Criticizing AT&T DSL as a subscriber can result in them shutting down your service, according to their Terms of Service:

“5.1 Suspension/Termination. …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 …(c) tends to damage the name or reputation of AT&T, or its parents, affiliates and subsidiaries.”

Verizon Online has a similar clause under their Acceptable Use Policy (AUP):“3. You may NOT use the Service as follows: …(j) to damage the name or reputation of Verizon, its parent, affiliates and subsidiaries, or any third parties.”

In other news, you can escape your AT&T DSL and Verizon Online contracts without early termination fee by talking smack about your ISP.

It’s worth noting, however, that we can’t figure out how to access the AT&T TOS from the main page, only by going directly to that link, so we have to wonder if it’s actually the official TOS or something else.

New AT&T terms of service: We’ll cut off your Internet connection for criticizing us [BoingBoing] (Thanks to Saiwen1)
(Photo: Yogi)

Want more consumer news? Visit our parent organization, Consumer Reports, for the latest on scams, recalls, and other consumer issues.