AT&T listen in , read your e-mails, texts, watch you surf the web now they even fucking censor what you hear

Pearl Jam were performing at/on Lollapalooza on Sunday night which was broadcast on AT&T Blue Room live webcast.

Listening fans were dismayed that during the performances of "Daughter" the sung lines "George Bush, leave this world alone" and "George Bush find yourself another home." were absent. (This is sung to Pink Floyd's "Another Brick in the Wall") ... try it.

AT & T agreed there was a cut and the unbelievably named, large breasted, luscious lipped Tiffany Nels of AT&T said they are working the matter out with the band. "We regret the mistake," she explains. "This was not intended and was an unfortunate mistake made by a webcast editor." She went on to explain that AT&T has a policy for any excessive language, and that it was set up because of its all-ages audience... explained further to the Chicago Tribune ;

"We don't have a policy in place to censor," said AT&T's Tiffany Nels. "We have a policy on excessive profanity. This was an honest mistake. There was no censorship intended."

On their website Pearl Jam said

"This, of course, troubles us as artists but also as citizens concerned with the issue of censorship and the increasingly consolidated control of the media,"

"AT&T's actions strike at the heart of the public's concerns over thepower that corporations have when it comes to determining what the public sees and hears through communications media."

The band went on to point out hat "most telecommunications companies oppose 'net neutrality' and argue that the public can trust them not to censor."

"If a company that is controlling a Webcast is cutting out bits of our performance -- not based on laws, but on their own preferences and interpretations -- fans have little choice but to watch the censored version," the band said. "What happened to us this weekend was a wake-up call, and it's about something much bigger than the censorship of a rock band."

The full version of Pearl Jam's performance of "Daughter" at Lollapalooza will shortly be available on their website. Nels also told the Chicago Tribune that AT&T hopes also to post an unedited version on its Blue Room site archives - "hopes to".

So AT & T are not only content with listening in to your telcoms, reading your e-mail and texts, watching your web browsing for Uncle Sam ... they want to decide what you can fucking hear.

However those with a long memory will remember that it was luscious Tiffany who fronted the responses by AT & T to their changed "privacy" policy in June last year when they "overhauled" their policy which involved dropping any reference to its previous policy, which had said the company "does not access, read, upload or store data contained in or derived from private files without the members' authorization..."

Luscious Tiffany went on to explain at the time ..
"Asked about the missing reference, she then said that it been removed in order to clarify the policy and make it easier for customers to understand and explained the company had been working on the privacy policy update for several months.

"We have never looked at our customers' files, or e-mails, photos or personal information, so this is not an issue. This is simply a matter of streamlining information," Nels said.

AT&T released a statement saying its merger last year with SBC "and the need to integrate the pre-merger companies' two separate privacy policies" led it to update the policy.

It added,

"As spelled out in any privacy policy, we outline our obligation to assist law enforcement and other government agencies responsible for protecting the public welfare, whether it be an individual or the security interests of the entire nation. "

"We prize the trust our customers place in us. If and when AT&T is asked by government agencies for help, we do so strictly within the law and under the most stringent conditions."

For those without such a long memory we should remind you that the Electronic Frontier Foundation filed a lawsuit in January against AT&T, accusing the company of violating the law and the privacy of its customers "by collaborating with the National Security Agency in its illegal program to wiretap Americans' communications." Accusations of collaboration resurfaced in USA Today story last month stating that AT&T, Verizon and BellSouth provided domestic phone records to the NSA.

An AT&T spokesman (evidently not the gorgeous Tiffany) said at the time the company has never said whether it participated in any such program. Verizon (go here for more) and BellSouth denied providing the phone call records to the agency shortly after the USA Today story was published when they were added to the EFF lawsuit. (Note - Phone call records is what they deny , not access to their routes and facility to wiretap)

Opposition to which is now pointless as Congress have just allowed George to do anything he fucking wants. See Lord Patel July 30th "Having breached FISA the Decider now wants to change the law to suit the spooks - I heard it on the Radio"