The United States of AT&T Wants Satellites Now, Too

by emptywheel

Well, here's another reason AT&T is so desperate for retroactive immunity. It'd suck to have their bid to acquire a satellite TV company derailed as consumers realized AT&T is using that technology to spy on them, huh?

AT&T has been consulting lawyers in Washington about how long it would take to get government approval to purchase either EchoStar Communications Corp. or DirecTV Group Inc., people familiar with the matter said. If it does make a bid for one of the satellite providers, AT&T could unveil the offer before year's end in hopes of getting federal antitrust officials to approve the combination before a new administration takes over, these people say. [my emphasis]

Yeah, I'm sure AT&T would like to get such a move approved before the end of the year. You know, while they still had their former lawyer in charge of DOJ and still had one of their big lobbyists running the oval office?

Comments

[radiofreewill]

Before you know, it they'll be changing their name to the Ministry of Truth...because the all-seeing electric-eye 'knows' what you've been doing, and, well, you know - you can't Lie to the Eye.

The 'inmates' are 'safe' in Prison, too, where the 'truth' of their activities is equally well known to the 'Guards.'

Checks and balances for All as the Risk of Freedom, or a Shadow Society above the Law that 'controls' the rest of US for our own 'safety' - what's it gonna be?

[sailmaker]

AT&T already has satellite service to their rural customers in 13 states - maybe they only lease the sats?

http://ipcommunications.tmcnet.com/hot-topics/wireless/articles/1328-att-launches-rural-satellite-broadband-internet-service.htm

Here is coverage of what they already do for the government (what they publicly admit to doing).
http://www.corp.att.com/gov/contracts/sbs/faq/

[emptywheel]

sailmaker

One of the issues is that they want a cheap way of providing teevee without having to lease. I'm sure they have their own satellites, but it looks like they want a mass delivery system.

[sailmaker]

EW - my viewpoint will probably always be colored by my experience with COINTELPRO ( as a witness): I think there are a hell of a lot of cracks in the dam restraining the total control of all media by a singular corporate entity. I do not think that any candidate will commit to massive divestiture by the telcom industry, maybe candidates could commit to not allowing more conglomeration. Mostly I see the media as a ship that is leaving port with most of the fat rat magjor and minor players aboard: only a major sea change could change the direction it is going - a quick acting Congress with a strongly supportive Executive branch. Not happening IMO no matter who wins '08.

The important thing that may be achieveable would be to see that no data mining, data storage, or data interpretation is done by civilian 3rd parties, and that there is adequate, expedited redress for misinterpretation of data.

[earlofhuntingdon]

Telco cooperation with this administration has always been about the deals: Bell South, Sprint, Nextel, you name it.

Approvals can open up new lines of business (just ask Rupert Murdoch). Deals can generate billions in business, hundreds of millions in profits, tens of millions in fees. Quick approvals can up the ante and secure the wealth of executives, lawyers and lobbyists. Just shortening investigations can save tens of millions by lowering transaction costs, while delays and intense scrutiny - or serious consideration of consumers' concerns - can all but undo those planned "benefits".

Enthusiastically cooperating with Dick Cheney's data gathering mania is a small price to pay for corporate nirvana. Full disclosure and no amnesty - or even something as innocuous as regulating collateral use of consumer data (eg, your individualized cable viewing or Internet use patterns) - could throw that in the can, melt the wings off those high flying executives and bring them back to Mother Earth. Billions are at stake: this fight may be nasty and brutish; it will not be short.

[Teaeopy]

After a 3.1 billion dollar net income for the third quarter, I'm not surprised that AT&T wants to buy something. If I were their management, I'd tell Congress to spare no effort to immunize us (AT&T) so that we wouldn't have really big legal bills or have to pay any awards and we'd have money enough for research and development and for security and for that lobbying ungrateful persons force us to do and for a few careful purchases we need to make to improve the consumer experience (not forgetting to keep the terror-emperiled comsumer alive); we'd definitely take care of our government, of course, not neglecting to buy copious storage capacity for personal data and even offering to help NSA analyze it; and as to owning a big satellite network, who better, I mean, we could track consumer content interests like no one else (with a little completely trustworthy outsourcing help, perhaps); shoot, we could even seed the content to figure out who has dangerous, unhealthy, or disloyal inclinations, while keeping the citizens of the homeland safe and blissfully unenlightened; and lest we forget, prosperity always comes to the deserving, which we are, I mean, look at all we've done for the USA and the free world.