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AT&T: Getting the Porn Ring Out of Its Collar 3/20/2003 David Dorman, chairman and CEO of AT&T, has announced that the company is out of the porn business. The days of "Adult Trash & Titillation" seem to be ending.
When CWA wrote to AT&T urging it to get out of the dirty business of porn, the company responded by letter, stating "AT&T will spin off its cable television business by the end of the year. Therefore, AT&T will no longer be in the cable television business nor involved in any way with the issue that you have brought to our attention."
The problem remaining was that AT&T had merged its cable porn business into a new company, AT&T/Comcast, thereby continuing to involve AT&T's name in hard-core smut peddling. The good news is that after April, according to Dorman, the name "AT&T" will be totally removed from AT&T/ Comcast. Dorman says that AT&T has spun off Liberty Media and its distribution of pornography in hotels and motels, as well as its broadband cable system. The AT&T announcement also confirms that it has ceased special billing for 900 numbers, ending its dial-a-porn business. The New York Times had reported that AT&T and MCI were making $1 billion per year from dial-a-porn. An investment analyst estimated AT&T's income from cable porn at $10 to $20 million a month.
VISA update:
VISA responded to CWA's initial letter by asking us "to rest assured that Visa does not allow any of its payment products to be used for the purchase of illegal goods or services. In fact, our International Operating Regulations prohibit the use of Visa cards or products for unlawful purposes." We didn't rest. On December 18, 2002, we wrote back to VISA and told them we "are puzzled" by the inconsistency with their "policy." We included printouts from 33 hard-core Web sites featuring the VISA logo. We can't even print the names of the Web sites here because they're so vile. They include bestiality, rape and torture.
On February 24, The Christian Science Monitor published an article stating that VISA "has also decided it does not want its brand to be used to purchase Internet photos and videos involving rape and bestiality. And it has banned the use of Visa on a hate site." It's a step in the right direction but VISA needs to do what American Express has done - terminate all accounts with Internet pornography.
Clean Collars thus far are American Express and AT&T (Corporations Respond to CWA). Send them a letter thanking them for their decisions to come clean.
American Express Company
AT&T
Dirty Collars that need to hear from you are listed below. Read all about it in: The Porn Ring Around Corporate White Collars: Getting Filthy Rich.
WorldCom, Inc. (MCI)
Echostar Technology Corporation (Cable and Satellite)
General Motors Corporation - DirecTV (Cable and Satellite)
DirecTV Inc.
Hilton Hotels Corp.
Marriott International
Carlson Hospitality (Radisson SAS Hotels and Resorts)
Starwood Hotels & Resorts Worldwide, Inc. (Sheraton Hotels & Resorts)
LodgeNet
On Command
AOL Time Warner
Comcast Corporation
Credit Card Companies:
VISA International
MasterCard International
Internet Billing Company, Ltd.
CCBill.com
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Concerned Women for America 1015 Fifteenth St. N.W., Suite 1100 Washington, D.C. 20005 Phone: (202) 488-7000 Fax: (202) 488-0806 |
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