In a recent Slate article Columbia Law Professor Tim Wu suggests that the recent proposal by AT&T to monitor internet traffic for copyright violations is the equivalent of corporate seppuku.

Tim notes that the proposal:

1) will be a public-relations disaster;

2) will degrade throughput rates;

3) directly undermines the hard-won ‘common-carrier’ exemption from content liability;

4) arguably will violate AT&T’s fiduciary duty to its shareholders;

5) is technically implausible.

The only rationales Tim can muster are:

1) AT&T’s “master strategy is to try and become more like AOL circa 1996”;

2) Use copyright violation as a lever to beat down Network Neutrality.

Tim recommends that, if the plans proceed any further, AT&T shareholders shed their shares ASAP!