Bell Canada pulls U-turn on super-invasive web-stalking operation Following the Canadian Privacy Commissioner's investigation into "an unprecedented number of complaints" regarding Bell Canada, the telecommuncations giant is suddenly back-pedalling on its customer tracking policy. A report from the Canadian Privacy Commissioner's Office (OPC) has urged telecommunications companies to adopt " …
I likely misunderstand this, but I thought the concept of a ‘common carrier’ was rooted in not being liable for what you do not know about. For instance, the post office may deliver my libellous documents, but are not themselves party to the offence because they were simply the delivery agent. On the other hand, had they read and understood my documents, and then proceeded to deliver them, they would be party to the offence.
That said, would it not be better to leave these creepy ISPs alone, then drag them in as a participating party to every internet related crime?
My deep distaste for Bell Canada may be evident from this fantasy....
Its not ... Bell is only one of the players here. Most ISPs are doing this. All with government approval. Look out .. you might hate Bell my friend .. but really our Government are using most ISPs for this activity and now they want to pass Bill C 51 that will cover this all up. This ... This is just a smoke screen to keep everyone split and not fighting against Bill C 51 .. this bill is far worse than anyone can fathom. Look back at history ... 1931 .. they might not have had the internet .. but they had the census and much more .. IBM helped them put their death lists together .... if you look at Bill C 51 it legalizes everything Bell is doing. Everyone should read it .. its boring for the first part until you get half way and then you realize no matter what changes ... this bill has to be scraped it over writes all the laws acts and rules in Canada .... lets all concentrate on phoning emailing our MP .. get this bill gone .. if you hate Bell .. you should hate this bill.
The answer in these things is always simple. Vote with your wallet. If you do not like their practices, don't use their services. Sometimes standing up for your beliefs, holding fast to your morals, showing true character come at a cost but isn't there always a price for freedom and your privacy?
Talk the talk or walk the walk.
List of available high speed ISP options at my address:
1) Bell FiberOP at 150-200 Mbps
-end-
List of available medium speed ISP options at my address:
1) Bell ADSL at 1.4 Mbps
-end-
List of other options:
1) dial up - no.
2) satellite - no way.
3) mobile - no.
None of these are actually viable
Monopolies need regulation. End.
How come none of these fucktards can actually remember who their customers are?
Oh, the know full well who their customers are. It seems however, that you may not.
Their customers are the multimationals who subscribe to the "Relevant Advertising Program". The poor sods who use their phones and internet connections are not Bell's customers, they are Bell's product.
You really should know this by now...
Opt-Out? If possible, required phone calls and emails to major execs.
Opt-In? Hah. Never.
Just a bit of blue sky thinking here, but wouldn't it be possible to require every service provider to list their "things" in a comparable format (XML):
- Bandwidth caps and all rules changing these caps
- Tracking devices and how to disable tracking
- Throttling based on various rules (list them all)
- Last month/year/5-year performance (per-user bandwidth, etc.)
- Last month/year/5-year customer complaints (if believable: satisfaction index)
This or some variation of this should be sent quarterly to their licensing agencies. This should be freely available within 1 month of publishing. This should be verifiable and if found deficient should result in a 3 month warning with public disclosure, and if unresolved the loss of their telecommunications abilities.
Oh, and customers that couldn't get their contracted LOS should be released from their contracts without penalty.
Oh, since many of us are forced to deal with only one ISP (rural or state/country hegemony), this is all a bunch of poopycock.
"We’re dedicated to protecting customer privacy and thank the commission for clarifying the rules."
Yeah, way to lie Bell. (Obviously not dedicated to protecting customer privacy, when they continued to track customers who SPECIFICALLY said they didn't want to be by opting out, until threatened with court action.)
"Canada is almost even worse than the US when it comes to choice. "
There's no almost here. Canada actually has it worse -- high DSL and cable prices with low low data caps are typical. And wireless? Heh, I thought US pricing is bad, plans there have even higher data prices, instead of "unlimited voice" they have high priced capped voice plans, sometimes still with long distance charges and roaming charges outside a local market.
I think you're being very unfair. Bell Canada is enormously dedicated to protecting the privacy of the advertisers that buy Bell Canada subscriber tracking data.....Wait, you thought that YOU were the customer Bell Canada should be protecting? That's sweet in a kind of pathetically hopeful way :)
It's really telling - and cause for optimism - that 170 complaints is "unprecedented". What it means is the lot of us (me included) need to stop spending all of our time bitching on forums and start voicing our complaints where it can actually make a difference.
If all it took was 170 complaints to get them to actually DO something that caused Bell Canada to back down, there's still hope!
"They tend to be pretty easy going up there"
Oh yes. We're all polite fuckers we are. We will let you fuck with us until that one day that it's enough. You don't want to meet an ANGRY CANADIAN.
And Bell? Well, they're very much on the threshold -- musing about outlawing VPNs is one foot in that's for sure.
After all, how do you think we watch out of market hockey? ;)
There was more choice, options and cheaper plans in UK when I left 10 years ago than there are in Canada now.
While sorting out my contract recently it was interesting listening to the British couple next to me who had just moved here repeatedly say that all they wanted was a cheap basic plan. Once they got into definition of local v long distance it was almost comical.
Bell is the company whose CEO ordered CTV (Canada's largest private broadcaster, which Bell owns) to keep the head of the CRTC off the news following a ruling Bell didn't like.
http://www.theglobeandmail.com/report-on-business/bell-head-meddled-in-ctv-news-coverage/article23607402/
Meanwhile Harper's gov't is starving the CBC to ensure we no longer have a non-corporate news source.
Anyone beginning to see a pattern here?
Years ago, I received a significant 4-digit settlement from one misbehaving telco. A few hours work to make it happen, but well worth it. Pure profit due to the circumstances.
More recently, a medium 3-digit account credit to compensate for lies and deception regarding a mobile plan. Only took ten minutes effort in total to claw back their proceeds from their scam. No profit, but satisfaction.
Two for two.
CCTS would be used more if people knew how simple and effective the process was. Almost "Click here to spank your telco." About that easy.
That will be interesting to watch, but considering that most people don't pay Google or FB for web services rendered and they do pay Bell Canada for services rendered, it might be hard to argue that Bell Canada should be on the same legal footing as FB and Google.
Bell is just one of many that have or are doing this for all levels in government .. at leased 14 different departments are doing what bell has been caught doing. Government whats this to be legal and secret Bill C 51 is dangerous .. it can not be fixed. It has to go back to the drawing board no matter what any one is stating. Bill C 51 makes all of this legal. Read it .. its in the middle of the bill ... Rules Acts and Laws will be over written IF this bill sees the light of day. Bell is not the problem here ... it is the government getting a feel of how to make all of this legal.
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