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Howdy Pilgrim
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''The Domino Theory''
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Friday, June 30, 2006
AT&T
VetZine Pulls The Plug
After some 14 years of publishing on the internet
VetZine will pull the plug at Midnight June 30 central time USA
I refuse to further hazard VetZine Subscribers
See Post Below
Solidarity Comrade !
Keep your powder dry
------------
You'd be a fool to continue to use AT&T
now that its data grab is on the table.
For that matter, you are a fool to do business
with anyone who uses AT&T themselves.
The new privacy policy basically lets AT&T
do anything it wants with your information.
(Remember, according to the company, it's
its information.) The specific claim is t
hat AT&T can do whatever it wants with
your/its data "to protect [the company's]
legitimate business interests."
--------------------------
http://www.computerworld.com/action/article.do?command=viewArticleBasi
c&articleId=9001449
Opinion: Sticking with AT&T? You're a fool
Opinion: AT&T's privacy policy should be a
deal-breaker
Ira Winkler
June 27, 2006
(Computerworld)
-- AT&T's new "privacy" policy for its
Internet and video services is way out of line
-- an insult to genuine security efforts
and a brassy attempt to make its profits
your problem. The announced policy changes
may just be a sign that cynically attaching
the "war on terrorism" label to business
initiatives has reached a new low,
but anyone out there who believes that AT&T
has announced this sweeping new data-collection
policy to support the government's fight
against terrorism is truly a fool.
This new privacy policy goes way beyond
even the most absurd arguments for
monitoring Internet users.
Recapping the basics, AT&T claims that it
"reworded" the privacy policy for its
Internet service to reflect what was
previously "implied." What the company
claims was implied is to the effect that
while you consider your account
information personal, AT&T owns it.
Once you've caught your breath,
let's unpack what's happening here.
First, ask yourself how AT&T benefits
from a clearly controversial policy change
such as this. Do you think that AT&T is
changing this privacy policy just so
it can provide data to the U.S. government
for good will, or because the government
told it to? No. If the government wants y
our data it has, as we know, various
mechanisms to acquire it
-- whatever AT&T's privacy policy. A
legal warrant is a legal warrant, for example.
The implication is that AT&T is making a
profit from selling the data to the
federal government. And that profit
must be substantial; after all, there
are clearly many customers who are
dropping AT&T services as a result of
this proposed change. (Including me
-- I actually stopped a switch to AT&T's
Cingular cellular services when I heard of
this development.) Clearly, AT&T will lose
business by implementing or even announcing
such a profound change in privacy policies.
I can only imagine how much money AT&T is
receiving from the government for
all those records if they believe
it's worth the hit.
Next, let's look at what this change entails. The new privacy policy basically lets AT&T do anything
it wants with your information.
(Remember, according to the company, it's
its information.) The specific claim is that
AT&T can do whatever it wants with your/its
data "to protect [the company's] legitimate
business interests."
PAGE 2
But think: Making a profit is a legitimate
business interest. Therefore, whatever the
company wants to do with any of your information,
for whatever it considers within its interests,
is covered. AT&T makes no pretense about it.
Not only would this explicit ownership claim
help the company avoid lawsuits in the future
for selling data to the National Security
Agency for data-mining purposes, it
basically lets AT&T do whatever it wants
with any of your information.
This isn't merely a knee-jerk reaction to
current lawsuits, but is a profit-making
venture for it forevermore.
Not disturbed yet?
Ponder this: The privacy policy can be
theoretically used to justify AT&T offering
a service that consists of selling your
corporate e-mail messages to your competitors.
If AT&T offers that "service" at a profit,
it's a legitimate business interest for the
company. This sounds like an extreme,
but the privacy policy allows for such
extremes. Posing another problem, if
you deal with data protected by such
regulations as the Health Insurance
Portability and Accountability Act
or the Sarbanes-Oxley Act, you now
have a whole new set of eyes potentially
on that data, with no accountability to
your firm or your customers and
no means by which you can keep an
eye on things.
AT&T isn't protecting its ability to work
with the government
-- it's granting itself the right to do
whatever it wants with any of your
information or data passing through its
service. While AT&T's spokesmen may well
say, "We would never do that,"
you'd be a fool to believe them.
The company employs any number of lawyers,
and they didn't pull the "complete ownership"
language out of a hat. They are stating,
as they mean to state, that they are
claiming complete ownership of your data.
That is a huge leap from cooperation with
government for perceived national security purposes.
Even if you don't use AT&T, you must
potentially consider that one of your
vendors, or anyone else you exchange
e-mails with, might use AT&T.
While you may not technically want
to give up rights to your information,
what happens if these other parties
send your data, or
data relating to you, through AT&T?
The implications are really scary.
Again, AT&T says that it's protecting its
legitimate business interests,
not yours or those of the parties
that you deal with.
PAGE 3
It gets better.
AT&T has also extended its claims on
your information by claiming that it
can monitor your video usage.
There are laws on the book that state
that cable companies can't monitor
or collect data on viewing habits.
AT&T claims that it isn't bound
by those regulations because it's
an Internet provider and not a cable
operator. Unless AT&T is offering
pay-per-view terrorist training videos
on its network, I don't see how the
company can claim that monitoring your
video consumption is a matter of
cooperating with law enforcement.
That data contains value only for
commercial interests.
AT&T's concerns are not about national
security, but about profit and future
profits. So far, even other Internet
providers are disagreeing with AT&T's
position. Unless there is a substantial
backlash, though,it is likely that
AT&T will extend this privacy policy
to other AT&T operating units.
Likewise, other Internet providers may
follow suit
if AT&T doesn't take a big hit.
They might want to start selling your
data ... I mean their data ... as well.
So there you have it:
You'd be a fool to continue to use AT&T
now that its data grab is on the table.
For that matter, you are a fool to do
business with anyone who uses AT&T themselves.
This isn't about security in any way,
shape or form -- the motivation is clearly
profit. Since AT&T isn't cutting you in
on its profit from your
-- I mean its data -- don't give it to
the company in the first place.
Related news and opinion
* AT&T to customers: We own your data
* Ira Winkler: Why NSA spying puts the U.S. in danger
* IT Blogwatch: AT&T: All your data are belong to us (and temp.
demo.)
* Martin McKeay : I'm looking for a new long distance company
* Jerri Ledford : AT&T's new requirements open the door for
serious threats to personal data
* C. J. Kelly : AT&T policy change?
He Who Demands Your Rights
Aims To Take Your Security
posted by Vetzine
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