TELECOM Digest OnLine - Sorted: Re: AT&T Doesn't Like My Last Name

Re: AT&T Doesn't Like My Last Name

Brian Inglis (Brian.Inglis@SystematicSW.Invalid)
Wed, 05 Apr 2006 03:24:57 +0000 (GMT)

On 1 Apr 2006 21:42:22 -0800 in comp.dcom.telecom, semenzato@gmail.com
wrote:

> The "new" AT&T (formerly SBC, my local phone company) sent me a form
> letter stating that my user ID does not comply with their new rules
> and needs to be changed, or they will terminate the online access to
> my account. My AT&T user ID happens to be my last name (semenzato),
> same as my user ID everywhere else.

> It complies with all AT&T rules except possibly their profanity
> clause. This is the first time anybody suggests to me that the first
> part of my last name is a profanity (seems more like a technical term
> to me). I let them know that I was quite offended and they should fix
> their filter to skip the profanity check for certain variations of the
> customer's name. Their response was another form letter stating, among
> other nonsense, that "though this may be a temporary inconvenience, we
> are certain you will appreciate the efforts we have taken to protect
> your information."

> If this were my bank, I would change bank and be done. But this is my
> local phone company, so I cannot change it. Still, I feel that I have
> the right to use my last name as my user ID. Do I have any recourse?

How many immigrants with non-English names are there in the US? How
many English names contain potentially offensive words in other
languages? You might want to point out that Google has 109,000
English pages and 330,000 pages in all languages containing that name,
and refer them to the Wikipedia article on José Carlos Semenzato.
Their culturally imperialist political correctness department either
needs to add a blacklist of potentially offensive words in other
languages (perhaps you could suggest a few?), or preferably, a
whitelist of names in other languages.

Thanks. Take care,

Brian Inglis Calgary, Alberta, Canada

Brian.Inglis@CSi.com (Brian[dot]Inglis{at}SystematicSW[dot]ab[dot]ca)
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