Another day, another piece of corporate assholery

[Faqa]

Two for the price of one - a monopoly ISP AND the music industry!

Web users suspected of file-sharing are being cut off without warning by internet service provider (ISP) Karoo, based in Hull.
Karoo, the only ISP in the area, makes customers sign a document promising not to repeat the offence in order to get their service restored.
Some customers have had their accounts suspended for more than two years.
While the firm calls its policy "the responsible approach", a digital rights group has called it "unfair".
If a copyright owner such as a major music label notifies Karoo of their content being illegally shared, as soon as the ISP can confirm this information it suspends that user's internet connection.
The customer must then sign a waiver stating that they will not do it again. Only then will Karoo reconnect them.
Compared to other ISPs in the UK, this direct action against illegal file-sharing is surprisingly severe.
The music industry has called for a "three strikes" rule - with disconnection as a final option after formal warnings.
However, the recent Digital Britain report said disconnection was not the government's "preferred option" given that internet access is now seen to be as critical as traditional utilities such as electricity.

Nick Thompson, director of consumer and publishing services at Kingston Communications, told the BBC: "I think it's the responsible approach, because we are protecting people from illegal activity."
"There are no benefits for us. In fact, when we cut off customers we're actually reacting against our own interests because we don't charge customers for that period when the service is suspended."
Andrea Robinson, a Karoo customer from Willoughby, told the BBC that she was cut off without warning on Tuesday; her account advised her that her password had expired.
On Thursday she received a letter from the firm, claiming that she had been using the peer-to-peer file-sharing service BitTorrent to download the film Terminator Salvation.
On calling Karoo, she was told to pay a visit to resolve the issue.
"They gave me a form to sign to get reconnected," she told the BBC.
"The form basically said 'if I admit my guilt you'll reconnect me'. So I didn't sign it and walked out. I'm still not reconnected."
'Totally unfair'
Karoo's approach is, for many, not a popular one.
"It's totally unfair to disconnect people without giving them any warning at all. In fact, disconnection is something that should only even possibly be considered as a result of court action." said Jim Killock, executive director of the digital rights activists The Open Rights Group.
Kingston Communications is the primary supplier of telecommunications and data services in the City of Hull.
British Telecoms has no lines in the area, and with no other choice of ISP, the residents of Hull often have no choice but to use Karoo if they want an internet connection.
The terms and conditions Karoo enforce are not new - the BBC has spoken to customers whose accounts were suspended over two years ago.
However, Karoo's policy once again throws open the discussion on how ISPs should deal with illegal file sharing.

In short, an ISP that is the only option in the area judges customers guilty of file sharing on mere suspicion, cutting their internet off without warning. That is just douchebaggery. Is this legal, even with a contract?

[Zac Naloen]

Karoo have a monopoly in the area, they can do this because they have no competition.

They were trialling the illegal phorm system as well last I checked.

BT recently dropped this because of the public backlash, consumers in hull would have no choice in the matter.

[Big Orange]

It is a shame that giant media corporations are run by outright luddites:

Sony Pictures CEO hates the Internet
May 16, 2009 4:53 PM PDT
by Dave Rosenberg

I wrote last week about Sony CEO Howard Stringer's comments suggesting Sony could have beaten Apple in digital music if only the had embraced open technology. While technology certainly could play a role in Sony's success, it's clear that the company needs a whole new way of thinking.

At a breakfast Thursday cohosted by the S.I. Newhouse School of Public Communications at Syracuse University and The New Yorker, Sony Pictures Entertainment CEO Michael Lynton told the audience his not-so-inner thoughts about the Internet.

"I'm a guy who doesn't see anything good having come from the Internet...(The Internet) created this notion that anyone can have whatever they want at any given time. It's as if the stores on Madison Avenue were open 24 hours a day. They feel entitled. They say, 'Give it to me now,' and if you don't give it to them for free, they'll steal it."

According to WWD.com Lynton tried out another simile. Referring to the Obama administration's goal to spread broadband access without, he said, regulating piracy, Lynton made a comparison with building highway systems without speed limits or driver's licenses. "We do need rules of the road," he said.

Rules of the road are one thing, but these type of short-sighted, borderline absurd comments suggest a more systemic problem. Instead of embracing new technologies and delivery methods, Sony chooses to stick to the old, now failing ways, as evidenced by the company's recent $1 billion loss.

With leadership like this, Sony only has itself to blame.

cnet News

No wonder Sony has lost their edge and gone right down the crapper in recent years, making an unbroken string of bizarre decisions that have squandered their technological and commercial advantages, hurt/antagonized law abiding customers in their millions, and exacerbated media piracy anyway.

[NoXion]

How on Earth does Karoo have such a monopoly? Wouldn't it be ridiculously easy for a relatively large company such as BT to muscle in on a market of that size? I call shenanigans.

[Zac Naloen]

How on Earth does Karoo have such a monopoly? Wouldn't it be ridiculously easy for a relatively large company such as BT to muscle in on a market of that size? I call shenanigans.

BT has no money and would have to rent local cabling from Karoo who own all the lines in the area.

It's just not worth it for anyone else to try and muscle in on Hull.

[Straha]

BBC is reporting that Karoo has changed the policy and is now adopting a 'three strikes' approach. Another example of what a little bit of media coverage can do.

[Edi]

As an employee of a major ISP in Finland, what I'm wondering right now is just what sort of consumer protection laws as well as restrictions on ISP behavior are in place in the UK. If it's even remotely similar to what we have here (say, 20% of the consumer protection and/or IT infra regs we have), anybody who sued this piece of shit outfit would get a summary judgment that fucked the bastards up the ass so deep they'd be feeling it ten years later.

Illegal abuse of monopoly position, breach of contract, assumption of powers reserved for police and/or prosecutors and/or the judiciary as well as numerous other things that would be dependent on other local laws come to mind immediately.

If what they are doing is actually legal, the UK legal codes surrounding this issue are fucked up to the nth degree.

[Zac Naloen]

I'm not sure that it is legal at all, our monopoly police are the reason BT has no money. But, Karoo as a company are twats this isn't the first time they've tried to pull shit like this and Hull is hardly an affluent area. The fact that they changed their policy so quickly shows quite clealry that they new they were in the wrong but they didn't expect anyone in the area to challenge them.

[Darth Tanner]

How on Earth does Karoo have such a monopoly?

I don’t understand how they can say Hull has only one internet service provider, a quick search on money supermarket and O2, Virgin, AOL, Sky, Names Co., Plus Net, Talk Talk, BT and a fair few others are offering me coverage. Hull is a major city after all.

If the Kingstone communications company is mandating this that makes sense as it own the lines but I don't know why Karoo can claim to have a monopoly as their only a subsidiary. Simply blocking out your competition would be a bloody clear violation of fair trade law.

[Big Orange]

Wouldn't constant abuse like this paint unscrupulpous companies like Karoo into a corner? If they can't fairly provide to their clients and suddenly cut them off for suspected file sharing, just like the music companies they're also cutting off their noses to spite their faces, and Karoo have developed a bad reputation like Sony did. Companies should serve their customers, not the other way around.

[Zac Naloen]

How on Earth does Karoo have such a monopoly?

I don’t understand how they can say Hull has only one internet service provider, a quick search on money supermarket and O2, Virgin, AOL, Sky, Names Co., Plus Net, Talk Talk, BT and a fair few others are offering me coverage. Hull is a major city after all.

If the Kingstone communications company is mandating this that makes sense as it own the lines but I don't know why Karoo can claim to have a monopoly as their only a subsidiary. Simply blocking out your competition would be a bloody clear violation of fair trade law.

I believe it is a very specific section of Humberside that has this problem with no competition, it's by no means the entire city. Although everyone will be renting their lines from Kingston Comms.

and Karoo and Kingston are the same company, Karoo is the retail name of Kingston communications iirc (my previous employer used Kingston for their WAN comms and internet, they were cheap but shit).

[Duckie]

Wouldn't constant abuse like this paint unscrupulpous companies like Karoo into a corner? If they can't fairly provide to their clients and suddenly cut them off for suspected file sharing, just like the music companies they're also cutting off their noses to spite their faces, and Karoo have developed a bad reputation like Sony did. Companies should serve their customers, not the other way around.

Liberatarian ridiculousness- if they have a monopoly on a good people need (it's getting harder and harder to do anything without the internet these days, let alone for a 'necessary leisure' item that it's become in the same way like meat isn't a necessary portion of one's diet each week but certainly almost everyone has it), they can charge whatever they want and do whatever they want as long as it doesn't outright provoke an attempt to literally destroy the company physically or financially from its serfs.

The only way Karoo would be punishable is if there were competition companies (not according to the article) and it generated enough bad press that they had to remove the policy or else go out of business (which they haven't, just loosened it; and if they didn't they wouldn't have gone out of business anyhow). Also this would work if their competitors aren't any better, which is how DRM-using companies survive since all major companies use forms of DRM which vary from the customer-preferred nose tweak of steam to the starforce lubeless ass-reaming models.

[Big Orange]

Not only are private telecom companies being greedy cunts, but so is the infamous First Bus:

First blames credit crunch for fare rises
Saturday, July 25, 2009, 07:00

MOST First bus passengers will see an increase in their fares from Sunday, despite the firm's pledge to help those struggling during the recession. The bus company is making the changes because of the credit crunch and will increase the cost of day, month and annual tickets. But it stresses it has tried to help passengers who are feeling the pinch by freezing or cutting FirstWeek fares. A third of journeys made on First buses each year, 8.9 million out of 27.1m trips, are paid for up front using a weekly or monthly ticket. Passengers who buy their tickets on a day-by-day basis will see rises of between five and 10 pence on their single and return fares, while day tickets will rise by 10 pence. Monthly and yearly tickets have also increased and passengers buying a Bristol zone one and two ticket will now pay £73.50, an increase of £1.80 for a monthly ticket and £784, up £19 from £765, for a year ticket.

A weekly ticket for the same zones will stay the same at £20 or £2.86 a day, a move the firm hope will help commuters travelling to and from work. The company emphasised customers will always save more by purchasing advance tickets, many of which can be bought on the bus, and that direct debit options were available to help passengers pay for annual tickets. As part of the recent review of fare prices, all First6Month tickets have been withdrawn. Bristol's two-stop hop ticket – reduced last year – has also been held at 2008 prices at 80p for an adult and 60p for a child. The transport company announced a number of service cuts earlier this year, due to come into effect on Sunday, August 3. Areas affected include Yate, Winterbourne, Coalpit Heath, Chipping Sodbury, Eastville, Fishponds, Mangotsfield, Downend, Soundwell, Kingswood, Hanham and Frenchay. Two services – the express X30 and X40 services up the M32 from Bristol to North Yate – will be axed, while others will become less frequent or take different routes. First has said the decision to review fare prices was not taken lightly. Managing director of First Bristol, Somerset & Avon Justin Davies said: "Like many other businesses, we are not immune from the tightening economy and have a duty, both to our customers and our shareholders, to ensure we cover our costs and that the business remains sustainable.

"To that end, fares have to be set at a level that covers both our current and our anticipated costs. "Moving forward, we want to continue investing in our network and the vehicles we operate, bringing in even more super low-floor buses to increase accessibility for older people, those in wheelchairs and those travelling with buggies and push chairs. "We know that no one likes it when prices go up, and we are acutely aware that people are feeling the pinch at the moment, so it was with this in mind that we reduced the price of some tickets, including the popular Bristol FirstWeek zone one and Bristol FirstWeek zone two tickets, and we froze others. "We still believe that our season ticket products offer good value for money, allowing unlimited travel for as little as £1.73 a day in Bath and Weston-super-Mare and £1.60 a day in central Bristol." For a complete breakdown of the changes, visit http://www.firstgroup.com/ukbus, or call customer services on Bristol 0845 602 0156; Weston-super-Mare 0845 606 4446 and Somerset 0845 602 0156.

Evening Post

[Darth Tanner]

All bus companies are greedy arseholes. Throughout the fuel crisis they raised their fares because of rising fuel prices despite the fact they were all on multiple year fixed price contracts with the fuel suppliers.

The only way Karoo would be punishable is if there were competition companies

Why hasn't ofcom simply fined them or at least condemned them for their clear monopolistic practices. I know the 'of' regulators are as much use a a turd in a tsunami but even they occasionaly guve statements to the press every now and then.

I believe it is a very specific section of Humberside that has this problem with no competition

In this day and age it suprises me that someone isn't using the free media attention available now to declare they will offer their service to these people. I'd have though Richard Branson would have been ballooning in by the time I posted with a bag full of fibre optic cable.

[DaveJB]

As good of a PR move as it would be, getting the infrastructure in for cable would likely be an absolute killer, especially if the Hull area doesn't have any existing cable services.