Privacy International demands apology from Google over smear campaign
,----[ Quote ]
| Privacy International has accused Google of embarking upon a smear
| campaign within the media to discredit both PI and a report, to be
| published in full later in the year, which ranks the privacy
| performance of the top Internet service companies.
|
| [...]
|
| The Google response should be interesting, to say the least. Expect
| this one to run and run, up to and beyond the date in September
| when that final report is published...
`----
http://www.daniweb.com/blogs/entry1491.html
Google has been employing lobbyists for a while and it's truly a shame to see
them pulling the same scummy tricks as Apple and Microsoft (small sample
below).
GPL (and the FSF) is one of the most recent targets of Microsoft's smear
operations.
Related:
How Apple orchestrated web attack on researchers
,----[ Quote ]
| Apple is a mega corporation that nearly smashed the reputation of
| two individuals with bogus claims of fraud. It didn't matter
| that they weren't the ones pulling the trigger because they
| were pulling all the strings.
`----
http://blogs.zdnet.com/Ou/?p=451
Apple Bullies Bloggers, Again
,----[ Quote ]
| Apple has a history of using lawyers against bloggers. There was
| the now infamous Think Secret lawsuit, which may have had merit.
| But they also engage in clearly superfluous, bullying tactics as well.
|
| [...]
|
| The offending download page is here (the software has now been
| removed). Blogger Paul O'Brien simply linked to this download
| page and included a screenshot of the user interface and also
| received a cease & desist letter from Apple's lawyers.
`----
http://www.techcrunch.com/2007/01/13/apple-bullies-bloggers-again/
Gates blackmailed Danish government
,----[ Quote ]
| Microsoft boss Bill Gates threatened to kill 800 Danish jobs if
| Denmark opposed the European Computer Implemented Inventions
| Directive, reports today's Danish financial daily Børsen,
| quoted by NoSoftwarePatents.com.
`----
http://www.zeropaid.com/news/articles/auto/02162005a.php
Conflict of interests of political party president in softwarepatents issue
in the EU
,----[ Quote ]
| It now appears that Lehne works as a Brussels lobbying consultant
| for multinational corporations who are the main clients of one of
| the leading lawfirms for patent litigation in Europe, which is
| also itself involved in patent lobbying and closely connected
| to lobbying organisations.
`----
http://lxer.com/module/newswire/view/38793/index.html
How Microsoft distorted the facts in the Vienna conclusions
,----[ Quote ]
| Lately, many signs exist showing how Microsoft's monopoly power
| extends to government and media. We can add a new example to this
| list: The "Vienna conclusions". It seems, their power even
| extends to distorting findings in official UN documents. The
| story contains all usual elements: Sponsorship, not willing
| to participate in public discussions, a conflict of interest
| of one of the members of the committee, and a Microsoft PR
| worker making a ridiculous statement. After that, of course,
| Microsoft denied most of it and ignored the rest.
`----
http://lxer.com/module/newswire/view/49522/index.html
Study: open source needs official support; Lobbyist
disagrees with "flawed" conclusions
,----[ Quote ]
| The study, commissioned by the European Commission, Directorate
| General Enterprise and Industry, is but a small part of the larger
| FLOSSPOLS project that aims to keep the EU a leader in global
| development of open source software.
|
| [...]
|
| Now, the ISC is widely regarded as a shill for Microsoft, although
| the member list also includes companies like Intel, Autodesk, and
| RSA Security (now an EMC subsidiary). The 300-strong member list is
| mostly padded with lesser lights such as Yapi ve Kredi Bankasi(
| Turkey), ThreeSixtyDegreez (Pakistan), and Datoprogrammu Apgads
| (Latvia). The institute pushes hard for the right to patent
| software, alongside regular bashings of open source businesses.
`----
http://arstechnica.com/news.ars/post/20061017-8011.html
Changing the Report, After the Vote
,----[ Quote ]
| That agreement was nearly imperiled last weekend, though. Gerri
| Elliott, corporate vice president at Microsoft's Worldwide Public
| Sector division, sent an e-mail message to fellow commissioners
| Friday evening saying that she "vigorously" objected to a paragraph
| in which the panel embraced and encouraged the development of open
| source software and open content projects in higher education.
`----
http://insidehighered.com/news/2006/09/01/commission
|
|
