Tech Daily Dose

AT&T and the Justice Department are fighting over the rules for sharing sensitive documents in the latest skirmish on fair play in their court proceeding.

A mediator and a judge are deciding this and other key process questions in the lead up to a February trial on whether AT&T's proposed T-Mobile purchase breaks antitrust law.

AT&T told the court in a Friday filing that it should not approve the Justice Department's request to share certain documents with third parties, such as consultants and outside lawyers. The documents in question are filings that AT&T submitted to the FCC's merger review, an ongoing process separate from DOJ's actions.

AT&T said the government had effectively sought "wholesale access by an unlimited group to a vast amount of information."

The Justice Department said its request pertained to "a discrete set of materials." AT&T framed it as gigantic.

"Those 16 filings contain, in total, approximately 1.5 million pages and more than 300 gigabytes of data," AT&T said.

The fight over documents could help determine how much the Justice Department can benefit from outside legal helpers, who can only be so helpful without key documents.

The parties head to court November 30 for a status conference.