ATT content monitor does not mute curse words during Pearl Jam webcast

The content monitor ATT hired to remove inappropriate language from the webcast of Pearl Jam's Lollapalooza show did not edit out 20 instances of curse words during the webcast.

ATT claimed it had hired the content monitor to remove curse words and other less than family oriented material from its "Blue Room" webcasts, but the content monitor instead silenced Pearl Jam's anti-Bush lyrics. The revelation casts doubt on what exactly the role of the content monitors was during the webcasts.

The intrepid Eliot Van Buskirk is now reporting over at Wired News that there was a policy in place to censor political speech during ATT's webcasts of concerts at its "Blue Room" site. Wired News quotes a crew member during one of the webcasts as saying:

"I can definitively say that at a previous event where AT&T was covering the show, the instructions were to shut it down if there was any swearing or if anybody starts getting political. Granted, they didn't say to shut down any Anti-Bush comments or anything specific to any point of view or party, but 'getting political' was mentioned."

The uncensored curse words and the crew member claim casts some serious doubt on ATT's rickety story that it did not have a policy of censoring bands during its "Blue Room" webcasts. After admitting it silenced Pearl Jam last week, ATT admitted on Friday that it had also silenced the political comments of other bands during its "Blue Room" webcasts. ATT's story now has more gaps than the performances it censored.