[Infowarrior] - Did AT&T Censor Pearl Jam ¹ s Lollapalooza WebCast?

[Richard Forno]

Did AT&T Censor Pearl Jam¹s Lollapalooza WebCast?

Written by Om Malik
Wednesday, August 8, 2007 at 1:45 PM PT | 2 comments
http://gigaom.com/2007/08/08/att-censored-pearl-jam-webcast/

Ma Bell seems to be acting like the big brother. Apparently, AT&T censored
parts of Pearl Jam¹s performance over the weekend. Rock band was performing
as part of Lollapalooza. On their website, Pearl Jam writes:

    During the performance of ³Daughter² the following lyrics were sung to
the tune of Pink Floyd¹s ³Another Brick in the Wall² but were cut from the
webcast: - ³George Bush, leave this world alone.² (the second time it was
sung); and - ³George Bush find yourself another home.²

They go on and say that this is more than just the censorship of a rock
band. ³What happened to us this weekend was a wake up call,² they write.
AT&T blamed the censorship on an overaggressive content monitor.

Gigi B. Sohn, president and co-founder of Public Knowledge, dismissed that
defense, and said it was ³nothing short of appalling.²

An AT&T spokesperson sent us this statement:

³The editing of the Pearl Jam performance on Sunday night was not intended,
but rather a mistake by one of the webcast editors. We have policies in
place with respect to editing excessive profanity, but AT&T does not edit or
censor performances. We have that policy in place because the blue room is
not age-restricted.

We regret the mistake and are trying to work with the band to post the song
in its entirety.²