Afrihost: Network Abuse

Or you can just ignore it since the letter comes from the states who have no legal authority in this country..

If it came from SAFACT, then maybe I'd do some "fixing", but since its not the letter just gets deleted on my side and ignored.
 
+1 for peerblock also run encryption on your p2p software.

Pretty sure Afrihost does not have to do anything to your account (block you) unless they have a court order to do so. They are just covering themselves by passing on the message.
 
Afrihost would see themselves in a world of trouble if they did anything to someones account without a court order, and an email from some random place in the states does not even come close to a court order, or even evidence of abuse...
 
I just LOL'ed to myself... Imagine MAFIAA trying to persue anything in SA with our great Police Docket system (NOT)!!
 
Afrihost Abuse Department

I received one of Afrihost's emails today - I replied as follows:

************************

Please cancel any and all accounts I hold with afrihost with immediate effect.
I would have cancelled through "client zone" but I refuse to to click the "please reinstate afrihost account" button.

I have been a loyal supporter of afrihost for many years and spent many thousands of rands with your company. Despite this, Afrihost is willing to cut off my account at the whim of someone else and, according to the note sent to me, with no intent to defend my rights AT ALL.

I do believe copyright holders have the right to defend their work but they and their cronies have, all over the world, actively sought to have legislation created to LIMIT the basic rights of access to information by having users "cut off". The end does not justify the means. Any court would require evidence "beyond reasonable doubt" for any other "crime" but these companies want to apply sanction at a whim without due process. It galls me they want to take away the right to "due process". There are ways to protect your rights without blanket denying or infringing on everyone else's rights.

I, in good conscience, cannot support an ISP who is willing to aid and abet these companies in the evil they are doing to the world.
I will also be changing all my clients accounts from Afrihost as I cannot risk their lines being cut on a whim. I will also send the word around to others in the circle because we need to join an ISP who will fight for us, so should rather support one who will fight, like the Austrailians have done:

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/technology/8498100.stm

By winning they have effectively forced these "letter writing" companies to follow due process in protecting their rights - like any of us would have to do if we wanted to protect any of our personal rights.

And to divert from personal freedoms and rights to business sense - to take particular note of the following line in that article: "If the ISPs become responsible for the acts of their customers, essentially they become this giant and very cheap mechanism for anyone with any sort of legal claim."

I do apologise to the poor support tech who just had to read my rant. I know you are the only one who will see it, so thanks for taking the time.

Kind Regards

*************************

I knew about these Afrihost letters a while ago. I always thought they were some messed up policy by Afrihost to get rid of Uncapped users who use huge amounts of bandwidth.

I was not uncapped - nether are any of my clients with Afrihost accounts. Myself and my clients pay for a couple of hundred gigs per month, so it gave me a huge wake up call. I could not believe they would simply cut off one of my clients at a whim. It would cause huge headaches for me and I would get endless trouble due to loss of business for my clients.

In this particular letter they claimed I was sharing "south park" episode whatever. I didn't. It may be it was on one of my mates computers, since they all have my network key and we often network at my place - whatever - it really doesn't matter. The point is they are helping some company somewhere in the world act as the legal authority of our country, totally ignoring any due process enshrined in our laws.

I refuse to deal with a company who has absolutely no respect for their clients or the rights of said clients for fear of some evil entity sitting somewhere in the world.

I strongly advise everyone to avoid ISP's who aid and abet these entities in their quest to dilute our rights. If we don't and keep silent we will wind up having to live under repressive laws where no due process is required. If you don't do something and support people and companies who would rather look to and work for the greater good, the world is going to become a much uglier place really quickly.

[update]

Reply from Afrihost:
**********
While we understand the frustration of having your account suspended due to AUP violations, we undertake to abide by ISPA's rules and regulations.
Furthermore, these violations are due to the material being downloaded being illegal according to the Piracy Act.

We regret to lose a valuable client under these circumstances and appeal that you reconsider such actions, taking into account that any ISP in South Africa would also need to abide by rules and regulations on reselling of their bandwidth.

Please let us know if you still wish to continue with the cancellation of your account

Have a great day & please feel free to let me know if I can be of further assistance.

Warm regards.
**********

My final reply:
**********
Yes please do continue the cancellation.

To me the offensive part of the notification sent was the fact it said judgement had been passed - boom, sorry for you.
I was would not have been offended if you had simply informed me that you received a complaint from someone else who had received a complaint from someone else, who must have received that complaint from someone else...that an infringement had apparently occurred. This would give me the opportunity to investigate and correct the problem - if there were one - or to dispute, if not.
What Afrihost did was declare me guilty on someones say so without any real evidence that I or even one of my computers had infringed. I was never even given the opportunity to answer. A mail was sent on the weekend telling me the account would be killed on Monday because I was declared guilty. Had this not been my personal account, one of my clients would have been cut off on Monday when they needed to do business because nobody would have got the mail.
If as you say ISPA and the Piracy Act do support this kind of "Judgement on Demand" from anyone who thinks I've done something, I will certainly be starting a lobby group to correct this gross violation of freedom and rights. I will investigate this further on a level indepedent to this particular situation.
Thanking you for your reply.
Kind Regards
***********
A final message confirming the cancellation was sent to me from them. Afrihost support has always been good to me, so I am sorry I have to leave them in that regard. End of the day it is up to them to implement the AUP policy which I did sign in any way they see fit for whatever reason they choose.

I do simply refuse to believe ISPA and the Piracy Act demand such drastic action on such a narrow line of evidence without recourse. I will investigate the Act and ISPA's regulations. If it is indeed true that connections can be suspended just because someone was sent a note from someone else, this needs to change. It will only be right to lobby to ensure South Africa doesn't descend to a level where penalties can be levied before any form of engagement or due process.

My story with Afrihost ends here, but the story of fighting for the rights of common everyday Internet users should only be beginning. Especially because those freedoms are under assault by powerful entities and governments worldwide. And we all know these entities and governments really care about us and our freedoms, right? Right.
 
Last edited:
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top
Sign up to the MyBroadband newsletter
X