I just received an invitation from my friend Alec Saunders , CEO of Iotum to join in on a free conference call to discuss AT$T and AMEX’s deployment of auto-dialing technology that, according to Alec, has the potential to desensitize consumers to the very tactics that criminals are deploying to gain bank and credit card information from the unsuspecting.

From what Alec says, the recent use of auto-dialers by AT$T and American Express closely duplicates the method that is currently in vogue where criminals use auto dialers to leave messages on a victim’s voice mail with instructions for them to contact their bank to deal with a security issue. When the consumer calls the number provided they are instructed to provide identifying information including social security numbers, bank information, PIN codes, etc.. Of course once a consumer falls for this it’s open season on their funds, their identity and their security.

The call, which is scheduled for this coming Monday is free to join and open to all. More information is available here. Learn more about what crooks are doing and how to defeat them - if the corporations don’t care to look out for us, we’ll have to do a better job of it ourselves.

AT$T the company we love to hate is at it again and giving us another reason to pray that Google buys that spectrum. This time the words come straight from CEO Randall Stephenson’s mouth. Apparently, AT$T has decided that it needs to police our use of their network even more than they have during their illegal aid to the Feds.

This time it’s peer-to-peer networks that have Mr. Stephenson so hot under the collar. His problem - the -gasp- illegal sharing of files like movies and music. Says he “it’s like watching somone steal a DVD from a store…do you do something about it?”

Umm…No, Randy, it’s not. It’s more like standing on a stool in a stall next to someone trying on outfits and happening to see them keep a swimsuit on under their street clothes.

How so? Well, in both cases the crime of theft was the second crime committed that day. The first was when you climbed up on the stool to spy on the individual in the adjacent dressing room.

I believe you’d have a tough time explaining to the judge that you weren’t acting like a peeping Tom and that instead you were rather acting as a good Samaritan, volunteering your skills to provide security for the shop.

Only the shop doesn’t need any peeping Tom security force and neither do we.