Is Anyone Paying Attention?

Two news items appear separate and unrelated…

Put them together and allow your mind to wander.

AT&T “Ready To Filter” the Web

“During a panel discussion at the Las Vegas Consumer Electronics Show, AT&T’s top lobbyist said the company was ready to implement new technologies that would allow it to inspect and filter Web traffic.”

Google and Facebook Join DataPortability.org

“The DataPortability Workgroup announced this morning that representatives from both Google and Facebook (and Plaxo) are joining its ranks. The group is working on a variety of projects to foster an era of Data Portability – where users can take their data from the websites they use to reuse elsewhere and where vendors can leverage safe cross-site data exchange for a whole new level of innovation. Good bye customer lock-in, hello to new privacy challenges. If things go right, today could be a very important day in the history of the internet.”

Might one think that “they” already have their sights set?