Sunday, September 30, 2007

AT&T SAYS DON'T CRITICIZE US

AT&T a loser?
A problem from the old Ma Bell?
You betcha dupa. Here's something you'll have to agree with if you use their internet access:
"5.1 Suspension/Termination. Your Service may be suspended or terminated if your payment is past due and such condition continues un-remedied for thirty (30) days. In addition, AT&T may immediately terminate or suspend all or a portion of your Service, any Member ID, electronic mail address, IP address, Universal Resource Locator or domain name used by you, without notice, for conduct that AT&T believes (a) violates the Acceptable Use Policy; (b) constitutes a violation of any law, regulation or tariff (including, without limitation, copyright and intellectual property laws) or a violation of these TOS, or any applicable policies or guidelines, or (c) tends to damage the name or reputation of AT&T, or its parents, affiliates and subsidiaries. Termination or suspension by AT&T of Service also constitutes termination or suspension (as applicable) of your license to use any Software. AT&T may also terminate or suspend your Service if you provide false or inaccurate information that is required for the provision of Service or is necessary to allow AT&T to bill you for Service." (Italics and bold face mine.)
Since when does any ISP have the right to censor your commentaries? Do they not care about the First Amendment to the Constitution?
Here's a quote from Original Replica (908688): this isn't "censoring" in the common carrier terminology. They are shutting down accounts, So in an area where they have the only service available they are silencing their critics, how is that not censoring? Isn't part of the common carrier status a requirement to not deny service to someone because of stated ideological/political beliefs? My political beliefs include ideals about how global companies should act, and thus should be protected speech in the common carrier sense.
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10 comments:

alphonsedamoose said...

I'm so glad I don't have AT&T here. It is definitely censorship.

Catmoves said...

moose, I should imagine that AT&T is going to lose some customers to cable and satellite connections. But I can remember when Americans trusted them and thought they were great.

Anonymous said...

You said .. "I can remember when Americans trusted them and thought they were great."

Moose, doesn't this sound a lot like Telus? We used to trust Telus.

alphonsedamoose said...

It's too bad the way some big companies have devolved from being great and consumer friendly to being CRAP and bottom-line oriented.

Catmoves said...

babzy, I hve no idea who Telus is. Have you got a link to the site?

Catmoves said...

moose, the values around us have descended into something I find ugly and depressing.

Lin said...

Oh, I dunno, I remember posters back in the 70s; "Ma Bell - Public Enemy Number One". The more things change, the more they don't. I guess all large corps are like that ... ahem, I just happen to notice big oil and gas more these days.

alphonsedamoose said...

Telus is one of our biggest phone companies up here.Started out as Alberta Telephones and Joined with BC Tel. It is almost as big as Bell Telephones

Catmoves said...

lin, I wasn't in the States then. I was happily enjoying Australia then (at least the Est coast and outback.)
Right now, I'm with you on big oil and gas. Greed has always pushed one of my buttons.
You can add Comcast Cable to this list, too.

Catmoves said...

Thanks for the explanation, moose. And all this time I thought Alberta was a nice place. >)^..~(<