AT&T: We're More Evil Than You

AT&T's new motto should be a slightly revamped version of Google's: Only Do Evil. Here's the latest word from the big bad Telco --- it has been turning over personal and protected data about its customers to federal agencies since at least 2001, and possibly longer. And it's been doing it without telling customers, and in direct violation of the law. So says a lawsuit filed by the Electronic Frontier Foundation. The EFF says that AT&T has been cooperating with the NSA's illegal wiretapping program, and adds "The government requires the collaboration of major telecommunications companies to implement its unprecedented and illegal spying program."

The amount of private data AT&T has been handing over to the NSA is truly mind-boggling. EFF says that AT&T gives the NSA full access to its databases, which handled over 300 million voice calls and contain over 4,000 terabytes of data. That's about 200 times the data contained in the entire Library of Congress, if you're counting. EFF says that the NSA still has access to all of that information.

Am I surprised? Of course not. As I've said repeatedly, when it comes to business practices, AT&T would put even Tony Soprano to shame. So it's no surprise that it would violate its customers privacy rights without blinking an eye -- its all-seeing one.