AT&T has violated the United States False Claims Act to the tune of "millions of dollars," according to a Department of Justice lawsuit filed this week. The DOJ alleges that the carrier intentionally neglected to authenticate users of the IP Relay service -- a tool utilized by hearing-impaired persons to type messages that communications assistants then read to callers. The service is also abused by individuals overseas to defraud U.S. businesses (think infamous Nigerian scams), which prompted the FCC to establish a law requiring telecom providers, including AT&T, to confirm the identity of registered users, which it apparently failed to do. This resulted in thousands of fraudulent users,
