at&t announced today that it owns user’s information (including mine, so that makes it personal), and they will share it as they see fit. i notice that yahoo is once again party to sharing user data with the governement on questionable grounds (through their partnership with sbc / at&t). coming on the heels of revelations that at&t is ALREADY providing the government with my data, it looks like they are making it official policy that they ARE going to continue to share my info with the government. that’s not exactly the apology i was expecting, and how they believe that will protect them from lawsuits is somewhat beyond my understanding. comcast announced that they will only share information if they receive a subpoena or a warrant. that’s a good policy, one which is now taking my business from at&t. i am not under the illusion that switching ISPs is going to protect my privacy , and in a sense i don’t really care all that much. but at least comcast is paying lipservice to the constitution.
this seems like a good time to vote with my dollars, and i encourage you to do the same if you are concerned about privacy, your rights, and the law. maybe the telcos will learn the same lesson kryptonite locks did. or maybe i’m going off half-baked? i’m still going to check out comcast. you can do whatever your conscience tells you.
UPDATE: i guess i will only have to live with their new policy for 3 days before i switch over. i’m not sure how thrilled i am to have cable again after pointedly NOT having it for the last 6 or 7 years. i guess it makes more sense than having a landline that is only used by telemarketers reaching me at inconvenient hours. at&t still has their meathooks in me through my cel phone i just realized, but it seems like a tremendous hassle to switch that.
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