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ATT'S MONOPOLY IN IPHONE SERVICE IS CHALLENGED
ALTERNET - In spite of its hot consumer appeal, the recently released
iPhone comes with a major flaw: If you buy one, your carrier will be
locked into service with AT&T, a major telecom player that worked with
the Bush administration after 9/11. . . Apple has cut a deal with AT&T
to give them the monopoly on carrying the phone's service for the time
being. Even worse, the iPhone is also locked away from outside
innovators who might design their own applications to function on the
iPhone.
Working Assets, the wireless and long distance phone service and credit
card company with an activist network that does advocacy for a wide
range of progressive causes, set up an action alert to fight what it
perceived to be iPhone's unfair business practice . . .
Pointing out that it is "perfectly legal, according to a recent decision
from the U.S. Register of Copyrights, for American consumers to unlock
their phones for use on whatever network they would like," and that
"Apple is trying to take away that right by locking the iPhone to AT&T's
network," Working Assets urged its list of activist/customers and online
audience to sign a petition telling Steve Jobs to allow for open access
to the iPhone on other phone networks.
http://www.alternet.org/stories/55976/
MICHAEL TIEMAN, CNET - I was casually cruising the news sites yesterday
when I came across a story about porting "ineligible" numbers to AT&T
and iPhone. I clicked on the story because I know some of the people who
lobbied for and won the rights to treat phone numbers more like personal
property you own than corporate property you rent. I was right with the
author until he said (without comment or outrage): "On that screen,
enter your name, Social Security number, and your current billing
information and home telephone."
Apple and AT&T are demanding customers reveal SSNs to activate their
iPhones. That should be the lead of every technology and business
article written this week. . . This weekend, 525,000 people, my wife,
Amy, included, purchased the Apple iPhone. . . It is well known that
Apple is a very secretive company. This does not necessarily mean that
it handles personal data more responsibly than a very transparent
company, it just means that it's very difficult for an average person
like me to discover the truth about what it is doing and what it is
hiding. But AT&T? The company is a defendant in a class-action lawsuit
after a federal judge denied AT&T's motions to have the case dismissed.
The case alleges that AT&T gave the NSA "unchecked backdoor access to
its communications network and its record databases," violating the law
and the privacy of its customers. Whatever the court may find, the AT&T
case clearly demonstrates why it is profoundly bad judgment to give a
telephone company (or most any other company) sensitive personal
identifying information such as one's SSN. Period.
http://news.com.com/8301-10784_3-9739118-7.html?part=
rss&subj=news&tag=2547-1_3-0-5
||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
ATT'S MONOPOLY IN IPHONE SERVICE IS CHALLENGED
ALTERNET - In spite of its hot consumer appeal, the recently released
iPhone comes with a major flaw: If you buy one, your carrier will be
locked into service with AT&T, a major telecom player that worked with
the Bush administration after 9/11. . . Apple has cut a deal with AT&T
to give them the monopoly on carrying the phone's service for the time
being. Even worse, the iPhone is also locked away from outside
innovators who might design their own applications to function on the
iPhone.
Working Assets, the wireless and long distance phone service and credit
card company with an activist network that does advocacy for a wide
range of progressive causes, set up an action alert to fight what it
perceived to be iPhone's unfair business practice . . .
Pointing out that it is "perfectly legal, according to a recent decision
from the U.S. Register of Copyrights, for American consumers to unlock
their phones for use on whatever network they would like," and that
"Apple is trying to take away that right by locking the iPhone to AT&T's
network," Working Assets urged its list of activist/customers and online
audience to sign a petition telling Steve Jobs to allow for open access
to the iPhone on other phone networks.
http://www.alternet.org/stories/55976/
MICHAEL TIEMAN, CNET - I was casually cruising the news sites yesterday
when I came across a story about porting "ineligible" numbers to AT&T
and iPhone. I clicked on the story because I know some of the people who
lobbied for and won the rights to treat phone numbers more like personal
property you own than corporate property you rent. I was right with the
author until he said (without comment or outrage): "On that screen,
enter your name, Social Security number, and your current billing
information and home telephone."
Apple and AT&T are demanding customers reveal SSNs to activate their
iPhones. That should be the lead of every technology and business
article written this week. . . This weekend, 525,000 people, my wife,
Amy, included, purchased the Apple iPhone. . . It is well known that
Apple is a very secretive company. This does not necessarily mean that
it handles personal data more responsibly than a very transparent
company, it just means that it's very difficult for an average person
like me to discover the truth about what it is doing and what it is
hiding. But AT&T? The company is a defendant in a class-action lawsuit
after a federal judge denied AT&T's motions to have the case dismissed.
The case alleges that AT&T gave the NSA "unchecked backdoor access to
its communications network and its record databases," violating the law
and the privacy of its customers. Whatever the court may find, the AT&T
case clearly demonstrates why it is profoundly bad judgment to give a
telephone company (or most any other company) sensitive personal
identifying information such as one's SSN. Period.
http://news.com.com/8301-10784_3-9739118-7.html?part=
rss&subj=news&tag=2547-1_3-0-5
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