Responding to a problem first pointed out in Ars Technica
----- I am alarmed to read, in your new terms of service, the phrase "Your Service may be suspended or terminated ... without notice, for conduct that AT&T believes ... tends to damage the name or reputation of AT&T."
This sounds like you're threatening to terminate me if I use my AT&T DSL service to publicly criticize any aspect of AT&T's operations or policies, including this one.
Perhaps I am violating it right now, by criticizing you to your face, using my DSL line to send the message.
Please clarify what your actual intention is. Did you actually mean to silence all your critics? Or did you only mean to prohibit something more malicious, such as slander and misrepresentation?
If open discussion is actually what you are trying to prohibit, then I and a million others will be looking for other DSL providers right away, and we might even have material for a Congressional or FCC investigation.
What I need is your assurance that discussion of telecom policy matters, even if critical of AT&T, is permitted as long as it does not violate laws against fraud, misrepresentation, and slander.
Yours sincerely,
Michael A. Covington, Ph.D. Former member, Computer Security & Ethics Committee The University of Georgia