Orange and its customer manager were sentenced Thursday, May 28 by the Bordeaux police court to a fine of 500 euros and 8,000 euros in damages for having assigned "dirtyarab" as a password to a customer in Gironde, said the lawyer of the plaintiff.
In December 2007, Mohamed Zaïdi, a garage owner from Pessac, in the Bordeaux area, was given the password "dirtyarab" by mail after having encountered problems with his Internet connection and contacted several times the hotline of his access provider, Orange. Shocked, the man in his forties had immediately filed a complaint.
"It was a huge shock. I called the hotline when I had connection problems, but I never got angry. It's pretty shocking from a company like this," he said at the time.
During the hearing, the representative of the public prosecutor, Jean-Louis Rey, described this password as "hurtful, insulting and even defamatory". "It was very important for my client that his damage is recognized and repaired," said Gregory Bellocq, the lawyer of the garage owner.
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In December 2007, Mohamed Zaïdi, a garage owner from Pessac, in the Bordeaux area, was given the password "dirtyarab" by mail after having encountered problems with his Internet connection and contacted several times the hotline of his access provider, Orange. Shocked, the man in his forties had immediately filed a complaint.
"It was a huge shock. I called the hotline when I had connection problems, but I never got angry. It's pretty shocking from a company like this," he said at the time.
During the hearing, the representative of the public prosecutor, Jean-Louis Rey, described this password as "hurtful, insulting and even defamatory". "It was very important for my client that his damage is recognized and repaired," said Gregory Bellocq, the lawyer of the garage owner.
Orange condamné pour avoir attribué "salearabe" comme mot de passe
Orange a été condamné à 500 euros d'amende et 8 000 euros de dommages-intérêts.
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