Bell Canada hit by traffic throttling class action
p2pnet news | Freedom:- When Quebec ISP Videotron changed its contract bandwidth policies from unlimited to a 100-gig cap, Quebec users fought back by contacting the Union des consommateurs (Consumers Union) to get a class-action lawsuit going against the company for false advertising and breach of contract, posted p2pnet‘s Ottawa Gal in March.
And now the same union, together with Bell customer Myrna Raphael, has lodged a class-action lawsuit against Canada’s largest ISP, accusing it of false advertising.
“Raphael is said to have signed a three-year ADSL contract in 2006, partly on the basis of Bell’s claim of ‘constant speed’ at all times,” says Electronista.
But when Bell Canada started throttling users last fall, it broke the contract, she and the union state.
“Bell is further accused of violating users’ privacy, by using a technology called deep packet inspection (DPI) as part of the throttling process,” says the story.
DPI = Deep Packet Inspection which, says the Wikipedia, “enables advanced security functions as well as internet data mining, eavesdropping, censorship, etc,” p2pnet said, going on >>>
CAIP (Canadian Association of Internet Providers) said in a submission to Canadian regulators, “Bell is using DPI to sequester or ‘hijack’ certain data packets as they pass through the network, and hold these packets hostage until certain pre-conditions are met …”
And CIPPIC (Canadian Internet Policy and Public Interest Clinic) is asking the Canadian privacy commissioner to open an investigation because, it says, Bell has not only, “failed to obtain the consent of its retail and wholesale internet customers in applying its deep-packet inspection technology, which tells the company what subscribers are using their connections for,” it’s using Deep Packet Inspection to, “find and limit the use of peer-to-peer applications such as BitTorrent, which it says are congesting its network.
FairShare, a product made by Canada’s Sandvine, “collects subscriber usage metrics from various sources and analyzes the data according to sophisticated, configurable parameters,” the story said, continuing >>>
Then it, “dynamically modifies policies to balance available bandwidth and resources among subscribers”.
It actively throttles bandwidth, in other words.
“Although DPI may be used for beneficial purposes, such as the control of spam, viruses and hacking, it has also been implicated in more sinister uses such as censorship, net neutrality violations, and government spying in countries like China and the US,” says Electronista, adding:
“As punishment for Bell, Raphael and the UDC are seeking 80 percent of customers’ monthly subscription fees, a figure said to be proportionate to Bell’s throttling. Subscribers would additionally be eligible for $600 regarding false advertising, and $1,500 as compensation for privacy violations.”
Definitely stay tuned.
.
.Stumble It!
p2pnet – Bell-Sympatico P2P throttling: more, March 25, 2008
Electronista – Bell Canada hit with class-action throttling lawsuit, May 30, 2008
p2pnet – Sandvine FairShare traffic throttling, May 21, 2008
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May 30th, 2008 at 12:11 pm
> FairShare, a product made by Canadaâs Sandvine, âcollects subscriber usage metrics from various sources and analyzes the data according to sophisticated, configurable parameters,â the story said, continuing
Whatever story you are citing, ask them what evidence they have that Bell uses Sandvine products to do its DPI and throttling. Most credible sources point to Ellacoya as Bell’s “arms dealer.” (BTW BCE has an equity interest in Ellacoya.)
May 30th, 2008 at 4:16 pm
If I could make one UK Law it would be Class Action Suits, without that Government and Big Business can and do crap all over us and we have to take it.
May 31st, 2008 at 7:42 am
But Tony Blair, with his infinite wisdom, has made Britain a classless society, so class action lawsuits cannot exist.
He also single handedly abolished poverty across the world, fed the hungry and made evil war a thing of the past.
After leaving office he has also shown his goodness by continuing his work to bring even more peace to the middle east (as if the peace he already brought wasn’t enough) and now his Catholic Foundation shows, in no uncertain terms, that he isn’t interested in starting up honey pots to channel even more wealth his way, but believes in a harmonious union of all faiths to a common peaceful understanding, as long as his faith is in charge of this ‘New Faith’.
May 31st, 2008 at 8:47 am
True, Class Action suits is one part of US law that I love…. those two words are enough to send shivers down most companies spines and make them play fair.
Would be fantastic if all the countries adopted that from the US, instead of parts of the DMCA which is totally screwed up.
Cheers!
Markos
http://www.ezee.se/
June 4th, 2008 at 6:15 am
And to think one of Bell’s biggest selling point is the constant speed of their network… YEAH RIGHT!!! …