More Astroturfing, Nothing New
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| Author | Content |
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| schestowitz Jan 24, 2007 6:02 AM EST |
Some examples below. I list them for context, which I hope would help the reader/researcher/whatever. Shill season ,----[ Quote ] | It's often difficult to figure out the motivation behind a particular | study - until one finds out who has commissioned and paid for it. | The so-called tech consulting companies would love it if the consumer | believes that they have conducted an "independent" study. The worrying | thing is that not many people blow their cover. `---- [HYPERLINK@www.itwire.com.au] NY Times rattles IT industry with analyst ban ,----[ Quote ] | Speaking of which, let's see what triggered the Enderle/Microsoft | ban. | | In a story about Microsoft's XBox, Enderle described the direct | relationship between the game console, download services and the TV. `---- [HYPERLINK@www.theregister.co.uk] ,----[ Quote ] | In 2001, the Los Angeles Times accused Microsoft of astroturfing | when hundreds of similar letters were sent to newspapers voicing | disagreement with the United States Department of Justice and its | antitrust suit against Microsoft. The letters, prepared by Americans | for Technology Leadership, had in some cases been mailed from | deceased citizens or nonexistent addresses. `---- [HYPERLINK@en.wikipedia.org] ToorCon ("Firefox security is a mess") sponsored by Microsoft ,----[ Quote ] | Lately, I read the headline: "Open Source browser Firefox is so | critically flawed that it is impossible to fix, according to two | hackers." Further on, in the ZDNet article I read: "The hackers claim | they know of about 30 unpatched Firefox flaws. They don't plan to | disclose them, instead holding onto the bugs." | | Since that sounds suspicious, I decided to start searching for | connections with MS. Easy enough, here it is... `---- [HYPERLINK@lxer.com] ,----[ Quote ] | Could there be more bad news? Of course! Even Paul Thurrott isn't | impressed with the Zune, calling its pricing strategy the "makings of | a disaster." Misery! Not only has the Zune suffered a horrific wreck of | a product introduction, but Annie Wilkes is at the foot of the bed saying | she doesn't approve of how things are going. | | If your number one fan is sending you hate mail, you have a problem. | So what's with all the Zune related web sites carefully repeating the | same talking points? It's called astroturfing. | | Instead of inspiring actual interest in a grassroots fashion, Microsoft | has resorted to spreading fake grass, crafting each site to suggestt | he appearance of something other than the advertisement it is. | | This is similar to the scam Microsoft pulled with its own imitation of | Apple's Switchers ad campaign. Titled "Confessions of a Mac to PC | Convert," the ad portrayed a professionally dressed woman complaining | about her Mac, but ended up being a canned picture pulled from stock | photography and voiced by a professional writer. | | Similarly, Greenpeace staffers have assigned to post astroturf comments | on websites saying "I'm a Mac user and gosh darn it I think that | Greenpeace is alright with all their concern about the ecology!" More | on that scam later! | | One would expect a certain level of interest and excitement out of | Microsoft's own users, but that isn't really happening. Nearly every | Zune site on the web is carefully stepping around the piles of problems | to spend a lot of time on Microsoft supplied bullet points, including | the "celebration of music," the slightly larger or at least | stretched display, and how wireless DRM sharing is such a | brilliant idea. `---- [HYPERLINK@www.roughlydrafted.com] MSN Is Spamming The Blogosphere ,----[ Quote ] | Mr. Youth LLC is a marketing firm and lists MSN as a customer. Their | website is here: [HYPERLINK@www.mryouth.com] Their phone number is | (212) 779-8700. | | I've talked to a couple of other bloggers who said they are receiving | similar comments on their blogs. This pisses me off because MSN/Mr. | Youth should 1) be more upfront about their true identity, and 2) | provide a real e-mail address so that I can request they take my | blog off their marketing campaign. `---- [HYPERLINK@www.scott-o-rama.com] Microsoft Traps and Hunts for Bloggers in India !! ,----[ Quote ] | Microsoft has announced the "Microsoft BlogStars" contest, to Hunts | for Developer Bloggers in India. After feeling the power and increase of | the Bloggers community in India, Microsoft tries to trap and hunt Bloggers | in India to buildup the blogging community, for writing blog posts | supporting towards Microsoft Technologies. `---- [HYPERLINK@i5bala.blogspot.com] ,----[ Quote ] | Long before it employed bloggers to do the job for it, Microsoft hired | sympathetic members of the public to make its case in online forums, | posing as disinterested citizens. Things got much more professional as | the antitrust trial unfurled. After hiring DCI in the late 1990s, | Microsoft created two new trade groups, the Association for Competitive | Technology (ACT), and the Americans for Technology Leadership (ALT), | and marshaled campaigns such as "Freedom to Innovate" - encouraging | Windows users the chance to make spontaneous gestures of support for | Chairman Bill. | | These weren't always too successful. A campaign in 2001 to petition 17 | state's Attorney Generals - who had pooled resources to bring their | own antitrust action against Microsoft - resulted in supportive letters | being written by dead people. | | And the astroturf taint continues today. | | Most recently, a spoof video portraying Al Gore as a Penguin was reported | to have originated from a computer registered to the DCI Group, although | the lobby group said it did not fund or approve the video. `---- [HYPERLINK@www.theregister.co.uk] ,----[ Quote ] | "Some years back, Microsoft practiced a lot of dirty tricks using | online mavens to go into forums and create Web sites extolling the virtues | of Windows over OS/2. They were dubbed the Microsoft Munchkins, and it | was obvious who they were and what they were up to. But their numbers | and energy (and they way they joined forces with nonaligned dummies who | liked to pile on) proved too much for IBM marketers, and Windows wont | he operating-system war through fifth-column tactics" | | Mr Dvorak wonders if Microsoft is today using reverse-dirty-tricks | to promote the Xbox 360: pay people to create Web sites that slam the | gaming computer in order to provoke a barrage of defenders. `---- [HYPERLINK@worldcadaccess.typepad.com] ,----[ Quote ] | Instead of inspiring actual interest in a grassroots fashion, Microsoft | has resorted to spreading fake grass, crafting each site to suggest | the appearance of something other than the advertisement it is. | | This is similar to the scam Microsoft pulled with its own imitation of | Apple's Switchers ad campaign. Titled "Confessions of a Mac to PC | Convert," the ad portrayed a professionally dressed woman complaining | about her Mac, but ended up being a canned picture pulled from stock | photography and voiced by a professional writer. | | Similarly, Greenpeace staffers have assigned to post astroturf comments | on websites saying "I'm a Mac user and gosh darn it I think that | Greenpeace is alright with all their concern about the ecology!" More | on that scam later! | | One would expect a certain level of interest and excitement out of | Microsoft's own users, but that isn't really happening. Nearly every | Zune site on the web is carefully stepping around the piles of problems | to spend a lot of time on Microsoft supplied bullet points, including | the "celebration of music," the slightly larger or at least | stretched display, and how wireless DRM sharing is such a | brilliant idea. `---- [HYPERLINK@www.roughlydrafted.com] |
| tuxchick Jan 25, 2007 11:42 AM EST |
As the wise prophet Cyndi Lauper said, "money changes everything." Especially Microsoft money. Even on the quintillion-to-one chance MS has benign intentions, it's still irreparably tainted. |
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