Net Neutrality Gets Two Wins
,----[ Quote
| The fiery rhetoric hasn't just come from grass roots activists, though. It's
| come from the other side, too. The Hands Off the Internet Coalition, an
| Astroturf organization backed by AT&T and other ISPs, called Markey's bill "a
| stalking horse for federal Internet regulation."
|
| The Progress & Freedom Foundation, one of those "think tanks" you hear so
| much about, also came against the legislation. That's not surprising given
| the impressive collection telecom industry chums that run it. W. Kenneth
| Ferree, president of the PFF, was, at least at one time, pretty good chums
| with FCC Chairman Kevin Martin, who ordinarily just hates upsetting the
| telcos unless the public is coming down on him harder.
|
| Note, though, there's an investigation pending against Comcast cable, not
| AT&T. Martin hasn't gotten along with cable much, which might explain his
| willingness to break with an old friend over Comcast. The list of companies
| that fund the PFF reads like a regular who's-who of despised
| super-corporations: Big Pharma, Tobacco, Microsoft, the Music Industry, and
| of course AT&T, Verizon, Comcast, and Time Warner.
|
| Maybe we should change the names of all these "think tanks" that have popped
| up to "propaganda wagons."
`----
http://www.webpronews.com/topnews/2008/02/15/net-neutrality-gets-two-wins
Related:
Times Online denies knowledge of link spam campaign
,----[ Quote ]
| Piotr Wyspianski, a manager at Sitelynx, was revealed on the Waxy.org blog to
| have waged a one-man campaign to game web aggregation communities such as
| Digg, Metafilter and StumbleUpon with over a thousand links to Times Online
| stories. Before working for Sitelynx, he had form for a similar astroturfing
| effort for his own online jewellery store.
|
| Predictably, the Waxy.org story has hit the front page of Digg and some
| Diggers have piled in to condemn Times Online, blaming a conspiracy by the
| original Digger himself. "I haven't respected The Times since Murdoch bought
| it, since that effectively means I can no longer trust its content. Fuck you
| old man!" wrote one.
`----
http://www.theregister.co.uk/2008/01/31/times_online_link_spam/
EU cracks down on fake blogger astroturfing
,----[ Quote ]
| But back to the web, and with sneaky marketing campaigns likely to be more
| effective than upfront marketing campaigns, what is stopping companies from
| simply risking it and continuing existing practices?
`----
http://www.theregister.co.uk/2007/11/03/eu_flogging_ban/
http://antitrust.slated.org/www.iowaconsumercase.org/011607/3000/PX03096.pdf
Microsoft pays star writers to recite slogan
,----[ Quote ]
| The stodgy old media industry has a rule that newspaper reporters, and TV
| news hosts, shouldn't trade on their public trust to endorse products.
`----
http://valleywag.com/tech/federated-media/microsoft-pays-star-writers-to-recite-slogan-271485.php
Malik, Arrington and Battelle: X-22, come in [to Microsoft]
,----[ Quote ]
| What would possess a collection of online publishers and venture capitalists
| to pimp a Microsoft advertising slogan?
|
| Valleywag today reported about a site tied to a Microsoft ad campaign
| where the likes of Michael Arrington, Om Malik and others seemingly
| lend their support to the "people-ready" catchphrase.
|
| I sent e-mails both to Arrington and Malik and--surprise,
| surprise--heard nothing back. (Obviously, they are not yet
| sufficiently "Coop-ready.") Microsoft was still checking for me into
| whether money exchanged hands. But even if not a single shekel exchanged
| hands, I must wonder about the absence of common sense. Why would
| ostensibly independent voices come across as Microsoft shills? If
| they were hoping for a free dinner with Bill Gates, there are
| smarter ways to go about it.
`----
http://news.com.com/8301-10784_3-9733995-7.html?part=rss&subj=news&tag=2547-1_3-0-20
,----[ Quote ]
| "The main thing I'm pissed off about right now is that they pulled all the
| ads, which mean we're taking a revenue hit. We're running a business here,
| and have payroll to make. We run ads to make that payroll. Those ads have now
| been pulled."
|
| Microsoft once again corrupts confidence in the blogsphere. They
| turn 'citizen journalists' to marketing people in disguise.
`----
http://news.com.com/8301-10784_3-9734034-7.html?tag=head
How's the Reception at [Microsoft's] Channel 9?
,----[ Quote ]
| Microsoft Chairman Bill Gates emphasized the importance of blogging in a
| May 2004 speech during the company's annual CEO summit. But Gates doesn't
| blog; same for Microsoft CEO Steve Ballmer.
|
| [...]
|
| Many Microsoft employees do blog, reportedly more than 4,000 of them.
| The number of employee bloggers was comparatively quite small, about
| 300, before the launch of Channel 9 and the success of Scoble's blog.
|
| Last year could be called year of the blog at Microsoft. Employee
| blogrolls swelled and Microsoft bloggers disseminated lots of
| vital information about the company. Increasingly, employee
| bloggers are becoming Microsoft's primary evangelists. They are
| certainly a group over which the company can exact some control
| and which can spin information to Microsoft's advantage.
`----
http://www.microsoft-watch.com/content/developer/hows_the_reception_at_channel_9.html?kc=MWRSS02129TX1K0000535
Is Seven Renegade, Guerrilla Marketer or Fake?
,----[ Quote ]
| Some kudos for Microsoft: If Seven is a sanctioned guerrilla marketer, he or
| she has been too long waiting to blog. Microsoft, you need to get some good
| leaks out there to generate buzz. Please, let's see more of this. Be
| aggressive, take marketing risks. A blog such as this is worth millions of
| dollars in advertising, if it delivers the goods (meaning details) and
| generates buzz.
`----
http://www.microsoft-watch.com/content/operating_systems/is_seven_renegade_guerrilla_marketer_or_fake.html?kc=MWRSS02129TX1K0000535
Recidivist M$ Up to New Tricks
,----[ Quote ]
| Unleash the Astro-Turfers!
|
| Already on Apple oriented developer mailing lists one can see the
| astro-turfing has begun. A really amateurish attempt by 'Mac Developer' (no
| one uses a stupid handle like that) turned up today.
`----
http://rixstep.com/1/20071004,00.shtml
Meet Thomas Brooks. He's a viral marketer for Microsoft.
,----[ Quote ]
| It's unfortunate that paid blogging is becoming all the more prevalent in
| communities like 1UP. And it's not just the blogs or reviews, it's also the
| message boards. Microsoft, for instance, also has a person (or people?) who
| is paid to post on some of the popular gaming boards (and no, Jeff Bell
| wasn't part of that plan). But it's not just Microsoft -- I know of a few
| other game publishers who pay users to blog. They don't necessarily require
| bloggers to say positive things about their products, but it's certainly
| implied with the paychecks.
|
| What bums me out about all this viral stuff is that, to some extent, you
| don't know who to trust anymore. There was a time when, if you no longer
| believed in what the professional editors where saying, you could at least
| count on your fellow gamers for honest opinions. Not anymore. In a sense,
| perhaps that helps elevate the importance of the professional word once
| again, which I suppose is a good thing for us. But I'm still not happy about
| it.
`----
http://www.1up.com/do/blogEntry?bId=8281416&publicUserId=4561231
,----[ 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.
`----
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Astroturfing
Received this by E-mail:
http://www.lemonde.fr/web/article/0,1-0%402-651865,36-991097%4051-991184,0.html
,----[ Quote ]
| As you see, it's in French but it is short and sweet. It refers to an
| article published in the Swiss newspaper Le Temps on Monday (available for a
| payment of 2.50 Swiss francs.) But I find the Le Monde article
| sufficient and can offer a translation:
|
| 1,445: number of students in the world paid by Microsoft to
| promote favourable speech in their universities
|
| "How Microsoft has infiltrated the Swiss universities" was the
| title of the Monday Le Temps. The Genevean newspaper pointed to
| these students charged with "forging links with their peers and
| the professors" to improve the image of Bill Gates' firm in the
| universities. The program "Microsoft Student Partners" is not at
| all clandestine, it has an official Website at
| "http://student-partners.com";. It is no longer at all local: the
| 1,445 students at the service of Microsoft are active in 102
| countries. In France, more than 100 students carry the title MSP
| and correspond with the Microsoft teams during their whole time in
| school. These French students have actively participated in the
| launch of the Vista operating system, organising 87 conferences
| and stands, leading 17 training sessions and moderating 42 blogs.
`----
Microsoft Using YouTube To Promote Vista & Live, Leaves Comments Open
,----[ Quote ]
| The more interesting aspect is that Microsoft would use the Google owned
| YouTube for such as promotion; it certainly demonstrates just how powerful
| the market position of YouTube has become over the last 2 years that
| Microsoft would use it to promote their products.
`----
http://www.techcrunch.com/2007/12/30/microsoft-using-youtube-to-promote-vista-live-leaves-comments-open/
http://tinyurl.com/2ghzzm
Notable examples of viral marketing
,----[ Quote ]
| # ilovebees.com - viral marketing for Halo 2
| # Hotmail, promoted largely by links at the bottoms of emails sent by
| its users, is the classic viral marketing example
| # Microsoft's Origami Project campaign
| # Microsoft's Xbox 360 campaign, called OurColony
`----
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Viral_marketing
MSN Is Spamming The Blogosphere
,----[ Quote ]
| Mr. Youth LLC is a marketing firm and lists MSN as a customer. Their
| website is here: http://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.
`----
http://www.scott-o-rama.com/2006/12/06/msn-is-spamming-the-blogosphere/
,----[ 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.
`----
http://worldcadaccess.typepad.com/gizmos/2005/11/2_grassroots_an.html
Microsoft really loves Bloggers !!!
,----[ Quote ]
| Microsoft regularly flies customers and industry experts to its
| campus in Washington to listen to the feedback given by those
| people.The company invites dozens of key customers and partners
| to the event,where they spend brainstorming as a group.But as of
| late, Microsoft has changed it's strategy and the company is
| making extensive use of blogs to get direct customer feedback.
|
| Within a year,more than 1000 Microsoft employee blogs featured
| developers and product managers talking directly to customers every
| day, instead of once a year.Microsoft employees read dozens of
| blogs every day to see how customers react to Microsoft products
| and services. In fact,Microsoft employees have taken a bigger leap
| and even contribute to other's blogs in the expanding space of
| Blogosphere.
`----
http://thoughtsprevail.blogspot.com/2007/03/microsoft-really-loves-bloggers.html
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.
`----
http://i5bala.blogspot.com/2006/10/microsoft-traps-and-hunts-for-bloggers.html
Seattle Area Bloggers Needed for Microsoft User Research Study
,----[ Quote ]
| For your participation, we'll give you your choice of retail
| software and hardware from our extensive list. Current titles
| include the latest Xbox, Xbox 360, and PC games, keyboards,
| Microsoft Office, Windows, productivity software and much more.
`----
http://blogs.msdn.com/usability_recruiting/archive/2007/01/05/seattle-area-bloggers-needed-for-microsoft-user-research-study.aspx
Bloggers meet Mr. Bill (Gates)
,----[ Quote ]
| That meeting is to help Web developers understand how to "unlock new
| revenue opportunities" through technology and content, which could
| include podcasts and blogs. The Microsoft sessions wraps up with a
| one-hour q-and-a up with Bill Gates.
`----
http://www.marketwatch.com/News/Story/Story.aspx?guid=%7BD18F3BC9%2DF59E%2D4DB4%2DB978%2DD4651079E274%7D&source=blq%2Fyhoo&dist=yhoo&siteid=yhoo
http://tinyurl.com/yjaseg
Bribing Bloggers
,----[ Quote ]
| This is the most frustrating thing about the practice of giving
| bloggers free stuff: it pisses in the well, reducing the credibility
| of all blogs. I'm upset that people trust me less because of the
| behavior of other bloggers. Don't even get me started about PayPerPost.
|
| [...]
|
| Do not, under any circumstances, consider upgrading an XP system to
| Vista... even if it's fairly new and even if it's Vista Supremo
| Premium Ultra-Capable.
`----
http://www.joelonsoftware.com/items/2006/12/28.html
Microsoft's Laptop Giveaway Becoming PR Disaster?
,----[ Quote ]
| This thing is starting to feel like a PR disaster. Bloggers are
| starting to smell blood and this thing very well may begin to
| turn into yet another episode of bloggers gone wild.
`----
http://biz.yahoo.com/seekingalpha/061228/23174_id.html?.v=1
Bribing Bloggers
,----[ Quote ]
| It's a bribe. Period. You say nice things about us, you get nice
| things from us. Heck, just say neutral things about us-we'll give
| you a killer new laptop and we know that you'll be inclined to say
| better things about us.
`----
http://www.eweek.com/article2/0,1759,2077596,00.asp?kc=EWRSS03129TX1K0000616
Getting a Vaio [with Vista, from Microsoft, even in March 2007]
,----[ Quote ]
| Microsoft Belgium rang me yesterday (I don?t think they realised it
| was a public holiday here!).
|
| [...]
|
| The phone call yesterday was to confirm my address - the laptop (a
| Sony Vaio - dunno which model or spec yet) is en route with Vista
| Ultimate and Office Ultimate pre-installed.
`----
http://www.tomrafteryit.net/getting-a-vaio/
INQhack survives Vistability test in Volesville
,----[ Quote ]
| The Vole (Microsoft) supposedly invited The INQ over for tea because
| we are notorious "Microsoft doubters" - and we were accompanied by
| other supposed Vole doubters such as the folk from lifehacker and
| a very nice man from Slashdot, as well as some Microsoft MvPs.
`----
http://www.theinquirer.net/default.aspx?article=36312
Microsoft desperately wants my love -- and yours
,----[ Quote ]
| I spent December seventh, eighth, and ninth in Seattle as Microsoft's
| guest. Microsoft flew me there from Florida at its expense, put me up
| in a nice hotel, provided decent food, and comped me and four other
| invitees to this "special conference" with presentations about the
| marvels of Vista and other recent or upcoming Microsoft products. They
| didn't quite play the old Beatles song "Love Me Do" in the background,
| but it was the event's unstated theme.
`----
http://www.linux.com/article.pl?sid=06/12/12/085222
Microsoft funding bankrupt Live Search experiment with porn spam
,----[ Quote ]
| Dear reader, please tell me: what do you think of a search engine that steals
| (bandwidth and AdSense revenue), lies, spams away, and is not clever enough
| to stop their criminal activities when they’re caught?
|
| Recently a Live Search rep whined in an interview because so many robots.txt
| files out there block their crawler...
`----
http://sebastians-pamphlets.com/microsoft-live-search-the-downfall-of-a-tiny-search-engine/
Microsoft’s Club Live fiasco
,----[ Quote ]
| People were using the macro on more than 3 games at a time, on more than 2
| accounts at a time, why Microsoft didn’t pick up on the fact that in the
| first few days some people had accumulated enough for 3 Zunes each is beyond
| us. Some were lucky, others, not so much.
|
| [...]
|
| So far no one has been banned from using their accounts, which they needed to
| sign up, probably because they did not break any laws, or probably because
| Microsoft didn’t want that hassle and liked their new found traffic.
`----
http://www.blogthe.net/2007/07/16/microsofts-club-live-fiasco/
Bots Helped To Boost Microsoft Live Search Gains
,----[ Quote ]
| In a blog post, Compete analyst Steve Willis attributed Microsoft's
| search gains to prizes awarded to users participating in Live Search
| Club, which features games that post queries to Microsoft's search
| engine.
|
| [...]
|
| Microsoft is essentially being DDoSed by thousands of people hundreds
| of times per minute, but they are mistaking this rise in traffic for
| people actually using Live Search."
`----
http://www.informationweek.com/news/showArticle.jhtml?articleID=201001092
|
|
