From: "Rich Gauszka" 

AT&T is partnered with Yahoo so it will track those sites. Now it
wishes to track TV viewing habits for any shows delivered over the phone -
something cable and satellite providers are barred from.

http://www.kristv.com/Global/story.asp?S=5067691&nav=Bsmh

Coe said AT and T won't track Internet use once customers leave the AT and
T-Yahoo sites to, for example, conduct a search on Google.com.

http://www.usatoday.com/money/industries/telecom/2006-06-21-privacy-qanda-usat_
x.htm
Q: Is this disclosure intended to put customers on alert that their records
may not be as private as they think? Could it be interpreted as allowing
AT&T, at its discretion, to disclose such records without subpoenas or
warrants?

A: That's exactly it. AT&T is reserving an unqualified right to exploit
personal information any way the company sees fit. The intent is veiled in
euphemisms, but the language means that the company believes it has an
unqualified right to do almost anything with the data.

Q: AT&T's new policy seems to allow the collection of Internet
navigation and video-viewing records. Cable TV providers can't do that
without consumers' consent. This is part of a larger debate over whether
Internet protocol video should be treated like cable. What's your
assessment?

A: The U.S. has taken a "sectoral" approach to privacy, meaning
that specific laws regulate certain sectors of the economy. New
technologies can upset this approach. The Cable Act, which was extended to
satellite providers two years ago, is one of the strongest privacy laws in
the U.S. It prevents cable companies from collecting viewing habits and
using them for marketing or other purposes. Now that TV can be delivered
over telephone wires, it makes sense to extend the Cable Act provisions to
telephone carriers.



"Dave Ings"  wrote in message
news:449b6ab6{at}w3.nls.net...
>I don't get how they are going to do this. This sort of info is usually
>hidden inside an https session that no intermediate service provider can
>see (short of cracking the end to end session).
>
> Me thinks the BW reporter got something mixed up or forgot to add
> something to the effect that this will be done for ATT hosted sites (I
> didn't realize there were any actually).
> --
> Regards,
> Dave Ings,
> Toronto, Canada
>
> "Rich Gauszka"  wrote in message
> news:449b5396{at}w3.nls.net...
>
>> http://www.businessweek.com/ap/financialnews/D8IDHDT01.htm?sub=apn_tech_down
&chan=tc
>
>> Under the new policy, AT&T will collect customers' user names,
passwords,
>> charges, payments and online purchases. It will also track their clicks
>> while on sites that AT&T operates in a partnership with Yahoo Inc.
>>
>
>

--- BBBS/NT v4.01 Flag-5