Hellkom is hurting Telkom

[kaspaas]

Thanks Telkom for implicitly admitting that the "HELLKOM" website is making you elephant hide itch.

Telkom realised it could no longer ignore the fact that people were reading the Hellkom site and realising how expensive Telkom's rates are.

The name "Hellkom" even popped up in conversations of elderly people - proving the impact of the site.

And the Adams & Adams letter just proved the hit MaD created.

At least we now know that A&A can't be respected for their efforts to protect either free speech or fairness to exploited consumers.





South Africa needs World Class Broadband at World Competitive Prices.

[Perdition]

Agreed. Apparently Telkom has not learnt anything from the whole Sentech debacle. Kicking up a fuss over negative publicity will only add fuel to the fire.

Telkom - A Touch Retarded

[antowan]

We just have to stick behind Hellkom and put up a heck of a fight if Hellkom starts getting serious flack! Power to the consumer!

Regards
Antowan

### What we need in South Africa is cheap 24/7, always on Internet for under R300 a month. ###

[donn]

<blockquote id="quote"><font size="1" face="Verdana, Arial, Helvetica" id="quote">quote:<hr height="1" noshade id="quote">And the Adams & Adams letter just proved the hit MaD created.<hr height="1" noshade id="quote"></blockquote id="quote"></font id="quote">

And it proved just how stupid lawyers can be when they don't know what they are talking about. How can you sue over a somain name that doesn't exist? DUH!

From now on they shall be known as "<b>Adders & Adders</b>" since they are a bunch of snakes! Ssssso ssssue me!

Donn Edwards
http://privacy.4mg.com

http://privacy.4mg.com/SlowWireless.gif

[ASnogarD]

My opinion is that the whole thing is a attempt to scare Hellkom off, I mean Hellkom is not a large business, its a <b>opinion</b> site so where Telkom thinks it could sue a individual for R5 mil I don't know.

I think its a case of 'lets threat to sue the owner of that annoying site for ludicrous sums of money, the owner will definetly close down - who wants try beat Telkom in a court case, where if you lose you pay R 5 mil'.

I bet Telkom expect Hellkom to announce its closure of the site soon.

However Hellkom must still be cautious, Telkom could theoretically keep the owner tied up with legalities and technicalities for years...can the owner afford to be stuck in a long drawn out court case with a monopolising telco giant?

I think a strong backlash of negitive public opinion aimed at Telkom may be required to get Telkom to back off with the case, really spin the freedom of speech angle and try get media headlines like 'Telkom cuts off Freedom of Speech'

I am not a lawyer, nor do I have any background in the circus of law. In the end the owner of Hellkom must weigh up the risks and decide to call the bluff - if the case is a bluff - or fold.

[ASF]

I completely agree with the above post. TelScum are using their financial muscle in order to try and scare MaD into closing the site...

My feeling is - so what - close the site and just immediately launch another - and wait for the response - milk the negative publicity for as long as possible - get TelScum p*ssed off - another threat - close the site - and start all over...

Personally I don't feel the issue is as much about the hellkom site as it is the TelScum monopoly.

[Lourens]

<blockquote id="quote"><font size="1" face="Verdana, Arial, Helvetica" id="quote">quote:<hr height="1" noshade id="quote"><i>Originally posted by kaspaas</i>
<br />Thanks Telkom for implicitly admitting that the "HELLKOM" website is making you elephant hide itch.

<hr height="1" noshade id="quote"></blockquote id="quote"></font id="quote">

How to eat an (T)elephant?

bit by bit[:D]

Sorry, just could not resist the temptation!

[Flippit]

LOL - first you donner it with a large, Hellkom-shaped gun, then you eat it. ;)

<font size="3"><font face="Century Gothic"><font color="red">F</font id="red"><font color="orange">l</font id="orange"><font color="limegreen">i</font id="limegreen"><font color="green">p</font id="green"><font color="blue">p</font id="blue"><font color="purple">i</font id="purple"><font color="navy">t</font id="navy"></font id="Century Gothic"></font id="size3">

[mbs]

I happened to be trawling for postings concerning issues of IP (Intellectual Property, not the networking protocol) in South Africa, and lo-and-behold, I came across another posting about Hellkom - see
http://za.creativecommons.org/blog/archives/2004/07/23/copyright-for-activists/

It's a bit old, but this just shows that there are other forums that are taking note of this issue, and which certainly support Greg in his endeavours...