Advertising Advice? Thanks, but No Thanks.

AT&T is getting some unexpected — and surely unwanted — "help" from a group called the Billboard Liberation Front: An advertising campaign of sorts for the telecom giant touting its cooperation with the supersecret National Security Agency.

The group said it was placing ads on San Francisco area billboards to "promote and celebrate the innovative collaboration of these two global communications giants."

"These two titans of telecom have a long and intimate relationship dating back to the age of the telegraph," said Blank DeCoverly — the nom de prank of the group's "minister of propaganda." "In these dark days of terrorism, that should be a comfort to every law-abiding citizen with nothing to hide."

The Billboard Liberation Front, which says it's been "improving" billboards since 1977 with campaigns targeting Exxon, R.J. Reynolds, and Apple Computers, appears to be trying to highlight Bush administration legislation to give telecoms companies immunity for aiding the government agency's warrantless eavesdropping program to fight terrorism and crime.

"We don't comment on matters of national security," said Jeannie Hornung, a spokeswoman for AT&T's public relations agency.

But, needling the company, the Billboard Liberation Front quoted an AT&T executive as saying the company decided to promote its program because it was "helping our customers by handing over their e-mails and phone records to the government.

"Modern life is so hectic — who has time to cc the feds on every message? It's a great example of how we anticipate our customers' needs and act on them," was the group's tongue-in-cheek quote from the company.

by Elizabeth Olson

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