Less than a week after changing its terms of service to ban video streaming and peer-to-peer activity, AT&T retracted the changes and issued a public apology.
"The language added on March 30 to AT&T's wireless data service Terms and Conditions was done in error. It was brought to our attention and we have since removed it. We apologize for any inconvenience this may have caused," said the company in a statement to engadget.
The revised terms of use could have banned a number of applications frequently used by the company’s customers, including Skype and SlingPlayer. The set of rules prohibited “downloading movies using P2P file sharing services, customer initiated redirection of television or other video or audio signals via any technology from a fixed location to a mobile device, web broadcasting, and... any applications that tether the device... to Personal Computers or other equipment."
The revisions reflect the carrier’s desire to manage network capacity. AT&T announced last week it would be offering subsidized netbooks, adding to its portfolio of high data usage devices.
Company officials did not respond to requests for comment by press time.