AT&T's Subscriber Agreement

[ddm at pizzashack.org (Derek Martin)]

I wish I were a lawyer, or at least were good friends with one.  Not
that it matters...  I hate big business.  All of them.

I've just reviewed AT&T/@Home's agreement, and while in some ways it's
better than the original one I signed with MediaOne (THERE IS NO
ANTI-SERVER CLAUSE), there are quite a few things I really hate about
it.  I suspect that some of the terms are not legal, but does it
really matter?  You can complain if you like, but if you do, what are
your expectations that they will not find a reason to terminate your
service?  And if they do, what alternatives do you have?  If you have
any, they're probably other phone companies, which think and behave
just like AT&T.

Here's an example of one I really like in section 5, entitled
"Collection" (it should be renamed "lack of privacy statement"):

  (d) Confidentiality of Information. AT&T considers the personally
  identifiable customer information that is collected to be
  confidential. Unless prior written or electronic consent is obtained,
  AT&T_will_disclose_to_third_parties_personal_information_that_AT&T_
  maintains_related_to_customers_only_when_it_is_necessary_to_deliver_
  the_Service_to_customers_or_carry_out_related_business_activities,_in_
  the_ordinary_course_of_business,_for_ordinary_business_purposes,_and_
  at_a_frequency_dictated_by_AT&T's_particular_business_need. The types
  of persons to whom information about customers may be disclosed in the
  course of AT&T's business include: @Home Network; AT&T employees and
  the employees of AT&T's related legal entities; agents; billing and
  collection services.

Note the underlined part.  It basically says "AT&T considers your
information confidential, but we don't give a rat's ass.  We will
disclose whatever we want to whomever we want whenever we want, in
order to advance the interests of our business.  Just keep paying us."

I don't know about you, but I don't agree to this.  Except that if I
want Internet service, I really don't have a choice, because a similar
clause is in pretty much everyone's ToS agreement.  So screw the
consumer.  Screw choice.  What we want doesn't matter.

And what do you mean they're filtering port 80?  What do you mean they
said you can't run a web server?  It says you can right in their
agreement:

  (b) FTP/HTTP Service Setup. Customer should be aware that when using
  the Service to access the Internet or any other online network or
  service, there are certain applications, such as FTP (File Transfer
  Protocol) server or HTTP (Hyper Text Transfer Protocol) server, which
  may be used to allow other Service users and Internet users to gain
  access to Customer's computer. If Customer chooses to run such
  applications, Customer should take the appropriate security
  measures. Neither AT&T nor @Home Network shall have any liability
  whatsoever for any claims, losses, actions, damages, suits or
  proceedings resulting from, arising out of or otherwise relating to
  the use of such applications by Customer, including without
  limitation, damages resulting from others accessing Customer's
  computer.

"If Customer chooses to run such applications, Customer should take
the appropriate security measures."  Now that I agree with!  Except I
can't, because they're filtering port 80.  So despite the fact that
they've said I *CAN* run a web server, they're not letting me.  What's
their excuse?  You can read it for yourself here:

  http://help.broadband.att.com/faq.jsp?content_id=792&category_id=54http://help.broadband.att.com/faq.jsp?content_id=792&category_id=54

Just look down at the bottom, where it says "Why Can't AT&T at Home
Residential Customers Run Web Servers?"  There you'll find the answer.
Except I can't see any logic behind what they're saying that doesn't
contradict what they've said in a bunch of other places.  Their answer
seems to boil down to "Why??  Because WHAT ARE YOU GOING TO DO ABOUT
IT?  HAHA!  NOW BEND OVER AND GO PAY YOUR BILL, OR WE'LL SHUT YOU
DOWN!!"

And you were worried about the government...

-- 
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Derek Martin          |   Unix/Linux geek
ddm at pizzashack.org    |   GnuPG Key ID: 0x81CFE75D
Retrieve my public key at http://pgp.mit.edu

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