Monday, July 27, 2009

AT&T Pulls a Boner

AT&T decided to block access to 4chan yesterday because of the content.

Now - I'm not gonna defend some of the content over there - it's well beyond vile... but legally AT&T just screwed themselves like I havent seen a company screw itself since Nortel bought Clarify.
The problem is this... if you monitor and restrict access to content on your network - then you are LIABLE FOR THAT CONTENT IF YOU MISS SOMETHING. This is the LAW in the US. Compuserve fought this one for years back in 93 - and it's based on Supreme Court precedent.

...Smith v. California--an obscenity case, not a defamation case.
Smith is the Supreme Court case in which the notion first appears that it
is generally unconstitutional to hold bookstore owners liable for content
they did not know about. So, if Smith v. California applies in a
online-service or BBS defamation case, it certainly ought to apply in an
obscenity case as well.
So - if you're Apple you probably want to accelerate the process of breaking that exclusivity deal with AT&T - because AT&T is about to drag your ass down when they get sued by 4channers who get exposed to porn they didnt want to see.

AT&T - you are a carrier... you are not a censor... when you choose to become a censor you alter your protected status. Unbelievably stupid.


EDIT: Lol... looks like AT&T's lawyers have made it to the office this morning. They've suspended their censoring program and re-enabled access "following practices of their policy department". I swear - what kind of morons are running that company.

1 comment:

ace said...

And once again, it NEVER fails with the incessant lying, as lying is a way of life for these hacker creeps. I salute AT&T for blocking viruses, trojans and nasty spider scripts, as that is what the REAL truth is as to WHY AT&T has flashed the middle finger [blocked] to 4 Chan. Why should AT&T waste time and energy in dealing with viruses, trojans and uncontrollable script programs emanating from the 4 Chan site?

I don't condone censorship and I certainly don't condone lies "in the name of lulz". The only thing 4 Chan has proven again and again, is that they are infantile and violent. A bunch of two year olds who go on tirades. And just like an out of control two year old, they need some REAL hard slaps from the school of hard knocks.

Any consequences or denial of internet access to AT&T customers due to NAZI actions emanating from 4 Chan [or any other hacker creeps for that matter], I pray that they are caught, rounded up, prosecuted beyond the extent of the law, thrown in a windowless cell and locked up forever until the day they die.

I commend AT&T for taking the step forward and I sincerely hope that other ISP'S follow suit ASAP. ENOUGH IS ENOUGH. Hackers cause destruction, chaos, waste everyones time and energy. Normal people on the net are SICK AND TIRED of these two year old tantrum antics that 4 Chan displays on a daily basis. These hacker creeps really and truly need to GROW THE F*** UP.