Operation Chokehold Is Gathering Steam — Bring AT&T To Its Knees on Friday

Leander Kahney ()

Tower

Cell tower photo by forklift - http://flic.kr/p/772WXR

Operation Chokehold — a flashmob-style protest against AT&T that began as a joke on Fake Steve’s blog — looks like it may actually take place.

The meme is gathering a lot of steam on Twitter and Facebook, with people saying they plan to join the protest.

“We have got to do this!,” says Mashable reader pjserven, who set up a couple of Facbook pages to help mobilize protestors: an event page and a fanpage that makes it easy to invite friends.

The protest began with a Fake Steve post about an internal Apple memo — fake of course — about bringing AT&T’s network to its knees on Friday, December 18 at noon Pacific:

Subject: Operation Chokehold
On Friday, December 18, at noon Pacific time, we will attempt to overwhelm the AT&T data network and bring it to its knees. 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. Send the message to AT&T that we are sick of their substandard network and sick of their abusive comments. The idea is we’ll create a digital flash mob. We’re calling it in Operation Chokehold. Join us and speak truth to power!

“I made up the note,” said Dan Lyons, aka Fake Steve. “A reader sent in the opposite idea — a boycott of AT&T for one day, everyone stops using their iPhone for a day, and we show them what’s what. I liked the sentiment but who’s going to stop using their iPhone? And for a whole day? I figured no one would go for it. But a one-hour flash mob of overuse? Now that i could see people doing.”

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The fake memo follows Fake Steve’s inspired and widely-linked anti-AT&T rant last week. Fake Steve’s diatribe was prompted by comments by A&T CEO Ralph de la Vega’s saying the carrier may “incentivize” iPhone users to cut back on their usage.

Note: Operation Chokehold may adversely affect AT&T’s voice network and block emergency calls.

27 comments »

About the author

Leander Kahney

is the editor and publisher of Cult of Mac, and author of three books about technology culture: Inside Steve’s Brain, the New York Times bestseller about Steve Jobs; Cult of Mac; and Cult of iPod. Leander has written for Wired, MacWeek, Scientific American, and The Guardian in London. Follow Leander on Twitter @lkahney and Facebook.

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Posted in Fake Steve, iPhone, News |

  • scott

    I’m in.

  • Mauricio

    I’m In too!

  • Dave

    Are you people really that stupid? AT&T may have flaws but they are no worse than any other carrier. Except that with an iPhone you don’t have to pay the additional monthly charges for all those neat little apps that you have and use like you would with every other carrier (specifically Verizon). So feel free to be a retard and complain about using the system that you hate so much or better yet, head over to Verizon where you can pay a monthly fee to play all your games and useful services that are currently free on your iPhone. Oh, and make sure you have two phones so you can take phone calls at the same time.

  • John

    So to show that you’re sick of network outages, you’re going to cause a massive network outage? Hmm… what’s wrong with this picture?

    This has to be the most stupid idea I’ve ever heard.

  • http://ericl.us Eric

    What are you talking about Dave? This Operation Chokehold is being done because the CEO wants to throttle back iPhone usage. They are blaming the users for their substandard network. If you get the iPhone and the $$ getting new subscribers then you need to re-invest in towers and infastructure. http://mashable.com/2009/12/09/att-de-la-vega/

  • Simon Landon

    Dave = AT&T Employee or just deluded

    Scott & Mauricio = Awesome

  • Patrick

    Besides, apparently the problem is the iPhone itself, not AT&T’s network

    http://www.nytimes.com/2009/12/13/business/13digi.html?scp=2&sq=iphone&st=cse

  • http://twitter.com/iansltx iansltx

    I’m in. Also, if AT&T’s network is at all configured halfway correctly (it is) phone calls will be prioritized over dat, phones will drop back to EDGE if needed to make a voice call, and emergency traffic will be unaffected; data users will just be scaled back if a call needs to be made. So flashmob away.

  • http://twitter.com/iansltx iansltx

    @Dave I have friends with T-Mobile. They never have problems with data, thugh 3G coverage overall is spotty. I use Sprint and everything’s great, though AT&T data is faster in places (have an aircard with them and will be stress-testing the network on Friday, something I’ve done before anyway while doing productive work). I have friends on Verizon who seem to be fine with their service. Heck, AT&T’s EDGE/GSM networks are passable, albeit slow. It’s their 3G network that gets overloaded at the drop of a hat due to those pesky iPhone users, something that doesn’t happen on any other carrier. Incidentally, AT&T charges just as much for their data + texting as Verizon, and more than Sprint or T-Mobile. Can you get an all-inclusive plan on AT&T for less than about $160? Nope…print plan for that is $100. Spendy but a heck of a lot better than AT&T.

    Oh, and “dat” should’ve been “data” in my last post.

  • Pete Mortensen
  • Dave

    Haha, for those of you who think I work for ATT would I be telling you to go to the nickel and dime you to death craptastic Verizon? No, I’m just a guy that has an iPhone 3GS with minimal problems. And by the way, my plan costs $114 and that is what I pay…every month with no additional charges for the things I use my phone for. My phone isn’t jailbroken and I can talk on it while I browse the Internet. I’m just not whiny and bitchy about losing signal when I am in a building with no windows or out in the middle of BFE.

  • Great

    Great…so let’s bring the network down so they cap our shit. Thanks everybody.

    You know, I’m tired of it too but doing something like this will fuck things up for everybody else that gets what they need out of it. Bunch of immature assholes.

    I’m out.

  • Louis

    I’m down! lets bring the evil empire down and let’s teach a lesson to that de la vega guy too!!!

  • Go Elf Yourselves

    Wow – this whole discussion (Twitter, FaceBook, Blogs, etc.) is actually pure stupidity. Operation Chokehold? Funny, yes, but you data consuming Americans are slitting your own throats. AT&T will whine to the FCC, which in turn will either cap your useage or charge you a fee for useage.

    Remember the infamous words of Mr Ed Whitacre? – “They’re our pipes.”, and his wife has a museum named after her in Chicago. AT&T IS BIG BROTHER.

    AT&T is backed by the Federal Government more than Dick(head) Cheney was/is. AT&T has such a far reach into the ‘Bobble-heads” pockets, they will win.

    AT&T is a GLOBAL Mega-Corporation – you are a nobody, just like me.

  • Maxx

    So let me get this straight. They are unhappy with AT&T’s service so they are going to DDoS other AT&T customers offline? That’s basically the same logic as strapping bombs to yourself and blowing up some civilians because they just aren’t as ideologically pure as you are and their apathy, ignorance or disinterest in your cause makes them enemies? I hope AT&T kicks them all off the network and file a lawsuit. It’s digital terrorism.

  • Ictus75

    Sounds like fun. Maybe we can all call 911 at once too because there’s too much crime! That ought to teach the police across the country a lesson! And while we’re at it, let’s all call in sick that day too just to show the man that we need a decent raise! yeah, that’s the thing…mob mentality…

  • b hank

    REVENGE OF THE NERDS!!! Good God get a life

  • http://www.fort90.com/journal/ fort90

    I think the following bears repeating…

    “Note: Operation Chokehold may adversely affect AT&T’s voice network and block emergency calls.”

    As well as…

    “So to show that you’re sick of network outages, you’re going to cause a massive network outage? Hmm… what’s wrong with this picture?”

  • TRRosen

    Todays Stupidity is brought to you by the words “Felony” and “Terrorist Act”.
    And if you think they couldn’t make those charges stick you haven’t been living in America for the last 8 years. If they do this and it works people will end up in jail!

    Fake Steve could do real time.

  • MSL

    Really?

    People have to get a life, really. This should be called “Operation Geeks…looking for attention.”

    ALL PHONE CARRIERS essentially do the same thing. People simply like jumping on a bandwagon with misguided and irresponsible choices. “Hey, let’s not buy gasoline on Friday.” Now this? Be sure to slap a big “L” on your foreheads to better identify yourselves. It’s your choice.

    I’m moving on.

  • szotyi

    I’ve already vowed to disable my wi-fi device until this thing is done. I’m glad I’m not the only one thinking this way!

  • chano

    How great Kahney!
    I see that this site is pumping your expanded book. It needs the work as the first effort was a waste of paper regurgitating other people’s superior work over the years. I guess you are just a serial re-purposer. Good thing you’re not a musician or a writer.
    Y’all have a nice day now.

  • Doodpants

    How ridiculous! This is like being unhappy that your fries at McDonalds are soggy, so you build a giant slingshot to launch poodles to the moon!

    (Sorry, I just wanted to participate in the “worst analogy ever” contest too.)

  • jb

    Here’s another analogy –

    It’s like if there were some major event in a city, like an emergency of some kind, where everybody tried to use their phones all at the same time to get information on what was happening. WHY should we expect a phone company to OPERATE under those circumstances??? It’s INSANE to expect a phone to work under those conditions!!! It’s like DIGITAL TERRORISM to expect your cell phone network to have the capacity to deal with a demand surge!!!

  • iphonesukkz

    Which app uses the most data??

  • Janko

    I am in, let’s bring ATT’s company greed to its knees.

  • Syntax Attack

    NOBODY is going to do time for this people, all anybody is doing is using their phones, that’s it. Nobody is hacking into the network or shutting down servers they are just using their phones as they were designed but at the same time, that’s it. The issue everybody has with AT&T is that they fought for a multi year exclusive contract that they weren’t able to support as they said they would be able to, and instead of expanding their network at the rate they need to they spend MILLIONS of dollars threatening lawsuits and producing craptastic ads to try to cover up the issue.
    If as some people suggest this causes AT&T to set data caps then I am all for it. If they do this it is what is called a materially adverse change of contract which will allow everybody affected by it to go to another network with no early termination fees. I for one would be headed to Verizon as fast as I can.
    This protest isn’t about spite it’s about telling AT&T to stop blaming the customer for them biting off more than they could chew with the exclusive iphone contract and to upgrade their network to meet their implied service obligations.