According to documents provided to the New York Times and ProPublica by Edward Snowden, AT&T and the NSA have maintained for decades a “highly collaborative” relationship that has facilitated the government agency’s ability to spy on enormous quantities of Internet traffic passing through the United States.

An 83-year-old Los Angeles man couldn’t believe the bills AT&T kept sending him for his simple landline phone account—more than $24,000 over two months. But the company insisted he had to pay it, even though it seemed impossible that dialing up to AOL—the only thing he really used the line for—could cost that much.

As part of a voluntary contract, the CIA pays AT&T more than $10 million per year for access to the company's giant database of international phone records, which includes information on Americans, according to a report in the New York Times.

Hope you downloaded enough episodes of Game of Thrones Sunday night to last you the rest of your life; starting this week, the five major internet service providers (AT&T, Cablevision, Comcast, Verizon and Time Warner Cable) have free rein to harass you with notices, block you from visiting certain websites, and even slow down your Internet speed if you are found (or suspected) to participate in illegal downloading.

AT&T, Verizon, Sprint, and T-Mobile are teaming up with the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) to make it harder for thieves to use stolen phones, since you seem hell-bent on accidentally leaving yours everywhere.

Some big news in the telecom world today, as the Justice Department has sued to block AT&T's $39 billion purchase of T-Mobile on antitrust grounds. This is just like in the old days, when antitrust laws were enforced.

Jarrett Barrios, the president of the Gay and Lesbian Alliance Against Defamation, resigned on Sunday night following revelations that GLAAD had expressed support of AT&T's merger with T-Mobile—while also taking $50,000 in donations from the company.

AT&T just announced a deal to buyT-Mobile USA from Deutsche Telekom in a cash and stock deal worth $39 billion.

AT&T is taking some of the money from your iPhone bill and using it to intercept your complaints to the federal government. How? By become the biggest advertiser on Google, that's how.

Reporting on a Wall Street Journal story about the iPhone coming to Verizon, Morning Joe hosts Joe Scarborough and Mika Brzezinski paused to repeatedly hate on AT&T. Don't you sort of feel bad for AT&T, just a little bit?

AT&T is refusing to say how many iPad 3G customers had their private information compromised in a security breach last month. So much for the company's promise to "shed some more light" on the situation.

It's no wonder Apple and AT&T can't cooperate to complete iPhone calls: The two companies can't even sync up over what to wear to their meetings. No one asks Steve Jobs to remove his black turtleneck. No one.

Last month, Andrew Auernheimer, a member of the group that exposed a major AT&T/iPad security flaw, was arrested for possession of drugs. Now, in a long post on the group's blog, he claims that his civil rights have been violated.

The iPad security breach earlier this month didn't just expose thousands of email addreses, but could also help hackers track down users' physical locations, says a growing chorus of security experts.

The California law firm that sued Facebook and Zynga over scammy gaming ads is setting its sights on Apple, investigating a possible class action over reception problems with the new iPhone.

Apple says it had 600,000 orders for the iPhone 4 on its first day. Hope they had enough paper!

A member of Goatse Security had his home searched by the FBI yesterday before going to jail for drugs. The group gave Apple and AT&T headaches over weak iPad customer security; now it's been punished with headaches of its own.

Andrew Auernheimer, a.k.a. "weev," a member of the group that exploited a major flaw in AT&T's 3G network last week, was arrested on Monday on felony drug charges. Police say Auernheimer had cocaine, ecstasy, and LSD in his possession. [CNET]

AT&T did it again. After exposing private data on more than 114,000 iPad 3G customers, Apple's cellular partner has inadvertently shared iPhone account data amid a flood of pre-orders. And a customer sent us screenshots to prove it.

Apple should be angry that AT&T exposed iPad 3G owners' private information to hackers. Layoffs in AT&T's top security office, which reportedly took place just weeks before the debut of the iPad, should make it positively livid.