A disgruntled Sentech user has lodged a complaint with the Advertising Standards Authority (ASA), claiming Sentech is falsely advertising its broadband offering.
Thelma Johnston, ASA data capturer, says a complaint was received yesterday and has been allocated to an ASA consultant who will investigate the matter.
"Complainants are contacted within 24-hours of the ASA receiving the complaint. There could be some news about the investigation by the end of the week," she says.
Michelle Potgieter, Sentech GM of marketing and communications, said this morning that she was not aware that a complaint had been laid.
Web sites like www.suckmywireless.co.za, www.sentechsucks.co.za and www.mywirelesssucks.co.za have been closed after Sentech sent legal letters to the domain name owners. However, a new site, www.sentechhatesfreespeech.org.za, has been launched. Among other things, the site contains the proposed submission by a group of Sentech users to slashdot.org, an international community Web site that promotes freedom of speech.
Shaun Dewberry, owner of local hacker and civil liberties group 2600.co.za, has failed to meet the deadline given in a legal letter from Sentech`s lawyers to hand over the domain name www.f**ksentech.co.za.
"I have taken the decision not to relinquish the domain name because I believe trademark usage in domain names should be permitted when they do not infringe on trademark law," he says.
Dewberry says he will send a letter to Sentech today informing the company of his reasoning. The site points to a freedom of speech Web site and Dewberry says he hopes to link it to Roelf Diedericks` (who originally registered mywirelesssucks.co.za) Web site as soon as he re-launches it.
Potgieter says she was not aware the domain name had not been handed over yet, nor was she aware of the www.sentechhatesfreespeech.org.za Web site. "We will be continuing to communicate with our customers and will be launching a bulletin board on our Web site soon," she says.
Related stories:
Anti-Sentech sentiment increasing
Sentech threatens legal action
User may relinquish anti-Sentech sites
Vodacom to take on Sentech, Telkom
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