[ale] at&t mobile restriction

[Jim Philips]

Looks like they have already backed down:

http://www.engadget.com/2009/04/03/atandt-retracts-new-terms-of-service-apologizes/

Paul Cartwright wrote:
> yesterday at lunch time, I tried to use my mobile web from my Verizon phone. 
> It just spun... didn't go anywhere. So I assume there wasn't enough bandwidth 
> for Verizon..
> then I saw this, this morning:
> AT&T Bans Video Streaming, Tethering, Fun From Its Mobile Data Network 
> (Wireless)
>  by Carlo Longino from the no-soup-for-you dept on Friday, April 3rd, 2009 @ 
> 4:11PM
> AT&T has modified the terms of service for its mobile data network, 
> banning "downloading movies using P2P file sharing services, customer 
> initiated redirection of television or other video or audio signals via any 
> technology from a fixed location to a mobile device, web broadcasting, and... 
> any applications that tether the device... to Personal Computers or other 
> equipment." So in addition to banning illegal movie downloads, AT&T's banned 
> things like SlingPlayer that consumers can use to legally view content, 
> services like Qik that let them show live video on the web from their phones. 
> Why would it do such a thing? Well, either it's looking to protect its 
> commercial interests by banning services for which it hopes to charge its 
> customers, or its network isn't up to snuff and can't support all the things 
> its customers would like to do with it. This sort of stuff, sadly, is par for 
> the course for the mobile industry, home of the "unlimited" plan that's 
> actually got lots of limits. In the end, the only ones who end up getting 
> hurt by these things are the operators themselves. By seeking to limit what 
> their customers can do with their phones, they're limiting how valuable they 
> are to their users -- which means at some point, they won't be willing to pay 
> as much for them.
>