The “do not call” list was a great idea while it lasted.
Maybe I’m overreacting but it sounds as if AT&T will be the “business relationship” that bypasses the do-not-call list by proxy. It won’t give out your phone number, but the affiliates can ask AT&T to market crap to you on their behalf.
And it’s opt-out.
I sure hope I’m wrong. But I opted out anyway.
Generally the phrase “family of companies” when followed by a company name means the various companies within the parent organization.
In this case, ATT (or SBC) is the parent company to ATT wireless, ATT business, ATT residential, ATT internet, etc etc etc. It is those companies, not an outside organization like, say, McDonalds or Disney, that they are giving the CPIN to.
At least, that’s how I read it.
I don’t quite understand exactly what they’re sharing (email addy at least, I guess) but what they’re saying is “We’re going to do this. If you lose this letter, ignore it, don’t care, don’t understand it, or any number of other reasons that you might not respond, then we take that as your implicit acceptance of this sharing of your information.”
Ma Bell… still fucking people after 130 years…
Even if all they’re doing is sharing data on my phone usage with other subsidiary companies (say, Cingular), then I don’t want them to. I do not want them calling my cellular phone every 4 hours with some Latest Greatest Offer or slamming my service into some other carrier as some “special offer.”
The subsidiary company won’t get my personal information but they’ll get enough data where they can come back to AT&T and say, “Yeah, that guy. Call him up and offer him the new 1.5 terafluff data devouring service for $40 a day. We don’t need his number; you call him for us.”
AT&T doesn’t get it. I am on the do-not-call list for a reason and it’s because I don’t want companies calling me from nowhere and offering me crap I didn’t ask for. I may do business with AT&T but I have chosen not to do business with its subsidiaries. AT&T apparently assumes that since I once contacted AT&T about something, then everybody affiliated with them gets a crack at me. This is an end-run around the do-not-call list, as far as I can tell.
I don’t want anyone sharing any information about me without my express permission. Nobody. At. All.
Would default permit hold up in court?
IE If they started calling you could you nail AT&T with harassment?
Remember folks don’t trust a company with the death star as a logo.
I just took care of this. When you call up, the term they use is AT&T and it’s authorized agents. Vague terms like “authorized agents” make me rather nervous, especially when the list of information included is billing information.
http://www.ftc.gov/bcp/conline/pubs/alerts/dncbizalrt.htm
A quick rundown of the DNC regs.