AT&T: New Privacy Policy Not 'knee-Jerk'

"We have been working on these updated privacy policies for several months," Nels says. She says the revisions do not constitute "a knee-jerk reaction" to criticism by the EFF and others over AT&T's alleged sharing of consumer records with federal investigative agencies without court-approved warrants. However, Pam Dixon, executive director of the non-profit World Privacy Forum, terms AT&T's revised privacy policies "a substantial shift" from before. The new policy also drops a reference stating that the company "does not access, read, upload or store data contained in or derived from private files without the member's authorization." The EFF lawsuit accuses AT&T of providing federal authorities with access to its customer records on virtually all of their phone-based communications since 2001. Dan Brenner, senior vice president of law and regulatory policy at the National Cable and Telecommunications Association, says the cable industry is challenging AT&T in court and before the Federal Communications Commission to make it comply with the 1984 law. "Under no circumstances," Brenner says, "can we collect or distribute viewers' habits." http://www.usatoday.com/money/industries/telecom/2006-06-21-privacy-usat_x.htm

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