An encrypted email provider is calling out AT&T for blocking user access to the company’s website and app.
Since Jan. 25, Tutanota has been receiving complaints from some US-based users, who say they’ve been unable to access their inboxes on AT&T’s mobile connections.
“As AT&T has not fixed the issue after more than two weeks, we are reaching out publicly in the hope of getting the attention of the right people at AT&T,” Tutanota wrote in a blog post on Thursday.
The email provider is based in Germany, so it hasn’t been able to confirm the problems firsthand. However, Tutanota told PCMag AT&T customers based in Chicago, Omaha, and St. Louis have all reported the connection errors.
The email provider also claims AT&T is aware of the issue; Tutanota points to a tweet the carrier posted on Feb. 5, in which it said "Our team is investigating, but they need more information."
AT&T did not immediately respond to a request for comment. So it remains unclear whether the blocking is intentional or a bug. However, PCMag was able to access Tutanota on an AT&T mobile connection in California.
AT&T's slow response, however, has prompted Tutanota to say the whole situation underscores the need for net neutrality protections in the US.
“Such outages demonstrate how much power ISPs (internet service providers) are having over our online experience, and it is shocking,” the email provider said. “If ISPs can block access to certain websites or services, they control the internet. It would be naive to believe that American ISPs will not use this power. Without net neutrality ISPs can —and will— ask for extra fees.”
In late 2017, the FCC voted to repeal Obama-era net neutrality rules, which were designed to prevent ISPs from throttling internet access to websites based on their content. Current FCC Chairman Ajit Pai has defended the repeal, claiming the Obama-era rules were saddling the internet industry with “heavy-handed regulations" that threatened to stifle investment and innovation.
To prevent ISPs from engaging in content blocking and speed throttling, the FCC has handed off enforcement to the US Federal Trade Commission.
As for Tutanota, the company is recommending affected customers on AT&T use a VPN service or the Tor browser to get around suspected blocking.
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