AT&T has rolled out new Terms of Service for its DSL offering that attempts to give AT&T the right to disconnect its own customers who criticize the company on blogs or in other online settings, ars technica is reporting.

Blogger Ken Fisher said that the story, which surfaced on Slashdot, has many people outraged and is being discussed as a prime example of why net neutrality is needed. However, he thinks that it might not be as bad as it seems.

"This wouldn't be the first time that poorly thought-out legal language made it into a contract used by a major corporation," Fisher said. "Why are we thinking it's an oversight? Simple: we believe that AT&T isn't misguided enough to expect to be able to squash First Amendment rights with a ToS contract without losing both face and their cozy legal status." We sure hope so. This new policy seems to apply to AT&T DSL and not their AT&T wireless customers, but either way, it's not a good sign.

AT&T threatens to disconnect subscribers who criticize the company [ars technica]