[arbuge]

Disagreed. The facts are indeed that AT&T made this freely available... my definition of making something available is that it is readily available for the taking, whether I desired to give it away or not. If I leave my front door open due to negligence, I probably don't desire to be burglarized, but it is true to say that I have made my house contents freely available. If my house contents include a laptop full of people's private data, then I think it's reasonable I should face some penalties.

As to your other point, AT&T is responsible for the actions of its contractors as well as for its full-time employees.

[crusso]

For anyone with a little knowledge about locks and basic tools, no conventional door lock prevents entry. So by your logic, nearly all house contents are freely available.

Regarding AT&T, it's not a question of responsibility - it's a question of a level of fault that is negligent. At some level, it's your responsibility because you gave AT&T your data, right? At some level, it's your responsibility because you have an email address, right?

Without a detailed assessment of many factors, just throwing out there that AT&T is negligent seems to be fairly irresponsible.

[arbuge]

Nah. If I give any website my email address, I have a reasonable expectation it won't be published on that website in a public manner ripe for harvesting. Unless of course the Ts&Cs I'm signing explicitly say it will (somewhere prominent, preferably in bold red with flashing letters).

[jessaustin]

They're not negligent? Would you like them to handle your private data in this fashion? How about your children's data?