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"OVHcloud fire report: SBG2 data center had wooden ceilings, no extinguisher, and no power cut-out"[1] I suspect that opens up negligence, which may route you

by tyingq 4y ago

"OVHcloud fire report: SBG2 data center had wooden ceilings, no extinguisher, and no power cut-out"[1] I suspect that opens up negligence, which may route you around legal barriers like SLAs and TOS, depending on the laws where this lawsuit is happening. And of course, you don't have to win in court to win. You can just be enough of a cost, nuisance, or PR problem to get a settlement. [1] https://www.datacenterdynamics.com/en/news/ovhcloud-fire-report-sbg2-data-center-had-wooden-ceilings-no-extinguisher-and-no-power-cut-out/ https://www.datacenterdynamics.com/en/news/ovhcloud-fire-rep...

xxpor 4y ago
Do those tactics work in European countries? The legal regimes are quite different from the US/England
- consp 4y ago
  At least where I live negligence is a thing but this may vary wildly. If no reasonable person would expect you to do it that way then you can claim negligence, YMMV how much you get out of it. The problem usually is that you have to either go after the business which goes belly up as soon as you try and you still get nothing or after the owners money and claim irresponsible management which is far harder to do (and has a criminal code part).
rtpg 4y ago
No extinguishers seems pretty surprising, does OVH not have all those certifications that surely ask for such things?
- mateo1 4y ago
  I would expect any large datacenter to have a halon based fire suppressant system or something similar.
gruez 4y ago
>I suspect that opens up negligence I suspect that'd only be the case if these are in contravention of building/fire codes. Is that the case? Given that the building is a datacenter, it might be subject to less regulations compared to something like an apartment.
- hulitu 4y ago
  In DE you do not need to have a fire extinguisher in your apartment. Where i work, we have extinguishers, hidrants, regular training and automatically calling the emergency. It's just a regular office building.
  - dx034 4y ago
    But there are a lot of people in an office. The data center could be evacuated immediately and was located in a harbor with no inhabited buildings anywhere close to it. The only damage they did was to their own property.
rgbrenner 4y ago
The class action is only for lost data.. but data loss is an inherent risk of all computer systems… even if ovh never had a fire, these clients could have lost data… but they took no precautions, not even by purchasing a $50 hard drive. It’s kind of incredible that they wouldn’t spend $50 or $100 to backup their data, but suddenly it’s worth an average of $70,000. Negligence could describe the clients too.
- hericium 4y ago
  > even if ovh never had a fire, these clients could have lost data On the other hand, would OVH had power-kill switches and extinguishers, some clients may have ended up not losing their data, even as the fire occurred. This DC was designed for no power loss and with nah-there-wont-be-any-fire hopetimism. Lawsuit is imo fully deserved.

by tyingq 4y ago

xxpor 4y ago

Do those tactics work in European countries? The legal regimes are quite different from the US/England

consp 4y ago
At least where I live negligence is a thing but this may vary wildly. If no reasonable person would expect you to do it that way then you can claim negligence, YMMV how much you get out of it. The problem usually is that you have to either go after the business which goes belly up as soon as you try and you still get nothing or after the owners money and claim irresponsible management which is far harder to do (and has a criminal code part).

rtpg 4y ago

No extinguishers seems pretty surprising, does OVH not have all those certifications that surely ask for such things?

mateo1 4y ago
I would expect any large datacenter to have a halon based fire suppressant system or something similar.

gruez 4y ago

>I suspect that opens up negligence I suspect that'd only be the case if these are in contravention of building/fire codes. Is that the case? Given that the building is a datacenter, it might be subject to less regulations compared to something like an apartment.

hulitu 4y ago
In DE you do not need to have a fire extinguisher in your apartment. Where i work, we have extinguishers, hidrants, regular training and automatically calling the emergency. It's just a regular office building.
- dx034 4y ago
  But there are a lot of people in an office. The data center could be evacuated immediately and was located in a harbor with no inhabited buildings anywhere close to it. The only damage they did was to their own property.

rgbrenner 4y ago

The class action is only for lost data.. but data loss is an inherent risk of all computer systems… even if ovh never had a fire, these clients could have lost data… but they took no precautions, not even by purchasing a $50 hard drive. It’s kind of incredible that they wouldn’t spend $50 or $100 to backup their data, but suddenly it’s worth an average of $70,000. Negligence could describe the clients too.

hericium 4y ago
> even if ovh never had a fire, these clients could have lost data On the other hand, would OVH had power-kill switches and extinguishers, some clients may have ended up not losing their data, even as the fire occurred. This DC was designed for no power loss and with nah-there-wont-be-any-fire hopetimism. Lawsuit is imo fully deserved.