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AT&T has proposed a new stunning new concept in user monitoring. Essentially, the telecom giant is planning to set up huge filters to look for illegal copywrited material.

“Ultimately, our customers and their online experience come first. This is not about the vast majority of customers who consume content online legally. This is about combating illegal activity.“
—Michael Balmoris, spokesman, AT&T

This is a huge error on AT&T’s part. Certainly, there will be some legitimate material that is going to significantly slowed or blocked by such a filtering plan. I can only imagine the massive amounts of customer complaints that AT&T call centers will receive after such a plan is implemented. The poor call center employees should be issued bulletproof vests and get purple hearts for the kind of abuse they’ll likely receive at the hands of users who are unable to send relatives their own home movies through the net.

This also raises a legal question. Many years ago the telecom industry struck a deal with the federal government. The carriers have never wanted to culpable for any illegal activity that passes over it’s lines, which is understandable. Thus, the bargain of Common Carriage was enacted. The idea is a simple one. The telecoms would treat all calls equally, and in return, they would have no liability for illegal activity that occurred over the lines. The new strategy reverses this. This could be catastrophic for both the consumers and AT&T. If I was a shareholder in AT&T, I’d have to seriously consider dumping AT&T.

Read [CNET]

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