Comments on: Customer Policy in the Age of Conversation

By: Corey

Corey — Tue, 02 Oct 2007 13:38:58 +0000

I learned what common carriers were today. Thank you!

It will be interesting to see on which side of the debate telecommunications will fall within definition of common carriers.

By: John Battelle

John Battelle — Mon, 01 Oct 2007 18:55:52 +0000

Yes, you are right. Though it most likely turns on whether or not ATT’s underlying services are considered common carriage, no?

By: Eli

Eli — Mon, 01 Oct 2007 18:21:41 +0000

I agree with Corey.

By: Corey

Corey — Mon, 01 Oct 2007 15:56:51 +0000

You mention “indefensible limitation on freedom of speech.” It might be worth noting that the US Bill or Rights protect us against the government limiting our speech. It doesn’t protect us against each other, or in this case against a private company. So, it might not be a freedom of speech issue at all. AT&T may have the right to draft and enforce their TOS as stated above, and we have the right not to do business with them.

By: Search☸ Engines WEB

Search☸ Engines WEB — Mon, 01 Oct 2007 13:23:41 +0000

That is just their legal staff leaving no stone unturned.

How will AT&T know who has defamed them? Most Bloggers or Journalists will not divulge their IPhone accounts publicly - so how will they be traced?

Perhaps in a rare extreme case, a high profile persistent controversial activist could get terminated - but 99.999% of the users have nothing to worry about.

By: Paul

Paul — Mon, 01 Oct 2007 02:35:13 +0000

This isn’t anything new. A lot of companies do this. Take a look at every Microsoft EUL. IIS’s EUL specifically says that you cannot use IIS to host information that is derogatory to Microsoft.

By: Steven M.

Steven M. — Sun, 30 Sep 2007 20:42:35 +0000

Irrespective of its customer base, AT&T’s own conduct tends quite easily to damage the name or reputation of AT&T. Two great examples include cozying up to the NSA as well as infuriating iPhone owners with its absurd rate policy and insistence (contrary to law) that iPhone owners be locked into AT&T’s mediocre voice and data services. I for one plan to switch my iPhone service to T-Mobile within a few weeks because of AT&T’s ongoing Evil Empire behavior. Isn’t that why 25 years ago the courts broke up Ma Bell in the first place, for anticompetitive behavior?