From Robert Glenn Plotner: In 2004/2005 while auditing election results, I suddenly found my access blocked to government websites containing election returns as well as election reform websites. No other sites were affected. I documented the problems. Different browsers. Different computers. Cache cleared, Router rebooted. Though I posted about the issue, no one seemed to take it seriously (even at DU). After all it sounds paranoid, or merely like a glitch of some kind. But when I connected the same computer through a different ISP, it connected immediately. That made me suspect that BellSouth (now AT&T) & the Bush cronies were up to something criminal. Of course, we later found out that they were actively engaged in doing exactly that and more.
Recently, I added my voice to the Glenn Beck/Fox News boycott by adding a Facebook "Cause" page. It's just riding the coattails of an already established movement, but it is helping to grow FB member support. And now, it's happening again. Suddenly, I am unable to connect to Facebook from home computers over AT&T. Same measures to clear the cache, reboot the router, try different browsers, etc. It seems only Facebook is effected at this point. I can log on to Facebook, just not from this connection. I do know that AT&T is partnered with Fox in many ways. The question is, does this stem from AT&T using their still installed Bush free speech filters, or am I missing some other scenario or technical issue? I don't know. Suggestions appreciated. [I asked Robert for permission to send out his email. He replied as follows--MCM] Yes, it's okay. I confirmed my suspicions by further going through an anonymous proxy server to hide my IP. Using a proxy, Facebook is immediately available to all of my home computers! But, switching back to go through AT&T's servers, I'm instantly blocked again. Are they still using Bush's eavesdropping program to monitor their users, or is this just basic site blocking akin to what an employer would do? AT&T certainly attempted to write such actions into their terms of service in 2007 when they issued a take-it-or-leave-it agreement stating that "AT&T may immediately terminate or suspend all or a portion of your Service, any Member ID, electronic mail address, IP address, Universal Resource Locator or domain name used by you, without notice for conduct that AT&T believes... tends to damage the name or reputation of AT&T, or its parents, affiliates and subsidiaries." Public outcry made them rescind their wholly anti-American campaign to limit speech, information, and thought, but apparently that was a ruse. I spent the morning switching ISP's and phone accounts. I'll have to wait for the tech's to come out before I'm fully able to switch over. I'm honestly dumbfounded. While I try to add my voice to political debate and step up when called, I'm not a full-time activist. The last time I was able to check, all of 277 FB users signed the petition regarding Beck from my FB Cause page in the few days since I added it to the coattails of a much larger movement. It's a drop in the bucket, but a drop to which some speech monitor seems especially sensitive. Is AT&T invested in a Glenn Beck version of a former America? I wish somehow that this was something else, but my previous experience tells me it is probably otherwise. Robert --~--~---------~--~----~------------~-------~--~----~ You received this message because you are subscribed to Mark Crispin Miller's "News From Underground" newsgroup. To unsubscribe, send a blank email to newsfromunderground-unsubscr...@googlegroups.com OR go to http://groups.google.com/group/newsfromunderground and click on the "Unsubscribe or change membership" link in the yellow bar at the top of the page, then click the "Unsubscribe" button on the next page. For more News From Underground, visit http://markcrispinmiller.com -~----------~----~----~----~------~----~------~--~---
