ATT-"tend to damage" our name and you could be terminated just like that

Slashdot reports, and Ars Technica picks up on, a newly added clause in AT&Ts terms of service.

The clause seems to say that AT&T reserves the right to terminate subscribers (that'd be me, and could even be you), if you criticize them too much.

The paragraph- Section 5.1 of the TOS- that seems to have so many folks bent out of shape reads:

AT&T may immediately terminate or suspend all or a portion of your Service, any Member ID, electronic mail address, IP address, Universal Resource Locator or domain name used by you, without notice, for conduct that AT&T believes (a) violates the Acceptable Use Policy; (b) constitutes a violation of any law, regulation or tariff (including, without limitation, copyright and intellectual property laws) or a violation of these TOS, or any applicable policies or guidelines, or (c) tends to damage the name or reputation of AT&T, or its parents, affiliates and subsidiaries.

And there's more that neither Slashdot or Ars Technica reported. That'd be 5.2:

Deletion of data after Termination or Cancellation. You agree that if your Service is terminated for any reason, AT&T has the right to immediately delete all data, files, and other information stored in or for your account, including email messages, without further notice to you.

I get an overriding impression from these stipulations. Let's just say you go on tech discussion boards and trash AT&T's customer service, pricing, rate policies, etc. Or perhaps you criticize AT&T's performance on financial discussion boards. Could be out you go.

This is one of these instances where consumer protection initiatives need to go into high gear. These initiatives must contain the force of law and regulation. Then again, if you still think a President Ron Paul would be good for technology users.. do I need to say any more?

Or let's just say you've tried to unlock a new iPhone you purchased at an AT&T physical world store. An iPhone tied, of course, to AT&T Mobility. Only now your iPhone now doesn't work and now you plead with them for mercy. Even if they tell you that you have to go thru Apple, does your confession earn you a bad enough mark that you've violated intellectual property?

Or what if you just publicly criticize ATT Mobility's iPhone billing practices, say via colorful language in a Slashdot post?