AT&T drops Pearl Jam's call
In a prominent nod to one of the festival's lead sponsors, the logo for this year's Lollapalooza concerts in Chicago includes the tag line, "delivered by AT&T." But Sunday's headliner Pearl Jam complained that AT&T delivered less than the band's full performance during its Lollapalooza webcast. The powerhouse telco turned off the audio during the song "Daughter" while singer Eddie Vedder was railing against President George Bush. That bit of censorship -- which AT&T says was a mistake -- gave a bit of fuel to the forces arguing for "Net neutrality" regulations.
The missing lines -- "George Bush, leave this world alone" and "George Bush find yourself another home" -- are benign compared to some of Vedder's more pointed critiques of Bush and the Iraq war. This isn't exactly "I'm ashamed the president of the United States is from Texas" territory. So you have to wonder what the person who pulled the plug on Vedder was thinking -- or not thinking, as the case may be.
AT&T spokeswoman Tiffany Nels said the company goofed. Its Blue Room website is open to Internet users of all ages, so it tries to block "excessive profanity" from the broadcasts. It hires contractors to monitor the performances, and the broadcasts are delayed slightly to enable monitors to bleep off-color material. But those monitors aren't supposed to edit songs, just the stage patter between them, Nels said. "It's not our policy" to censor performances, Nels said, "and we regret the error." She added, "There was no profanity. It was a mistake."
AT&T wants to post an unexpurgated version of the performance on its Blue Room Lollapalooza page, but it will have to obtain permission from the copyright holder (which would be Pearl Jam, I believe). The band, meanwhile, says it will post the video on its own site soon.
Advocates of Net neutrality rules quickly seized on the incident as justification for requiring high-speed Internet access providers to provide a level playing field for content and services online. AT&T, one of the country's largest broadband suppliers, is one of the loudest opponents of such rules.
“The admitted censoring of a Pearl Jam performance is just one more reason why content should be protected against the actions of a company looking out for itself, rather than for consumers and the free flow of information over the Internet," said Gigi Sohn, president of Public Knowledge. "We join Pearl Jam in condemning censorship and in promoting Internet Freedom. We hope the FCC and Congress take note.”
Added Craig Aaron, communications director for Free Press, "Every time something is censored or blocked it’s a 'mistake' or a 'glitch.' And that could well be the case. But of course there’s no way for users to know. That’s exactly how it will be on the non-neutral Internet and closed wireless networks, where AT&T will be a gatekeeper deciding what you see and when you see it."
When asked about the Net neutrality arguments, Nels of AT&T reiterated that what happened in Chicago was simply a mistake.
The photo of Pearl Jam, courtesy of the band's website, is by Kerensa Wight.
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AT&T's "mistake" is typical of the giant, whose heads of the company cooperated fully with the illegal request by NSA et al to allow snooping of its customers' emails.
Posted by: ruffworthy | August 08, 2007 at 06:27 PM
This was not a "mistake"... There were plenty of profanities during and between the songs, and none were bleeped. This was deliberate censorship of anti-Bush speech.
If the terrorists "hate us for our freedons" and the Bush administration is busy taking away those freedoms, haven't the terrorists won?
Laurie
Posted by: Laurie Hester | August 08, 2007 at 06:46 PM
Of course they we're censored, AT&T opposes Net neutrality because they want to control the access of information delivered to the public and whatever doesn't agree with AT&T's profit margins or upsets their government friends gets neutered...it's bad for business from their standpoint. What more do we need to prove that anything but Net neutrality will further erode our democracy?
Posted by: Michael Ajitsingh | August 08, 2007 at 08:49 PM
Come on now. It is absurd to think that AT&T would purposefully censor Pearl Jam. However, this is a great example of how the market is working. There's no need for the government to get involved in net neutrality regulations. The word about this unfortunate incident is spreading fast online and although some of the concerns are exaggerated, the public responded 1000 times faster than any government entity would. I do some work for Hands Off the Internet, so let us continue to let the market work itself out. Better for consumers, better for innovation.
Posted by: HOTI75 | August 09, 2007 at 08:19 AM
I point out to HOTI75 that if AT&T had the copyright to the performance, there would be no way to see the uncensored performance if you weren't there live. I find it incredible that someone would claim net neutrality is bad for innovation, since the entire internet was built on the principles of neutrality—the internet is hardly a failure of innovation. Meanwhile, what became of the walled gardens of the late 20th century, Compuserve, AOL, and Prodigy? They embraced neutrality or died.
Now the Big Telecoms want to drag us back to the digital stone age? So they can "mistake," "glitch," their way clear of their competition, starving them of bandwidth? Hardly a market-based approach to information distribution. Only someone who has reached true capitalist nirvana can believe that limiting competition is necessary to "let the market work itself out."
P.S. It's hardly absurd, since they so much as admitted it happened. They said it was a mistake, but it was only in the sense that it was an intentional act done by an agent in their employ that they have come to regret.
Posted by: underwhelm | August 09, 2007 at 09:29 AM
Liars. Our govenment is filled with liars and cheats. Big buiness is filled with liars and cheats. ATT expects us to believe that the blocking of just that little section was a "goof?" Does ATT really think we're that stupid?
Methinks not !
Posted by: Goofy | August 09, 2007 at 10:54 AM
How Orwellian of AT&T. With their Republican friends in high places, they are busy putting their monopoly back together (remember how quickly the Bush Justice Department dropped the Clinton Administration lawsuit against Microsoft?), which will only ensure more censorship and less consumer choice. God Bless America; January 2009 cannot come quickly enough.
Posted by: C Stevens | August 09, 2007 at 11:40 AM
HOTI75: "I do some work for Hands Off the Internet, so let us continue to let the market work itself out."
First of all, please note that "Hands Off the Internet" is a Telco industry front group funded by AT&T. Was it just a "glitch" that you failed to mention that?
Secondly, Net Neutrality is the open market position, not the monopolistic exclusivity of the Net Neutrality opponents.
Visit News Corpse for more.
Posted by: Mark @ News Corpse | August 09, 2007 at 11:51 AM
I'm approaching the end of my AT&T cellphone contract.
I think I'll go with another company.
Posted by: Art Marriott | August 09, 2007 at 12:06 PM
ATT screwed up, they know they screwed up, and that's why they're passing the buck to some unnamed "contractor" in another case of "blame the little guy." If it had all gone great they would have had no problem taking credit for everything.
Posted by: EH | August 09, 2007 at 12:30 PM
Lets Boycott all AT&T products and services.
Lets make sure AT&T loose millions on this stunt!
Posted by: Chris | August 09, 2007 at 01:57 PM
According to AT&T the offending "contractor" was Davie Brown entertainment. You can complain to them at: (310) 979-1980
They also do work with Mountain Dew and numerous other films and tv production companies. You should be able to find them on the web.
Posted by: Angry | August 09, 2007 at 02:41 PM
Pearl Jam is lucky to get any publicity, but the big thing here is censorship. If any of you think for one moment the people that run this country (the big corporate giants and our prestigious politicians) give a flying hoot about what you think, feel, or care about, you are wrong. You are being lied to daily. I am not some paranoid, conspiracy freak but I have learned how much this country has gone to hell since the assasination of JFK. That was the last real leader we had, regardless of the affairs, the drugs, and the booze that we are led to believe tainted his administration. All the evils of this country go back to that day. It was on that day that our government, our leaders, and our corporate executives realized they could lie, cover-up, and cheat the American people and NO ONE WOULD SAY A WORD OR EVEN NOTICE. It has been happening since. Bush had a hand in 9/11 and then led our sons and daughter to their deaths in an unjust war and has paved the way to take away the two things we have always valued in this counrty until now - our privacy and our freedom. This is just another example of oops - sorry - my bad. Whatever. This is not my America. Is it yours?
Posted by: Dean from the heartland | August 09, 2007 at 02:55 PM
DING!
We have a winner, ladies and gents!
It only took 13 posts for a conspiracy theorist to show up on the scene!
Okay - Who the lucky SOB that had #13 in the pool?
Was it you, Laurie?
Posted by: Dave | August 09, 2007 at 04:13 PM
That's a dangerous assumption, Dave. Consider this possibility: the Bush administration paid me to delete all the conspiracy-theory comments, but Dean from the heartland's post got through by mistake. I mean, mistakes do seem to be happening all around.
Posted by: Jon Healey | August 09, 2007 at 04:18 PM
So where's my priize? I knew I would win something if I threw that in. Eddie and his band have been declining in sales since Vitalogy. Maybe as a spokesperson for internet freedom (which should be the case without the need for a spokesperson) Eddie and Pearl Jam may sell a few more records. It couldn't hurt. So maybe the conspiracy starts with the band..hmmm
Posted by: Dean from the heartland | August 09, 2007 at 04:58 PM
AT&T staff (and contractors, and anyone with a even a shred of understanding and respect for American ideals) should have been completely appalled at the thought of censoring political speech. Instead, they clearly felt it was a Good Thing to do, something Management would approve of. The incident with Pearl Jam demonstrates clearly why no entity should ever be allowed to determine what content gets delivered to users and what content gets degraded or delayed or deleted. The same people (and corporate attitude) that committed this censorship could someday be deciding whether you will even be able to view these comments.
Posted by: Steve | August 09, 2007 at 08:06 PM
Good Job!
Save the political propaganda for soap boxes and press conferences, politics has its place.
I go to a concert to have fun and hear music, not to hear politically charged speeches by either side.
SHUT UP AND SING
Posted by: Shut Up And Sing | August 09, 2007 at 11:32 PM
I had a similar reaction when I saw Billy Bragg at the old 9:30 Club in DC in the early 1990s. But then, that's the inspiration for much of what he does. You take that away, you don't have Billy Bragg; you don't get "Levi Stubbs' Tears" without "There Is Power in a Union." I suspect the same's true for Eddie Vedder, Natalie Manes, even Ted Nugent. Buying a ticket to the show doesn't guarantee that you'll be entertained the way you'd like to be, or even entertained at all. Instead, you're paying to be in the presence of someone with gifts you probably don't have, and all the things that come with those gifts.
Posted by: Jon Healey | August 09, 2007 at 11:45 PM
If the songs are political in nature you may have a point, I saw PJ live in the while Clinton was in office and he didn't have [anything] to say on the political front. I don't care for Bush either but I don't want to hear it at a concert. I look at it more as an Employee/Employer or Business/Customer relationship when I buy a ticket.
I saw the nuge last year and I don't recall him doing any political speeches, definitely not naming any politician by name, he mentioned support for the troops and got patriotic at that one point but it wasn't drawn out or hateful towards any Americans of the left or right. He was his typical self for 99% of the show, singing and talking about hot women and loud guitars and hunting.
SHUT UP AND SING
Posted by: Shut Up And Sing | August 09, 2007 at 11:57 PM
The media consolidation epidemic is out of control. "We The People" can't allow AT&T to step into a totalitarian role as the gatekeeper of the Internet. This issue strikes at the very heart of the 1st Amendment. Join the fight w/ SaveTheInternet.com and check out my blog for more:
http://robdubinski.wordpress.com/2007/08/10/att-censors-pearl-jam-aka-%e2%80%9ca-free-market-of-ideas%e2%80%9d/
RD
http://robdubinski.wordpress.com
Posted by: Rob D. | August 10, 2007 at 08:07 AM
If "Shut Up and Sing" says: "Good Job!"
I respect your right to not want to hear this kind of music, I respect your right to turn it off, why don't you respect other people who want to hear it? if you don't like it, don't listen, is censorship that important a value to conservatives?
Posted by: Jim Randell | August 10, 2007 at 08:38 AM
Just what is that supposed to mean? Apparently censorable territory includes a lot more than four-letter words and exhortations to riot. Like saying you're ashamed George Bush is from Texas. Well, I'm ashamed George Bush is from the U.S.A. And I'm really ashamed that 28% of my fellow adult citizens can't wrap their minds around the fact that his agenda is to wreck the Constitution. And I'm really, really ashamed every time I see another educated employee of a major urban newspaper who knows little and cares less about 9th-grade civics.
Posted by: Stuart Eugene Thiel | August 10, 2007 at 08:40 AM
AT&T's One World: Censored. This is all part of a deliberate attempt to censor content and charge more for it all wrapped up in a half-baked apology. Where is the person that hit the delay key??--come forward and take responsibility for what was done. I also heard that AT&T will block downloads of Pearl Jam songs onto iPhones. Oh yeah, you can't download songs to your iPhone.
Posted by: Dave | August 10, 2007 at 08:50 AM
People, PEOPLE... It was an *accident*.
There's plenty of free speech in this country already - don't they let you debate who's better, Ashlee or Jessica Simpson? Britney vs. Christina? What more do you want? Need?
Geez, chill.
Oh, and it was an "accident" that AT&T forwarded tens of millions of our domestic calls to the NSA in breech of FISA & Federal laws, then tried to cover it up.
And it will be an "accident" when AT&T strangles the next Google, Vonage, YouTube, or FaceBook in the crib for the audacity of innovating without AT&T's approval and obscene surcharges.
And it will be an "accident" when everything you write, send or receive online or via voice is automatically forwarded to the White House.
Geez, guys, show your love. Trust your political and corporate betters. Where's your gratitude?
Posted by: trai dep | August 10, 2007 at 09:19 AM