A Canadian TV producer has sued her former ISP, seeking over
$110,000 damages, alleging that the company's act of withholding
her e-mail messages during a billing dispute cost her "a valuable
business opportunity", according to media reports. Nancy Carter has
already filed a successful complaint with the Canadian Privacy
Commissioner.
Carter claims that ISP Inter.net, now bankrupt, charged her $214
for 14 months of service that had gone unbilled due to an
accounting error. She initially agreed to pay half but the ISP
later rejected the agreement, so she terminated her account and
signed up with another provider.
Carter alleges that Inter.net kept her account open and withheld
e-mail messages without her knowledge. One of the withheld messages
was, according to Carter, sent by a potential employer, encouraging
her to apply for a $65,000 contract job. By the time she managed to
retrieve the e-mail, the position had been filled.
George Radwanski, Canada's Privacy Commissioner, ruled in August
that Inter.net's policy was in breach of the federal Personal
Information Protection and Electronic Documents Act, which
prohibits collecting personal information without consent.
He recommended that ISPs should abandon the policy of account
suspension and return e-mails to senders with a notification of
non-delivery. His ruling cleared the way for the civil trial.
The Privacy Commissioner's ruling can be found at:
www.privcom.gc.ca/cf-dc/cf-dc_020828_e.asp
