AT&T reserves the right to change its terms of service by sending its Internet service customers an e-mail. Apparently, it also reserves the right to deposit those e-mails into its customers’ junk mail folders.

Last month, AT&T made some controversial changes to its Internet policies. Verbiage indicating that high-bandwidth users might experience some intentional slowdowns irritated some techies; another section that forces customers to use binding arbitration to resolve disputes annoyed consumer organizations; and an L.A. Times reporter bristled at the size of the full new agreement -- 2,500 pages.

But Lance Mead, an AT&T Internet customer from Encino, Calif., almost missed the entire controversy. His notification of the new terms of service was sent via e-mail on Sept. 18, but AT&T's own spam filters trapped the e-mail as spam and deposited it in his junk mail folder, he said. On a whim, he checked the folder and spotted the notice. He was furious.

"AT&T wants to enforce the change in service that they prevented their customers from reading," he said. "I have called AT&T and they act as if this is the normal and proper procedure."

AT&T spokeswoman Susan Bean said company engineers talked with Mead after msnbc.com inquired about his case and determined that the terms of service e-mail "inadvertently" ended up in his junk e-mail folder.

"We apologized for any error on our end," Bean said, adding that the message was deposited in the junk folder "perhaps by something he inadvertently did or by a filter error."