International Law

No web, no life

Technology is a major stress factor in our lives because (a) we don’t really understand it, and (b) it never works the way it’s supposed to. Still.

From the Globe and Mail:

It’s a story as old as the Internet.

You fire up your Web browser and all you get is some cryptic error message.

Try as you might, jiggling wires, pulling plugs and tossing keyboards, the Internet is down. No Web. No e-mail. For some, no life.

Then it’s time to call the service provider.

Carol Sinclair, a Halifax actress and playwright, found herself in that position, and now, what started as a routine telephone standoff with an Internet provider, leaves her facing criminal charges.

…

At around 12:30 p.m., Ms. Sinclair said, a “huge, strapping young man” arrived to fix the connection.

“I told him I wasn’t going to be polite because of all the explaining I’d already had to do over the phone,” Ms. Sinclair said.

“This was my living, my income on hold.”

But the technician, 21-year-old David Scott, couldn’t find anything wrong. He said the problem lay with Ms. Sinclair’s computer.

That’s where versions of the story diverge.

According to Halifax Police, Ms. Sinclair was enraged with Mr. Scott. “She told the technician, in a tirade, that he was not leaving until her Internet was working and she told him she was keeping him hostage,” Constable Jeff Carr said.

“She implied that she had a gun, although he didn’t see one.”

The repairman told Ms. Sinclair he could fix her computer, but first had to retrieve a disc from his truck, according to the police version of events. Ms. Sinclair followed Mr. Scott downstairs, but he was able to run away and drive to the Aliant office.

…

Frustrated that she’d blown yet another day wrangling with her Internet provider, she said, she went back upstairs to the condo and cracked a vodka cooler. “It was five hours earlier than I usually drink, but I was frankly a little frustrated.”

She’d downed a third of her cooler when a knock came at the door. She opened it to see five police officers.

No firearms were found in the house.

“I’m a Buddhist,” Ms. Sinclair said. “I’m a wimp. I’m a pacifist.”

An Aliant spokesman said the company does not discuss issues that are before the courts.

Ms. Sinclair was arraigned in Halifax Provincial Court Friday and is now free on conditions including that she have no contact with Mr. Scott or any Aliant employee. She is due back in court Sept. 30.

Now I’m not saying that what Ms. Sinclair did was right. I’m just saying I can relate.

Full post as published by Criminal Review on September 03, 2008 (boomark / email).