AT&T:Your World Censored

[chefmike]

AT&T: Your World Censored
Timothy Karr

Over the weekend AT&T gave us a glimpse of their plans for the Web when they censored a Pearl Jam performance that didn't meet their standard of "Internet freedom."

During the live Lollapalooza Webcast of a concert by the Seattle-based super-group, the telco giant muted lead singer Eddie Vedder just as he launched into a lyric against President George Bush. The lines -- "George Bush, leave this world alone" and "George Bush find yourself another home" were somehow lost in the mix.


"What happened to us this weekend was a wake up call, and it's about something much bigger than the censorship of a rock band," Pearl Jam band members stated in a release following the incident.

Indeed. AT&T routinely rails against Net Neutrality as a "solution without a problem." They say Net Neutrality regulations aren't necessary because they wouldn't dare interfere with online content . At the same time they tout plans to become gatekeepers to the Web with public relations bromides about "shaping" Web traffic to better serve the needs of an evolving Internet.

Such spin needs to be held up to the light of experience. AT&T's history of breaking trust with their customers includes handing over private phone records to the government, promising to deliver services to underserved communities and then skipping town, pledging never to interfere with the free flow of information online while hatching plans with the likes of Cisco, Viacom, RIAA and MPA to build and deploy technology that will spy on user traffic.

The moral of this story is never trust AT&T at their word. The company acts in bad faith toward the public interest and will do whatever it can get away with to pad it's bottom line -- including sacrificing the freedoms its users have to choose where they go, what they watch and whom they listen to online.

The Future of Music Coalition have done great work to mobilize hundreds of rock bands against such censorship but it's a threat that concerns everyone.

AT&T's vision of a better Internet - "Your World Delivered" -- is not one that is shared by the more than 1.5 million people who have spoken out in favor of a neutral, affordable and accessible Internet for everyone. For us the Internet isn't about one company delivering our world. It's about simply offering a real high-speed connection at reasonable rates - and then getting out of our way.

article and links-
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/timothy-karr/att-your-world-censored_b_59737.html

[houstonshemalefan]

Hey idiot, there is a "political forum" don't you know????

[chefmike]

Go piss in your cowboy hat, tex.

[sucka4chix]

This probably has more to do with your Hitler president than AT & T

[biguy4tvtscd]

Hey, here's a thought....

If you don't like AT&T's business practices, then don't spend your hard earned money on their products. Whether that's phone service, internet connectivity, what-have-you.

Pretty simple really.

[scroller]

Hey, here's a thought....

If you don't like AT&T's business practices, then don't spend your hard earned money on their products. Whether that's phone service, internet connectivity, what-have-you.

Pretty simple really.

Standard refrain from right-wingers trying to stop actually useful political action as recommended in the original article.

[chefmike]

Hey, here's a thought....

If you don't like AT&T's business practices, then don't spend your hard earned money on their products. Whether that's phone service, internet connectivity, what-have-you.

Pretty simple really.


Standard refrain from right-wingers trying to stop actually useful political action as recommended in the original article.

Without a doubt.

[Realgirls4me]

I had to drop AT&T, and this article makes me even more glad that I had to.
When I moved two years ago, I called them to tell them that I needed my account transfered to a new number. Their response was that in order to keep my $21.99 monthly charge at bay, I would have to sign up for their long distance service at an additional charge. When I told them I liked the charity work my long distance carrier (Working Assets) was involved with, the operator actually called my carrier a fraud among other things. He spent more time knocking WA than plugging his own service. I couldn't believe what this clown (He had a British accent fwiw) was saying.

This kind of BS should scare everyone, and if the righties can't see the forest for the trees, that's their fuckin' problem. We should all be concerned when this kind of gatekeeping raises its ugly head whether we are AT&T customers or not.

[DJ_Asia]

Was listening to a radio show the other night and they were saying that mobile phone companies now can legally turn on your phones mic(even if the phone is shut off!!) and listen to you!
Of course the given rationale is (what else) to fight terrorism...but how far really is the government gonna go and how much of your civil rights are going to be stripped away in the name of Al Qaeda BEFORE America's people do something about it?!

[tsmandy]

Hey, here's a thought....

If you don't like AT&T's business practices, then don't spend your hard earned money on their products. Whether that's phone service, internet connectivity, what-have-you.

Pretty simple really.

That most definitely is a simple solution. And in a "free market" theoretically we would be able to choose a competitor of AT&T's in the telecommunications services that didn't spy illegally on its customers at the behest of the justice department. Unfortunately the last 20 years has watched an incredible consolidation of power in both the telecommunications industry and the global media. Effectively what this means, is that as Margret Thatcher
so eloquently stated, there is no alternative. Consumers who wish for their privacy to be respected are going to go where? Verizon?

I think it would be great if actual differences other than branding existed between AT&T and Verizon, sadly they don't.

http://mandytgirl.com

[Realgirls4me]

DJ: Half the citizens of this country still believe that Saddam Hussein and Iraq had something to do with 9/11. With that in mind, do you think these ignorant morons actually consider or delve into how their privacy might be violated by giant corporations such as AT&T?

[DJ_Asia]

DJ: Half the citizens of this country still believe that Saddam Hussein and Iraq had something to do with 9/11. With that in mind, do you think these ignorant morons actually consider or delve into how their privacy might be violated by giant corporations such as AT&T?

As a rare Yank in Thailand and im constantly finding myself having to answer Q's from Thais,Euro's and Aussies as to why Americans are so fucking stupid..ya know the usual..the War in Iraq,the War on terrorism,Hurricane Katrina,The MURDER of Pat Tillman,the methodical and systematic abuse of our Constitutional rights...its an endless list really.
Our goverment does what it wants when it wants and american voters do not force them to act w/ responsibility our protect their rights.Its the peoples fault....too many under informed voters pushing the buttons that FoxNews tells you to vote for....Fucking sheep!

[chefmike]

The MURDER of Pat Tillman...

This may be veering off-course on my thread, but check this out:

http://www.hungangels.com/board/viewtopic.php?t=23704

[Realgirls4me]

The jingoistic views that many Americans hold were here long before Fox raised it rightwing head. All of the mainstream media is to blame just as well for not taking corporations and politicians to task when the need arises. All FoxNews, Limbaugh, Coulter, et all, do is affirm those jingoistic views.

[biguy4tvtscd]

This kind of BS should scare everyone, and if the righties can't see the forest for the trees, that's their fuckin' problem. We should all be concerned when this kind of gatekeeping raises its ugly head whether we are AT&T customers or not.

If they own the gate, they may keep it to their liking. When you own the gate, so may you.



I think it would be great if actual differences other than branding existed between AT&T and Verizon, sadly they don't.
There is plenty of competition out there for internet access and at many different levels. Satellite, Cable, hello?
While it's true that many 3rd party providers do lead back to the "big dogs" (i.e. Verizon, AT&T), there are some providers with their own networks (the aforementioned Satellite and Cable)

The reason why the third party providers are forced to lease from Verizon, is because Verizon owns the lines. They laid them, and more importantly paid for them.

If your problem is with the private ownership aspect of the lines, that's a matter for another thread entirely.



As a rare Yank in Thailand and im constantly finding myself having to answer Q's from Thais,Euro's and Aussies as to why Americans are so fucking stupid
We're stupid? The Thai government bans access to youtube, because some vids insult the king, and Americans are stupid?
The Thai police can confiscate your computer without a court warrant, and Americans are stupid?

That's fucking rich.

The next time a Thailander laughs and calls you a stupid American, I suggest you respectfully tell them to worry about cleaning up their own house, before commenting on anothers.

[AlySinclair]

What does one do who had a Cingular phone which is now the new AT&T?

I have a year and a half on a contract I would have never signed had I known the company would be bought.

[Jack59]

It will cost $175.00 to terminate the contract early. But if you don't mind paying it, then take the phone to the nearest Cingular/AT&T store and close out the account. You can keep the phone but unless it uses a sim chip it's pretty much useless now.

[DJ_Asia]

This kind of BS should scare everyone, and if the righties can't see the forest for the trees, that's their fuckin' problem. We should all be concerned when this kind of gatekeeping raises its ugly head whether we are AT&T customers or not.

If they own the gate, they may keep it to their liking. When you own the gate, so may you.



I think it would be great if actual differences other than branding existed between AT&T and Verizon, sadly they don't.
There is plenty of competition out there for internet access and at many different levels. Satellite, Cable, hello?
While it's true that many 3rd party providers do lead back to the "big dogs" (i.e. Verizon, AT&T), there are some providers with their own networks (the aforementioned Satellite and Cable)

The reason why the third party providers are forced to lease from Verizon, is because Verizon owns the lines. They laid them, and more importantly paid for them.

If your problem is with the private ownership aspect of the lines, that's a matter for another thread entirely.



As a rare Yank in Thailand and im constantly finding myself having to answer Q's from Thais,Euro's and Aussies as to why Americans are so fucking stupid
We're stupid? The Thai government bans access to youtube, because some vids insult the king, and Americans are stupid?
The Thai police can confiscate your computer without a court warrant, and Americans are stupid?

That's fucking rich.

The next time a Thailander laughs and calls you a stupid American, I suggest you respectfully tell them to worry about cleaning up their own house, before commenting on anothers.

Comparing Thailand and its archaic laws to America and its total disregard of your civil rights that the founding fathers put into the Constitution is like taking a wild free living animal and locking it in a cage and saying that its the same as your goldfish.One has just had his freedom stolen while the other has known only the glass fishbowl his entire existence.

Thailand is currently under rule of a military junta.Since they took over websites(including Youtube)that are blocked here has risen over 500%!!
So my friend,if your defense of Americans being foolish farm animals for allowing Bush to do what he is doing is that were better off than a 3rd world country w/ a dictator in power then you exemplify just how stupid and blind Americans really are.

[whatsupwithat]

"If they own the gate, they may keep it to their liking. When you own the gate, so may you."


"We're stupid? The Thai government bans access to youtube, because some vids insult the king, and Americans are stupid?
The Thai police can confiscate your computer without a court warrant, and Americans are stupid?

That's fucking rich.

The next time a Thailander laughs and calls you a stupid American, I suggest you respectfully tell them to worry about cleaning up their own house, before commenting on anothers."


I looked at what you wrote and...well...I'm sorry to tell you this, but you've been force fed lies for so long, your ignorance has become terminal.

[Realgirls4me]

I'm straying, but here is a relatively recent Tom Tomorrow hit on why the Democrats boycotted the FoxNews debate (Can anyone blame them?) :

[SarahG]

That most definitely is a simple solution. And in a "free market" theoretically we would be able to choose a competitor of AT&T's in the telecommunications services that didn't spy illegally on its customers at the behest of the justice department. Unfortunately the last 20 years has watched an incredible consolidation of power in both the telecommunications industry and the global media. Effectively what this means, is that as Margret Thatcher
so eloquently stated, there is no alternative. Consumers who wish for their privacy to be respected are going to go where? Verizon?

I think it would be great if actual differences other than branding existed between AT&T and Verizon, sadly they don't.


I completely agree, switching companies is a moot point if everyone else conducts themselves in the same way as an industry standard. The reality is that certain fields are severely limited in terms of real, honest choices to pick from.

Utilities can be especially hard with this because of who owns the lines. Example; with power companies in most (all?) places you can purchase electricity from any number of companies, but if your problem is with the local area company... you're not going to be able to completely cut them off since they are going to be involved in essentially bringing someone else's service to your property using their lines. There are sometimes other alternatives, with electricity one can always try to live off the grid using their own energy sources... but that is not always an option, and when it is an option it is not always a practical one.



There is plenty of competition out there for internet access and at many different levels. Satellite, Cable, hello?
While it's true that many 3rd party providers do lead back to the "big dogs" (i.e. Verizon, AT&T), there are some providers with their own networks (the aforementioned Satellite and Cable)


Do you honestly believe that everyone, in every geographical location, in the entire country has the ability to chose between satellite, cable, phone and other isp companies?

Certain parts of the country have absolutely terrible service options, and not always just the "rural sticks"- I am in an urban area and the *only* isp
options I have are between Verizon and Earthlink, and from there, I have no choice but to use Verizon for the adsl line itself. And on top of that, my isp goes down whenever it rains (we are not even talking a reliable service here).

You can make the argument for say, sattelight based isps, just as you can for going off the grid for power... but that's working with the assumption that you're wealthy enough to be a land owner which has the 'luxury' of being able to determine what happens on your own property/residence.

The problems with that assumption are as follows:

1- renters. Land lords do not always allow dishes, and other things which would expand on a citizen's utility choices. I know flat out, from my landlord directly, that if I were to put a dish or antenna of any kind up the consequences would be eviction. The idea that people must 'move out or buy real estate' in order to chose a utility that does not spy on them or censor the media that is being transponded to them is problematic at best and imo, a cop out.

There should never, as far as I am concerned, be a class based divide in terms of certain basic things such as the ability to get a telecom service that respects free speech, privacy rights, and other such concerns.


2- Zoning laws. Even if you own your own property, you have zoning laws to contend with. Property rights in this country especially due to real estate are severely damaged such trends of the postWW2 era...

Our system was created during the enlightenment era using the european idea that property rights are one of the most essential civil liberties because so much can be dependant upon them. Back when you could get executed in England for stealing a chicken to eat, the reason behind this was not some underlying blood thrust on the part of anglo governments or governmental officials. Rather, it was because the ideologies of the time concluded that the main purpose of government is to protect property rights of its citizens (from both external and internal threats). Today in this country (thanks to the supreme court), your local & state governments can kick you out of your legally owned, paid off home, give you some arbitrary fiscal offer to make up for the loss (which may or may not reflect true market value of the properly) so that they can give the land to an other private person or institution which is able to pay more in taxes then the original, legal, land owner.

Zoning laws can enable situations in which one can not chose what color to paint one's own home, what pets land owners can keep, or even rather or not they can plant certain species of plants (not talking ones related to contraband). Under such situations, especially when trends make it hard (and at times virtually impossible) to find real estate with true, unrestricted property rights, one can not always have dishes, antennas, solar panels, wind generators, incinerators or any number of ways to eliminate ones dependence on local utility corporations.

My main problem with net neutrality is that I do no want to see the internet evolve the way the RFs have with government agencies (read: fcc) telling us what we can and can not let into our homes without governmental control, over regulation, censorship and imposed morals.

[qeuqheeg222]

they really need to pass a law bout who the ultimate parent corps. of all products and media consumed here in america...i've talked to my rep and senator in person abut this but they both seemed to chickenshit to take this on ..a knowledgable consumer is bad for "markets"....they might not get duped so much/...

[FigJam]

AT&T calls censorship of Pearl Jam lyrics an error

LOS ANGELES (Reuters) - AT&T Inc said on Thursday a company it hired to handle the cybercast of a live concert by U.S. rock band Pearl Jam erroneously omitted lyrics criticizing U.S. President George Bush that were in a song performed by the band.

"Those lyrics in no way, shape or form, are something that should have been edited," AT&T spokesman Michael Coe said.

The censored lyrics, "George Bush, leave this world alone" and "George Bush, find yourself another home", were sung to Pink Floyd's "Another Brick in the Wall" into which Pearl Jam segued while performing "Daughter".

"This, of course, troubles us as artists but also as citizens concerned with the issue of censorship and the increasingly consolidated control of the media," the band said in a posting on its Web site, www.pearljam.com.

Coe said, "We regret that this happened and we're upset. We're working with our vendors to ensure it doesn't happen again."

The performance in Chicago, part of the band's Lollapalooza tour, was carried on AT&T's "Blue Room" Web site, http://att.blueroom.com.

In a posting on that site, AT&T said "the editing of the Pearl Jam performance on Sunday night was a major mistake by a Webcast vendor " and that it was contrary to its policy.

"What happened to us this weekend was a wake up call, and it's about something much bigger than the censorship of a rock band," Pearl Jam said on its Web site.

"AT&T's actions strike at the heart of the public's concerns over the power that corporations have when it comes to determining what the public sees and hears through communications media," the band said.

Coe said AT&T was trying to work with the band to get its permission to post the song in its entirety on the "Blue Room" site.

On Thursday, the band posted the edited and unedited versions of the performance on its Web site.


http://www.reuters.com/article/entertainmentNews/idUSN091821320070809?feedType=RSS&feedName=entertainmentNews&rpc=22&sp=true

[chefmike]

If AT&T says it was a mistake then it must be true... :roll:

[tsntx]

If AT&T says it was a mistake then it must be true... :roll:

yeah they said tonight on cnn that it wasnt them and that it was someone outside of the corp ... if ppl buy into that load of shit they deserve to get the treatment that at&t will give

[lewdguppy]

well, I can give you 1 example that really shows how far the creepyness has come and gone:

about 8-9 years ago anyone could get on the radio, TV or concerts, whatever and completely trash/piss all over president Clinton and nobody would give a fuck or do anything even remotely like censorship

now the whole world is stuck with appointed King Dumbfuck and there's censorship everywhere

sums it all up, sort of

welcome to the Fourth Reich

anyone thinking that these creeps will pack their things and go quietly at december 31 2008 is up for a big fat and very nasty surprise, I'm afraid

[El Nino]

Privacy is Dead: Get Over It !!!

http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=-383709537384528624&q=Privacy%20is%20Dead&total=499&start=0&num=10&so=0&type=search&plindex=00&type=search&plindex=0