Why I am suing AT&T

Have you ever seen the 1976 movie called, “Network,” starring William Holden, Faye Dunaway and Peter Finch?

Finch, in one of his most engaging roles, plays broadcast TV’s on-the-air “Mad Prophet of the Airwaves” Howard Beale, with his wildly popular show receiving the highest ratings in America.

Lamenting the hypocrisy and decline of modern culture, Beale starts a protest movement against the news media and entertainment industry, and urges his viewers to protest by opening a window, sticking their head out and yelling to the world, “I’m as mad as hell, and I’m not gonna take this anymore!”

That’s how I felt when I received an email the other day from AT&T that read, “Hello. We’re contacting you regarding the security of your data.”

Uh-oh. I knew what this letter was. I wrote about it on April 7 (“AT&T hacked, plays the jibber-jabber blame game,” search the normantranscript.com website).

AT&T had been hacked, and was playing the “jibber-jabber game” with their customers. I had just received the “jibber-jabber” message from AT&T.

Because of AT&T’s lousy security practices, 73 million Americans lost their names, home addresses, email addresses, phone numbers, date of birth, passwords and Social Security numbers to Internet criminals.

Instead of ‘fessing up and doing the right thing, instead of working hard to make things right for their customers, they have taken the low road, the same song-and-dance routine historically taken by bottom-shelf con artists and petty thieves caught in the act: distract, deflect, deny. Find someone else to blame. By all means, never take responsibility for your own actions.

Well, guess what? I’ve had enough. I’ve been writing about other people being hacked for 18 years, but now, it’s getting personal.

AT&T has sent me the jibber-jabber letter, and I’m mad as hell. I’m not gonna take this anymore. They have meddled with the primal forces of nature, and they will atone (youtube.com/watch?v=V9XeyBd_IuA).

Is there some reason 73 million Americans should just suck it up and get horribly hacked because AT&T neglected to lock the doors on everyone’s user accounts?

Are 73 million Americans just supposed to “take it,” while AT&T pays no price for their negligence? I say no. It is time for them to atone.

Just so you don’t think I’m being unduly harsh or mean, there’s much more to the story.

AT&T has admitted they knew about the problem three years ago in 2021, and they say the data goes back as far as 2019, but deny any involvement or responsibility. AT&T also has a long history of screw-ups, hacks and criminal involvement, a pattern of negligence that’s impossible to dismiss.

(1) July 2020: US Department of Justice Charges AT&T Employees in Massive Phone Unlocking Scheme.

(2) October 2014: Customer Data Compromised After Employee Fails to Follow Privacy Policies.

(3) April 2014: Third-Party AT&T Vendor Uses Personal Data to Unlock Phones.

(4) 2014: AT&T Insider Data Breach Exposes Information on 280k Customers.

(5) June 2010: Security Flaw in AT&T’s Website and Mobile Network Exposes 114k iPad User Email Addresses.

(6) June 2001: AT&T Wireless Customer Information Appears in Online Chat Rooms (list from Catherine Reed and The Firewall Times).

In 2022, AT&T agreed to pay a $6.25 million penalty to settle a SEC lawsuit accusing the phone company of selectively leaking financial information to Wall Street analysts.

Also that year, AT&T Illinois agreed to pay a $23 million fine after its former president was indicted on federal charges over a scheme involving former Illinois House Speaker Michael Madigan, who was arrested on racketeering and bribery charges.

And let us not forget when, in 2015, it was revealed AT&T had for decades allowed the National Security Agency (NSA) to setup secret rooms in AT&T buildings to tap into the AT&T network at the “root” level to spy on the entire American population.

So, yeah, I’m mad as hell, and I’m not going to take this anymore.

So far, numerous class action lawsuits have been filed over AT&T’s stupidity and negligence. I am joining as many as I can. Someday, somehow, somebody’s got to hold these mega-violators of our trust accountable. If you got the AT&T letter, join me if you can.