Mark Rasch (a digital law consultant and the former head of the Department of Justice's computer crimes unit) is dying to get in on the super-fast 4G cellphone networks he keeps hearing so much about. Advertisements with streaming movies, live sports, even lightning bolts that help create stirring multimedia experiences on the go have been tempting him for more than a year.
An AT&T customer, he was thrilled last week when the firm released its first two "real" 4G LTE phones -- the HTC Vivid and Samsung Galaxy S II Skyrocket. A Washington, D.C.,-area resident, he's lucky to live in one of the handful of cities where the providers' highest-speed service is currently available, so he was ready to jump in with both feet.
Then, he read the contract.
It says this: "Data sessions may be conducted only for the following purposes: (i) Internet browsing; (ii) email; and (iii) intranet access." Nothing about lightning bolts, and according to Rasch, nothing that he can't already do with his old phone. He found the limitations troubling.
"AT&T promotes and advertises all the ‘cool’ things their devices can do,” said Rasch, a digital law consultant and the former head of the Department of Justice's computer crimes unit. “You can download apps, listen to radio stations, stream TV, watch movies, play games with third parties, share data, log into your home PC, do real-time GPS, get traffic and weather reports, and thousands of other things.
But only, according to the contract, on WiFi. To me, advertising and promoting services that you know you don’t offer in the way that people are likely to use them is ... false advertising."
AT&T did not answer requests for clarification about individual elements contained in its terms of contract, responding simply: "We’re comfortable with our terms of service and the many ways customers use AT&T’s mobile broadband network.”
So does AT&T’s terms of service contract for new high-speed wireless gadgets throw a wet blanket on consumers, or not? The difference may be mere semantics at the moment – AT&T appears to allow many of the activities that Rasch believes are restricted by the terms of service. And at the moment, AT&T’s 4G LTE service only works in Boston, Washington, D.C., Baltimore, and Athens, Ga. It will turn on LTE in six more cities next week, and hopes to reach a total of 15 cities by the end of the year.
But Michael Weinberg, staff attorney at consumer advocacy firm Public Knowledge, says the semantics matter.
"(The contract) does read incredibly restrictive, essentially, only Web browsing and email. Is downloading apps using one of those two things? Playing Scrabble?” Weinberg said. “The classic definition of Internet browsing is things done in a browser. This is another example of a terms of service written in a way that has traps … that can be pulled up to stop people doing things (the company) doesn’t like."
Full story here: (Red Tape - Why fine print might ground your high-flying 4G cellphone service). It's a good read, and a must read if you are on AT&T.
An AT&T customer, he was thrilled last week when the firm released its first two "real" 4G LTE phones -- the HTC Vivid and Samsung Galaxy S II Skyrocket. A Washington, D.C.,-area resident, he's lucky to live in one of the handful of cities where the providers' highest-speed service is currently available, so he was ready to jump in with both feet.
Then, he read the contract.
It says this: "Data sessions may be conducted only for the following purposes: (i) Internet browsing; (ii) email; and (iii) intranet access." Nothing about lightning bolts, and according to Rasch, nothing that he can't already do with his old phone. He found the limitations troubling.
"AT&T promotes and advertises all the ‘cool’ things their devices can do,” said Rasch, a digital law consultant and the former head of the Department of Justice's computer crimes unit. “You can download apps, listen to radio stations, stream TV, watch movies, play games with third parties, share data, log into your home PC, do real-time GPS, get traffic and weather reports, and thousands of other things.
But only, according to the contract, on WiFi. To me, advertising and promoting services that you know you don’t offer in the way that people are likely to use them is ... false advertising."
AT&T did not answer requests for clarification about individual elements contained in its terms of contract, responding simply: "We’re comfortable with our terms of service and the many ways customers use AT&T’s mobile broadband network.”
So does AT&T’s terms of service contract for new high-speed wireless gadgets throw a wet blanket on consumers, or not? The difference may be mere semantics at the moment – AT&T appears to allow many of the activities that Rasch believes are restricted by the terms of service. And at the moment, AT&T’s 4G LTE service only works in Boston, Washington, D.C., Baltimore, and Athens, Ga. It will turn on LTE in six more cities next week, and hopes to reach a total of 15 cities by the end of the year.
But Michael Weinberg, staff attorney at consumer advocacy firm Public Knowledge, says the semantics matter.
"(The contract) does read incredibly restrictive, essentially, only Web browsing and email. Is downloading apps using one of those two things? Playing Scrabble?” Weinberg said. “The classic definition of Internet browsing is things done in a browser. This is another example of a terms of service written in a way that has traps … that can be pulled up to stop people doing things (the company) doesn’t like."
Full story here: (Red Tape - Why fine print might ground your high-flying 4G cellphone service). It's a good read, and a must read if you are on AT&T.