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AT&T to Serve Democratic Convention Goers

Posted by JILL MILLER ZIMON in Politics.
Feb 2nd, 2008 | Comments

From the Rocky Mountain News:
The Democratic National Convention Committee named AT&T this morning as the official wireless service provider for the party’s convention in August.

AT&T’s agreement with the DNCC will require it to provide smart devices, hardware, software and air cards that allow direct connection to the Internet.

…

The deal comes a couple of weeks after Denver-based Qwest was named by the DNCC as the official telecommunications provider for the convention.

Stupid question alert: why can’t the official telecommunications provider also provide the official wireless service? AT&T is a telecommunications provider too, yes?

Not as stupid question alert: What I want to know is, how much is AT&T getting for the service they’re providing and will information about the communications that occur during the August 25-28 event, or the communications themselves that are passed between all the attendees be information that the U.S. government might at sometime want AT&T to hand over?

What rules for privacy will prevail?

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shaun

Jill:

Good questions all, and it is somehow fitting that the Dems chose AT&T, which has a hard-earned reputation for lousy service, including frequent Internet service outages and its fawning willingness to let the NSA and other federal agencies spy on its customers.

Jillmz

I've become so cynical. Imagine how Watergate was bungled - and now, it almost seems as though it would be SIMPLE to do what they wanted - almost part of the course of business with a little well-placed tech. Sigh - I have definitely been sitting in front of my computer too long.

jdledell

Quest was the only major telecommunications company to turn down the Bush Admin for Illegal telephone intercepts without a FISA warrant. I'm glad to see the DNC reward Quest with at least a portion of the deal. Nonetheless, if I were a DNC leader I would NOT have rewarded AT&T, the major offender, with anything. As is true in the Senate, it seems there are enough Democrats willing to let bygones be bygones, or maybe waiting for a Democratic President so they can do their own illegal spying.

Jillmz

Jdledell - thanks for that reminder - I remember that now.

Okay - another question - though I haven't thought it through re: if it's really relevant: AT&T stock ownership and the DNCC folks. Does that matter at all? Do we care? Should we? Is that just not realistic to worry about?

Although the $ aspect concerns far less than the privacy issue.

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