Saturday, September 29, 2007

AT&T and the Freedom of Speech

Just read this and it pissed me off to no end:
According the AT&T Legal Terms of Service, posted on their site, AT&T is allowed to suspend or terminate your service, if they "believe" that you've caused "damage their name". Look at (c):
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.

Apparently, this is measure is there to prevent public criticism, or just to plainly harass complainers.
I'm probably taking quite a risk just for posting this, since according to this contract, AT&T can terminate my service, if they feel I've damaged their name...

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