Blogger calls for network overload on Friday

AT&T has responded to Fake Steve Jobs' call for iPhone users to work together in an attempt to overload the carrier's data network at noon on Friday, according to Cult of Mac. An AT&T spokesman criticized the protest, claiming it was totally irresponsible and simply an attempt to bring more readers to the blog, which is written under the Fake Steve pseudonym by Newsweek's Dan Lyons.

The protest, known as "Operation Chokehold," apparently started as a joke, following in-line with the satirical style of the Fake Steve blog. The call to action poked fun at AT&T CEO Ralph de la Vega's recent suggestion that his company may change its data services to mitigate heavy use by certain users, a group presumed to be dominated by iPhone owners.

"On Friday, December 18, at noon Pacific time, we will attempt to overwhelm the AT&T data network and bring it to its knees," Fake Steve's post reads. "The goal is to have every iPhone user (or as many as we can) turn on a data intensive app and run that app for one solid hour."

"We understand that fakesteve.net is primarily a satirical forum, but there is nothing amusing about advocating that customers attempt to deliberately degrade service on a network that provides critical communications services for more than 80 million customers," the AT&T spokesman said. "We know that the vast majority of customers will see this action for what it is: an irresponsible and pointless scheme to draw attention to a blog."

Although there is already a dedicated Facebook page for the plans, AT&T does not expect the overload attempts to have much effect on the network.

by MacNN Staff