Sunday, May 29, 2011

David & Goliath Story, of Course Goliath Wins

Here is the story of a small Canadian company cheated out of hundreds of thousands of dollars through illegal charges by Telus, a big Canadian telecom company, then cheated through fraudulent testimony by Telus (and indifference from governmental authorities), then bankrupted, then vindicated...



So, you expect a David vs Goliath where David wins? Not in the real world. In this case Goliath absolutely destroyed David, then it was uncovered that Goliath had cheated and lied, and David was "vindicated" but since Goliath had already sold David's business for pennies on the dollar, David "won" back just pennies on the dollars. In effect, David had been bulldozed and destroyed by Goliath -- Telus -- and the legal system harrumphed and declared that "all has been done according to justice and that's the best result you can expect". Yep, truth wins out but in tatters, effectively orphaned and malnourished and homeless but "victorious" while Goliath continues to collect its billions and does its "business" to others.

Story by Cory Doctorow on BoingBoing:
Here's a sad and infuriating video from Cindy Quigley, founder of the now-defunct independent Canadian ISP OnCall. OnCall got its services via Telus, a regulated monopoly carrier, which drove them out of business with fraudulent charges and perjured testimony before an arbitrator and the regulator -- all of which came to light after the ISP went bust and lost the power to do anything about it.
No Hollywood ending here. The big bully creamed the little guy and then sauntered off. The little guy, Cindy Quigley, pulls herself up off the floor, dusts herself off, and declares she will go on fighting for "justice and the Canadian way". But, sadly, as far as I can tell, Telus is "the Canadian way", i.e. big business owns the government lock, stock, and barrel.

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