why does AT&T hate free speech?

UPDATE: AT&T calls editing Pearl Jam "an error." Right.

In case you thought you could trust globocorps to, you know, not fuck with the freedom of the Internet, newsflash: you were wrong:

Over the weekend AT&T gave us a glimpse of their plans for the Web when they censored a Pearl Jam performance that didn't meet their standard of "Internet freedom."

During the live Lollapalooza Webcast of a concert by the Seattle-based super-group, the telco giant muted lead singer Eddie Vedder just as he launched into a lyric against President George Bush. The lines -- "George Bush, leave this world alone" and "George Bush find yourself another home" were somehow lost in the mix.

"What happened to us this weekend was a wake up call, and it's about something much bigger than the censorship of a rock band," Pearl Jam band members stated after the incident in a release that urged people to take action.

There’s all sorts of links to more info on the dangers of letting the likes of AT&T control the Internet, and what we can do to stop it, at Huffington Post.

(Technorati tags: AT&T, Pearl Jam, net neutrality)