A top executive at America's biggest Internet service provider says the interests of Hollywood are more important than the interests of its customers:
AT&T to target pirated content
It joins Hollywood in trying to keep bootleg material off its network.
AT&T Inc. has joined Hollywood studios and recording companies in trying to keep pirated films, music and other content off its network — the first major carrier of Internet traffic to do so.
The San Antonio-based company started working last week with studios and record companies to develop anti-piracy technology that would target the most frequent offenders, said James W. Cicconi, an AT&T senior vice president.
The nation's largest telephone and Internet service provider also operates the biggest cross-country system for handling Internet traffic for its customers and those of other providers.
As AT&T has begun selling pay-television services, the company has realized that its interests are more closely aligned with Hollywood, Cicconi said in an interview Tuesday. The company's top leaders recently decided to help Hollywood protect the digital copyrights to that content… [Read the full story]
As smart guy David Weinberger says, “Putting a cop in the middle of the network and making available content not accessible by other networks means that if AT&T says it's offering Internet connectivity, it's lying.”