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Canada

Smaller Internet Providers In Canada Just Got A Big Win In Court (itworldcanada.com) 27

Pig Hogger (Slashdot reader #10,379) writes: In August 2019, Canadian telecom regulator CRTC ruled that ISPs must lower their wholesale rates (for other independant ISPs) retroactively to March 2016. Big telecoms (Bell, Rogers, Cogeco, Videotron, Shaw & Eastlink) appealed, which suspended the rate decrease immediately.

Now, a year later, the Canadian Federal Court of Appeals ruled that the CRTC decision stands, and that they must also pay the legal fees paid by the independent ISPs. For now, the big ISPs have 30 days to appeal to the Supreme Court of Canada.

The Huffington Post reports: "This is a massive win for Canadians," said Matt Stein, chair of the Canadian Network Operators Consortium (CNOC) and CEO of Distributel, one of about 30 CNOC members. He said that the court's decision ends a "pivotal chapter" in a fight that challenged "Canada's longstanding practice of appropriate oversight to ensure fair pricing and competition."

The court's 3-0 ruling concluded by saying the award of costs to TekSavvy and CNOC reflects the fact that the appellants were not successful in convincing the three judges on any of the issues they raised.

IT World reports: The respondents, consisting of the independent ISPs, said the appeal should be dismissed as it had nothing to do with law or jurisdiction and simply advanced a tax argument. "It seemed very clear right off the bat that they were not raising legal or jurisdictional grounds," said Andy Kaplan-Myrth, vice-president of regulatory affairs at TekSavvy. "All of their grounds for appeal were really factual matters or policy matters, and they were dressed up as legal or jurisdictional issues that they could argue to the Court...."

Although the stay has been lifted, the new wholesale rates are not yet instated. However, independent ISPs have renewed confidence that the new rates will come into effect soon.

Comment Re:Good. (Score 1) 69

It's their manuals! If they are publishing wrong shit then they deserve to get sued. If their manual says to remove the widget from the henway valve exposing the fluberflix so it can be flushed with cleaner then so be it. If you have a replacement widget and there is a procedure to follow as outlined in the manual to properly replace it, then what's the problem? You're following the same procedure that a "factory qualified" technician is doing.

Comment Re: Another day (Score 1) 603

EMTs arrived and demanded the police officer get of his neck, to which he did not comply. The video showed the EMT checking for pulse while other got the gurney. Obviously there wasn't one as he had stopped moving and responding minutes before. Officer waited to ensure he was dead. EMTs didn't rush because he was already dead. Should have just called the coroner.

Comment Glass (Score 2) 152

What's wrong with glass? Totally recyclable. In Ontario the beer store takes back beer bottles, wine bottles, beer cans and cooler cans. If you paid a deposit when you bought it, then its refunded and recycled. There is no reason to sell plastic bottles anymore.
Same thing can happen with pop bottles, charge a deposit and return. Pop in glass tastes better anyway. I remember buying pop in glass bottles into the 1980's.
Get off my lawn!

Comment Use in high schools (Score 5, Insightful) 217

My son was issued a chrome book (lenovo) in Grade 9, to be used though to the end of Grade 12. Essays, written assignments, calendar, internet access are all done on the chromebook. Assignments are submitted to Google Classroom and are also run though an antiplagerism site. Normal wear and tear, like power adapters and accidental breakage (screen) are covered though the warranty provided by the board. No complaints from him or his classmates about how the operation works. The chromebooks are locked down so they can't put on unauthorized apps/games. All kids have equal access to tech, whether they are well off or poor - its a great equalizer.

Comment Re:Repairs (Score 3, Informative) 178

As a owner of several retired police cars over the years, I will say the following:
Early (early 90's)Crown Vic's had only a couple of extra circuits for radios and light bars, they were chipped for extra power and the brakes were heavier duty. Same engine/transmission. Looked identical to the civilian version.
Later versions, made after the civilian versions were stopped, had more power circuits, beefier alternator/battery. Flaws in the engine heads were fixed to stop burning oil, transmission upgraded, chipping required as used high output fuel injectors. Upgraded brakes, oil coolers and transmission coolers were also added in later models.
Maintenance costs remained the same for the most most part between model years.
Idling is the worst thing that you can do to a car, most police cars are never turned off. Police departments started installing hour meters and rated it at 15mph, so oil would be changed at an appropriate time. Ford added a runtime feature for that calc.
Because of the extended idle time, hard acceleration and braking, these were classified as severe duty.

Using an all electric vehicle would be a huge cost savings for a department, even when treated as severe duty. Why? No gasoline costs, electricity is far cheaper; maintenance costs lower, as no oil fluid changes required. Most departments have a contract with a body shop/mechanical shop (or their own in house) for maintenance and repairs -- would specify common parts on hand for quick turn around. In a RFP, for the # of cars there would be a spec for spare parts included, but would be more on the body side instead of belts, water pumps, alternators and batteries (for example).

Comment Re:Why does UBER lost money? (Score 2) 125

Yes. Fines for breaking municipal laws in every jurisdiction that they opened in. They guaranteed anyone who got a ticket from an enforcement officer would be paid by Uber, so nothing to worry about. Advertising, lobbying.
Doesn't include all (there are LOTS) of upcoming lawsuites and class actions.
12,000 employees spread out around the globe. 755 locations x 10 employees to handle drivers in their green light lounges, phone support (5, its almost all AI robots), management and programmers.

Comment Re:It's not about "cheap rides" (Score 3, Insightful) 125

Reviewed driver? bahahahahah! That's a great one!
How about you google uber+rape? http://lmgtfy.com/?q=uber+rape
They don't care about who drives for them as long as you've got a car
Target market is 18-30, where everyone thinks "It'll be ok, nothing will ever happen to me" All they want is a cheap ride.
When shareholders demand a profit (and they will), they will have no choice but to raise the rates. When that happens the reason to take an Uber will diminish, along with any chances of making a profit.

Comment Re:Down (Score 2) 125

Uber's cut started at 20%, now sits at 50%. And they still can't make money!
The lineup of class action and personal lawsuits goes outside, around the corner and down 5 blocks. They can only stall the inevitable for so long.br If you're loo.king for a tax write off then you've made a great investment!

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