ISP fined for giving racistic password to costumer, what's your opinion?

@diamania (7011)
Netherlands
May 28, 2009 1:13pm CST
In France an Arab man had problems with his internet connection so he called the helpdesk who gave him a new password: salearabe which is French and means: dirty Arab. As a result the man brought the ISP to court and won the case. The Internet Provider was sentenced to the payment a fine of 500 euros and a 8000 euros compensation. What do you think when you read this? Is the judge right?
1 person likes this
6 responses
@Canellita (12029)
• United States
16 Jul 09
This is truly amazing. Passwords are assigned through the random arrangement of letters that usually do not spell out actual words because words are easier to guess. I suppose this will set a precedent and now all programers will have to come up with algorythms to keep this sort of thing from happening.
@Canellita (12029)
• United States
23 Aug 09
All the more reason to have passwords be machine generated.
@diamania (7011)
• Netherlands
22 Aug 09
It wasn't generated by a set of algorithms instead it was manually created by an employee representing the ISP. In case the ISP can convincingly claim that it is generated then there couldn't have been a positive verdict from the judge on the matter.
1 person likes this
• United States
22 Aug 09
I really hate racist people, and I can not believe someone who is suppose to be professional would do something like this. It's ridiculous. This poor man just wanted some help with his computer and he gets treated like this...Arabs shouldn't be treated like this just because of something that a group (large group even) did. We don't treat Germans bad (as far as I know) because of the Holocaust. *I hate racists*
@diamania (7011)
• Netherlands
22 Aug 09
Germans are sometimes demeaningly reminded of what happened there is no doubt that it happens. The Hitler Heil for example can be seen as a demeaning gesture towards the Germans. Some people aren't as professional as they are supposed to be. Same goes for a hella lot of companies who just want to make profit and don't give a dang about the customers including but not limited to paypal, GVB ( Public Transit Amsterdam), UPC ( European Telecommunications Company) and so on and so on...
@chaime (1152)
• Philippines
21 Aug 09
well I do think so. More so since the man is an Arab and in turn is given a 'password' that is demeaning to him, then I guess that the court should rule for him.
@diamania (7011)
• Netherlands
22 Aug 09
I agree. It is racist and an indirect severe insult to the customer.
@Kenorv (343)
• United States
28 May 09
The U.S. gets a bad rap for being racist but I know there are some European countries that are much worse than the U.S. and France is one of them. Now as far as this specific case goes, I don't know the laws in France but if this case was in the U.S. then the guy probably would have gotten even more money than he did. The U.S. if famous for awarding victims a lot of money for stuff like this. 8000 euros is probably chump change compared to what he could have made if this happened in the states.
@diamania (7011)
• Netherlands
22 Aug 09
Sure not only America has a bad reputation when it comes to racism. Racism is everywhere. In lots of countries migrants and original inhabitants dislike each other. In France migrants occasionally set cars on fire and are involved in riots in the suburbs because they feel they are treated in a racist manner. The states is also known for awarding trunks full of money. I've heard stories about people suing manufacturers over incomplete user manuals. Which is not really strange when you misuse a device.
@Jimeous (858)
• New Zealand
2 Jun 09
Well considering the meaning and the nationality of the person then I think the judge was correct in this case. Unless the ISP could prove that the person giving the password didn't understand the meaning of the word, then it could defend itself. But it seems from the outcome they didn't, and perhaps it may have been intentional. I'm not saying that the person at that ISP was racists, maybe he was ticked off :p But overall, I think that was the right thing to do, considering the ISP has complete control over the password.
@diamania (7011)
• Netherlands
22 Aug 09
The ISP manually created the password therefore there is no way he/she can defend this action imho.
@EliteUser (3964)
• Australia
22 Sep 09
Hello, Yes I think that the judge had a correct ruling. But I don't totally agree with the compensation of 8000 euros, that is a huge amount of money considering this small incident. The ruling was correct, the money wasn't. Make sure you have a good day, God bless and Happy Lotting!!