Atlanteknology - Technology News for Atlantic Canada

We wish to arbitrate in Bora Bora

Everyone has heard of it - a website mistakenly offering some item or other for a price far below what is normally expected. Consumers snap up the item before the retailer realizes the error and fixes it. "Too late" say the consumers, "you advertized it at that price and I accepted".

"Not so fast" the retailer says, "Check the terms of sale". Go to the site, click through some links and "Voila!" you will find the terms of sale which often include a provision whereby any disputes are to be arbitrated (as opposed to trotting off to court) in some strange place like Bora Bora. (Just kidding on this last part - according to Lord Black Bora Bora is crammed with "loutish young men and their perky wives" and probably would not make a good place to arbitrate a conflict, notwithstanding the scenery).

Well, all of this happened to Dell. And so a Quebec man and a consumer group took up the torch of consumer protection and took goliath to court.

And lost. In a ruling released last Friday, the Supreme Court of Canada (overturning lower court decisions) concluded that the terms were made known to the consumer in a way which was consistent with industry standards and, under the particular circumstances of the case, should be upheld.

Now, this should not be taken as a broad blanket statement that such terms will, under all circumstances be upheld. However, if you have created an agreement with reasonable terms, have made it known (or at least taken reasonable steps to have made it known) to consumers, one can expect to have such terms upheld by a court.

However, there is a significant "but". Several provinces (at least Ontario and Quebec) have enacted or amended laws to deal with mandatory arbitration clauses in agreements. Others will likely follow suite although it is impossible to say with any certainty how long  it will take to implement such changes across the country. It will probably not be more than a few years.

All of which is to say that, as a retailer, you should make all reasonable efforts to make your customers aware of the terms of service/use/sale and should create terms which are not so draconian as to be  unconscionable.  Further, you should be aware and  take note of the fact that consumer protection laws are not uniform across Canada (assuming your business is solely within Canada). All of it adds up to good business practices - protecting the business while making sure the consumer is aware of her rights and obligations.

As a consumer, the oft repeated (and oft ignored) warning: Read agreements before you sign (or click your agreement). Now, there is often little choice - if you want the widget, you agree to the terms. But at least you are going into the deal making an informed decision. Ignorance is not bliss.

Misc. programmes for your computer

Not strictly related to anything on this blog….

A neat programme called Bullfighter for eliminating jargon in your documents – it is a plugin for MS Word called bullfighter.

A small, good (and free) programme called KeePass for securely storing passwords. Also has the ability (via plugins) to import passwords from both Firefox (why would you use anything else?) and Internet Explorer.

A fantastic little programme called CCleaner for cleaning up your computer. Small and free. Probably not for the sort of person who barely knows where the “on” button of the computer is, but great for anyone with a modicum of knowledge.

I use all of them.

Internet service providers as copyright police?

I read a rather disturbing story a short while ago. A Belgian court recently held that an internet service provider is responsible for preventing illegal file sharing among its subscribers. 

On a very simplistic level, it seems to me that this would be like holding the phone company liable for customers who use the phone network to threaten or extort people. Of course, the ISP made the same sort of argument to no avail.

The debate on this issue is not  going to be resolved any time soon. Indeed, it raises some fairly weighty issues, aside form the obvious - how can an ISP distinguish between a trade in music files that breaches some contract or law, and one that does not? Perhaps there is a simple technical answer to that problem. if so, I think we would have seen it by now...

The decision highlights the complexities of dealing with multiple jurisdictions, no matter the type of activity. Exporters, and in particular, exporters of pharmaceuticals, have been dealing with this for years but it sometimes comes as a bit of a shock to a start-up company when they discover, sometimes to their dismay, that some jurisdictional issue adversely affects the business model in a fundamental way.

It pays to do your research up front.

Surface computing and other assorted oddities

Well, it has been some time since I last put finger to keyboard and there have been countless interesting stories since last I wrote. Here are a few.

Microsoft has created something interesting – a computing platform on a coffee table. Well, not really. The platform is a surface users manipulate with their fingers. Check out the news story here at Popular Mechanics. “Surface computing” – you heard it here first (maybe). Multi touch technology – the next thing? Who knows.

Yousendit is great for people like me who send numerous large files via email. You enter your email address, the recipients, and then attach the files. The recipient gets an email with a link and then downloads the files from Yousendit. It is secure. There appears to be a paid premium service as well. I am not wuite such what extra bells and whistles come with it.

And hey, for something completely different – for years I have been turning my car off at stop signs, red lights, etc. Some people look at me like I am crazy. Well, not so crazy it seems. BMW and other car makers are introducing the idea in several models scheduled for release next year in Europe. From what I have read, it is somewhat like a gold cart in the sense that the car turns itself off automatically when it stops.