 nwrickertsand groperPremium,MVM
join:2004-09-04
Geneva, IL
kudos:7
 ·AT&T U-Verse
| reply to jsinaiko
Re: WARNING: AT&T will cut off your Internet connection if... If they choose to interpret negative comments as "conduct," they can do so until a court tells them they can't. If they were to cut of somebody for criticizing AT&T, then the publicity resulting from that action by AT&T would harm their reputation far more than the criticism. Common sense says that they won't do that.
IMO, the term "conduct," as opposed to illegal activity is overly broad and can mean anything AT&T decides it means until a court defines it for them, or (more likely) there is already precedent that defines this sort of thing. Disagree.
If their TOS says "illegal activity", and somebody puts up a kiddie porn site, then they cannot cut him off until they have a court order allowing them to do so. With their current wording they can cut him off immediately. And if they had to wait for a court determination before cutting him off, the public will blame AT&T for not shutting it down immediately.
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AT&T dsl; Westell 2200 modem/router; SuSE 10.1; firefox 2.0.0.5 |
 jsinaikoPremium
join:2001-04-25
Chicago, IL
·AT&T U-Verse
 ·AT&T Midwest
1 edit | I agree with your first point, that's what occurred with the Verizon/NARAL situation, but that doesn't mean it has to be that way - I am talking about what is legal and possible, not what makes good business sense - they are not the same thing.
Are you sure AT&T would not have to wait till they get a court order? I was under the impression that that can cut the pornographer off and he is the one who needs the court order to get back on.
And I wasn't advocating for a change in the TOS to "illegal activity" or something of that nature - I was just pointing out that this stuff is extremely ambiguous and that after only fifteen years of this stuff the law is just beginning to tackle what the ISP and the customer may or may not do under the constitution.
As the Grouch points out, the illegal activity clause is already in there and yes, they can cut you off without a court order. So this has been added as a catch-all CYA deal by AT&T. it won't matter until someone challenges it, which may or may not ever happen.
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Illegitimati non carborundum
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