Well, as time drags on, so does the wait for justice. As I had explained previously, the Crown and RCMP succeeded in delaying the opportunity for a Judge to review the circumstances of the warrantless search and seizure of my legally imported satellite systems, by secretly charging me.
My first court appearance on the newly laid charges took place January 28th. The Crown was suggesting a trial date of August. This was completely unacceptable to us, since it would put us in the position of waiting for almost a full year from the seizure, to even have the chance to be vindicated and continue on with a legitimate business. Our attorneys vehemently argued against such a late date, and asked the Court to order the Crown to come up with more acceptable dates. The Judge agreed, and adjourned the matter for one week for the Crown to offer better dates.
A week later, we were back in Provincial Court again, and again the Crown could again only suggest August. They had even written a letter to the Court, explaining this. The Judge asked the clerk to call the trial coordinator, and enquire as to available dates for a 4 day trial. The clerk was advised that the week of Feb. 16 was available, as another matter had been cancelled. We would have been happy with this date, but of course the Crown argued it could not proceed to trial in 2 weeks, and asked for the August dates to be set.
Again, our attorneys vehemently fought against such a date being set, but in the end the Judge had no choice. He explained how he cannot set dates on his own, it must all be done in conjunction with when courtrooms and Judges are available. However, he stated, he understands that a person accused of an offence is presumed innocent until proven guilty, and that a person expects for the matters to be dealt with in an expedient matter, so that everyone may "...get on with his life...".
At first, I thought that this was bad news. It was only later, after leaving the courtroom, that I realized what had happened. As the lawyers explained it to me, this Judge, and another Provincial Court Judge, have been on somewhat of a rampage lately. It seems they are upset with the lack of resources available, and want more Provincial Court Judges so the backlogs can be dealt with quicker. They have been throwing all types of cases out of Court lately, based solely on delays.
In this case, because we were only before this Judge for the setting of a trial date, he did not have the authority to throw the matter out. If he were the Trial Judge, or a Judge of a higher Court, he then could dismiss the charges. But what he did do, was create a record for us which basically would allow us to go to a higher Court, long before the August trial date, and ask that Court to dismiss the charges. The Judge kept motioning to the defense attorneys, and saying "I have no choice but to set these dates, but...of course, you know what remedies are available to you in these circumstances...".
The lawyers were absolutely beaming on the way out of Court, and are well satisfied that they will succeed in having the charges dismisses. We now have a Court date set, much to the chagrin of the Crown, who is still insisting that a higher Court cannot deal with these matters. In so many of these landmark decisions we have seen in the last two years, these matters have been dealt with by a higher Court (Queen's Bench), and there certainly is no reason this cannot be as well. Just to insure the point gets across, I have made arrangements to have prominent Ontario attorney Ian Angus to be present to argue the case. Mr. Angus' talent at ensuring the Court gets the real and true facts of the case are unparallelled. He has not had to go to trial yet! In any event, March 30th is now the big date, and I am of course anxiously awaiting. At this point, it has been so long that it seems like justice will never be served.
It seems the RMCP have been active in other parts of the country. There have been a variety of seizures and charges laid in Ontario, apparently aimed primarily at certain members of the so-called "East" group. Now, on one hand, a person has to wonder what grounds the RCMP has to undertake this activity. With all the decisions saying "black market" cards are legal, and the only decision they have in their favour is in relation to "grey marketing", you would think they would just leave it alone, and find an unsolved murder or two to solve. Last time I checked, I think there were still a few left in Ontario.
But, what has spurred this activity, is once again, consumers crying foul. It seems that people who were selling the systems retail, assured their customers they would be able to guarantee they could fix the cards for free, should anything happen. Now, once the ECM hit, it seems that the "East" group decided they would charge for the repairs. And since the 99 loop was initially not repairable, they also had to charge the price of a new card as well. This added up to quite a large sum, especially for dealers who had many cards. Apparently, they even went so far as to deny the 99 loops were repairable, even after they knew they were. And of course, those who made promises to their customers certainly couldn't keep up their end of the bargain. As the customers patience wears thin, they begin complaining to the RCMP, and the outcome is what we now have.
In some ways, it seems fair that these guys have to lie in the beds they have made. I personally have not heard too many good things about how "East" Group dealers have been treated. But I sure hate to see any more charges flying in the satellite industry. If the RCMP could simply stick to the real issue of fraud, as they would in any other industry, that would be one thing. But, they always seem to want to pursue things under the RadioCommunication Act. I guess, as the old saying goes, throw enough crap at the wall, and something is bound to stick.
In other news, as I had predicted a couple issues ago, the combo/DDT style of fixes was attacked, quite successfully. At this time, there are still ways to make the fixes work, but they will not last long, Up to now, changes have been implemented only in the plastic card themselves. This is in the form of updates, which essentially is reprogramming the EEPROM inside the card. Any cards which have been running in the receiver and which have received the updates to the EEPROM can no longer be activated, except of course, by DTV.
What does work right now, though, is to take a card that has NOT been in the receiver and therefore has not received the updates, and use it with some sort of "blocking" program, to prevent it from getting the updates. This card will work normally, as the DDT card worked before. However, as soon as DTV decides to implement the changes in the DATASTREAM, not just the card, the fixes will fail permanently.
None of this affects 3M cards, since they are actually programmed, not merely activated. Those who have the ability to actually READ and PROGRAM a card, are able to read and write cards regardless of whether or not they have taken the updates. But, since the DDT was a rip-off of the combo technology, the creators of the DDT have no ability to read a card, and cannot work around the changes. As well, the combo group has altered their new technology slightly in order to prevent further exploitation of their fix.
Seeya next month, and be careful out there!
Dean