August 15, 2008
AT&T is “carefully considering” monitoring the Web-surfing activities of customers who use its Internet service, the company said in a letter in response to an inquiry from the House Committee on Energy and Commerce.
Ms. Attwood [AT&T’s senior vice president for public policy] also took a rather combative approach toward Google and other Internet advertising firms. Their targeting methods, she said, “are as effective as any technique that an I.S.P. might employ at creating specific customer profiles and enabling highly targeted advertising.”
Google replied:
It’s not surprising that AT&T would use their response to divert attention from their own privacy practices, and to misrepresent how online advertising works.
I loathe AT&T.