Over the weekend, AT&T received some heat for some fine print in their acceptable use policy. The policy states that AT&T reserves the right to terminate your services with the telco should you engage in activity that would "damage the name or reputation of AT&T, or its parents, affiliates and subsidiaries."

AT&T tells us that the company's policy is not new, nor is not exclusive to AT&T:Verizon also has a similar clause in their AUP, which states that you "may NOT use the Service as follows: ...(j) to damage the name or reputation of Verizon, its parent, affiliates and subsidiaries, or any third parties." According to the folks at Verizon, it has been in their AUP for nearly a decade, though it has never been used:Of course, what Verizon considers "accurate information" could probably be a bone of contention, but it's pretty clear that neither company is using these AUP provisions to stifle legitimate criticism. That doesn't mean you aren't losing your rights due to AUP mouseprint on other fronts, but you should be able to get away with calling Verizon CEO Ivan Seidenberg names without having your DSL line disconnected.