want kids, and I'm not fond of my tax money subsidizing that idiotic baby bonus. They do get a few things right, like (good) cheap food and booze, but as a government they are the icon of failure.

Everyone joked about how a separated Quebec would become a 3rd world nation overnight, because they'd be cut off from any significant source of income. Their money would become worthless overnight and 97% of the world is unable to communicate in French. They're already living that scenario to some extend, cushioned by the federal government in many ways, yet they still resist progress and change.

If I call a Quebec company, and they can't find me someone who speaks English, then I can't find it in my heart to give them money. So what if I'm fluent in French, they're fluent in ignorance, and I don't support that.

The cynical reality

[Excelcia]

This is the way things tend to work up here. In the beginning, our leaders and lawmakers generally will just quietly make rational decisions based on ethical public policy and good technical input. Things are fine for some time here while we enjoy the sensible solution that seems to elude our neighbours to the source. Things continue happily for us while the same fight drags on in the US until big money wins out there. Then the same big money just pays for getting the American government to put pressure on ours until we capitulate.

So yes, it will be nice for a while, until your diplomats come calling to outline our terribly unfair (to ISPs) policies which are out of line with the rest of the world (America) and are damaging international relations. At which point, just to illustrate the issue, a softwood lumber tariff will get slapped on us which, of course, is completely unrelated to the net neutrality issue. " - you're accusing us of a punitive tariff? You wound us." But, surprise, surprise, it gets lifted when we cave in.

You /were/ rich.

[Gazzonyx]

Don't think they won't be kindly requesting that cash back, with interest, in your next months service bill. The bill will also, most likely, be accompanied by a change of service terms notice, and a rate increase letter.

I'd like to be pleasantly surprised (my father just retired from Bell/Verizon and without him working there, I wouldn't be in college - I must admit that), but I have a feeling I won't be. It seems that management will cut off their noses to show good numbers for the quarter, while actually losing money in the process of padding the numbers. They're not going to take a loss without passing it on to the customer, and they're probably going to take that opportunity to sweeten the deal for themselves just a little bit more. But, like I said, I really hope I'm wrong.