[tempfs]

AT&T carries directly or peers with basically every other major internet carrier in the country.

This makes them defacto critical national security infrastructure and thus completely immune to the kind of recourse and accountability that all corporations should be subject to.

The technicality of being an independent and non-governmental entity allows them to collect and in turn share back[to the NSA] information about the traffic that crosses their fabric circumventing those pesky laws which purportedly prohibit the NSA from operating within our borders and inspecting local-only traffic.

AT&T is only going to be checked by legislation now as it has always been. The last time they were broken up they magically reassembled themselves because voters allowed it.

Until we as a country decide that communication infrastructure, like roads, can't be owned by quasi public/private abominations like AT&T but instead only held by us, the people and our government we will continue to get the worst from this present unholy union.