This is classic. The new Terms of Service between AT&T and their Internet Access customers says that AT&T can terminate service to a customer if the customer says things about them that "tends to damage the name of AT&T...." That is a really good idea you huge, faceless corporation you!

Here is the relevant portion of the Terms of Service:

5.1 Suspension/Termination. ... In addition, 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 (a) violates the Acceptable Use Policy; (b) constitutes a violation of any law, regulation or tariff (including, without limitation, copyright and intellectual property laws) or a violation of these TOS, or any applicable policies or guidelines, or (c) tends to damage the name or reputation of AT&T, or its parents, affiliates and subsidiaries.  (emphasis added)

This is most likely the work of an over-eager legal staff  trying, in good faith, to protect the company from every sort of possible attack. But, with a company like AT&T Ameritech SBC Cingular AT&T you just can't help but wonder what AT&T might be planning to do. If they feel like they have to protect themselves in this way, what are they planning on people saying about their business (justifiably or otherwise)? Is the ol' "cut and run" really an option you have to have?

Now I understand that that this sort of legalese terminology is fairly common. I even went to the Check a Biz Terms of Service to see if we had anything like that in ours (we don't). 

If someone has a problem with our business and they blog about us, or if they post a letter to the editor that we suck or something, the last thing we'd do is cancel their Check a Biz account and block their IP so they couldn't use our service. It seems like that kind of thing is the same sort of conduct that would drive them to say negative things about us in the first place. 

So, hopefully that little part of AT&T's Terms of Services is reserved for only for the most serious of cases, and not for every person who vents a little bit about how sick and tired they are of having their internet service go down when they are in the middle of downloading the latest Grey's Anatomy episode on iTunes.