“We don’t see this as anything new. Our goal was to make the policy easier to read and easier for customers to understand.”

- AT&T spokesman John Britton’s explanation of their new “privacy policy”, which now says that AT&T — not customers — owns customers’ confidential info and can use it “to protect its legitimate business interests”. The policy also indicates that AT&T will track the viewing habits of customers of its new video service — something that cable and satellite providers are prohibited by law from doing. Moreover, AT&T now requires customers to agree to the updated privacy policy as a condition of service. Ray Everett-Church, a Silicon Valley privacy consultant, said it seems clear that AT&T has substantially modified its privacy policy in light of revelations about the government’s domestic spying program. “It’s obvious that they are trying to stretch their blanket pretty tightly to cover as many exposed bits as possible.”

So if you have phone service or TV service from AT&T (including the former SBC) they own the records of who you call, what videos you watch, and who knows what else, and can use them however they want.

http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2006/06/21/BUG9VJHB9C1.DTL&hw=at&sn=002&sc=870