Net neutrality: Is AT&T trying to trick people into supporting the repeal of Title II?

[Cal Jeffrey]

Whether you participated in this week's net neutrality protest or not, chances are high that you at least heard about it. You may have also heard that AT&T was joining the cause. In fact, if you are one of its customers you probably received a message saying as much. In a statement on its website, the telecom giant announced that it was going to join the Day of Action.

The protest was initiated to voice dissent against the FCC’s intention to roll back Title II, which regulates internet providers in part, by defining them as public utilities. This announcement came as quite a surprise to many as the telecom giant has shown a distaste for net neutrality rules in the past, even going so far as to file lawsuits against them. Even AT&T’s statement announcing its support indicated that it is aware of its reputation.

@reckless this what I got on my DirecTV today pic.twitter.com/DUI7KqXTjh

— dlwelch34 (@dlwelch34) July 13, 2017

“[Participating in the Day of Action protest] may seem like an anomaly to many people who might question why AT&T is joining with those who have differing viewpoints on how to ensure an open and free internet," Senior Executive Vice President of External and Legislative Affairs Bob Quinn said. He added, “We agree that no company should be allowed to block content or throttle the download speeds of content in a discriminatory manner.”

The company even sent out notifications to its customers that offered to send a pre-written message to their representatives and the FCC. The letters are randomly picked from several prepared responses each time the page is visited or refreshed. Some of the messages vaguely appear to support the purpose of yesterday’s protest. However, refresh enough times, and you will find wording that is clearly against the idea behind the Net Neutrality Day of Action.

Let's be clear: Agreeing with the FCC's current stance on Title II does not align with the purpose of the Day of Action protest.

One message example reads, “While the internet has drastically changed over the years, our internet regulations remain outdated. I agree with the FCC that it doesn’t make sense to apply an 80 year-old regulatory scheme to the internet.”

Another says, “I agree with the current FCC that the internet should not be regulated under a law created 80 years ago.”

These statements explicitly convey agreement with FCC Chairman Ajit Pai’s plan to repeal Title II, which is most definitely not what the protest was about. Most of the people honestly participating in the Day of Action want to see current regulations remain in place, not have them removed. So AT&T offering to send letters out in your name under the guise that they are joining the Day of Action is somewhat deceptive.

To AT&T’s credit, under the huge banner proclaiming its support for an open internet, Quinn does make it clear that the company is in favor of Pai's stance. And it was not the only one. Comcast and Verizon put up blog postings indicating they were behind the protest as well, while maintaining that they were opposed to the regulations in Title II. This just goes to show that you should always be aware of and read what a company is sending on your behalf.

Better yet, write a letter to your representatives and the FCC personally.

Permalink to story.

https://www.techspot.com/news/70129-net-neutrality-att-trying-trick-people-supporting-repeal.html

 

[psycros]

No wonder AT&T bought DirecTV - they wanted to be fake news. Comcast better watch out or AT&T is gonna steal their "biggest scumbags in telecom" title. Its amazing how much Apple has changed the way businesses present themselves to the public. Now every company panders to the political left while, in every way that matters, they support less regulation, less civic responsibility and minimal investment into service infrastructure. Politicians must get a great chuckle from all the "open letters" and other public shows of corporate support for liberal causes as these bureaucrats grow ever richer while sitting on the boards of those same corporations.

 

[wiyosaya]

Did all those who have finely-tuned BS detectors expect anything less of AT&T trying to trick customers into supporting repeal of NN?

While I understand that those who support NN would welcome AT&T's support, given the past history of telcos and cable providers of the worst possible customer service, it, unfortunately, comes as no surprise, to me at least, that AT&T would attempt, still, to dupe the general public with an act like this. That the letter you get is random is unbelievable.

As I see it, their "support" was an act, and nothing more.

It is unfortunate that the current political climate will likely tolerate this because it basically amounts, once again, to fraud.

IMO, those who have questioned why I support NN in the past would do well to look at this more closely and see for themselves that this behavior by AT&T is totally unethical. AT&T are far from God's Angels, and, as I have stated in other post about the subject, regulations will be required for things like this until the relevant businesses are run by God's ( or whatever anyone chooses to call a benevolent all-powerful ruler) Angels.