-----BEGIN PGP SIGNED MESSAGE-----
Hash: SHA1
Microsoft slams Google on privacy
,----[ Quote ]
| "I desperately hope that they...in fact I expect, that they will change. They
| will become as grown up as some of the larger companies around, so in some
| respects it's a predictable thing," added Cullen.
`----
http://news.cnet.com/8301-1009_3-10029309-83.html?part=rss&subj=news&tag=2547-1_3-0-20
Yes, coming from the company that puts back doors in its software for 'special
access', the company that gets complete copies of all the Web adresses you
ever visit, and eavesdrop on you on your own desktop. It even hires shills
(via LawMedia) to fake fake 'backlash' against Google
You Think the Government Is Going to Stop Google?
,----[ Quote ]
| Google is apparently going to disregard the investigation into any antitrust
| practices, and move forward in its advertising deal with Yahoo! in October,
| unless the government stops them.
`----
http://www.webpronews.com/topnews/2008/08/29/you-think-the-government-is-going-to-stop-google
Labs Remove Genetic Data from Public Databases After Forensic Breakthrough
,----[ Quoye ]
| But yesterday’s paper proved that assumption wrong. Now it has been reported
| that on Monday, four days before the paper came out, the National Center for
| Biotechnology Information pulled aggregated data off its Database of
| Genotypes and Phenotypes (dbGaP). The Broad Institute of MIT and Harvard and
| the Wellcome Trust in Britain have also removed aggregate data from public
| view.
`----
http://spittoon.23andme.com/2008/08/29/labs-remove-genetic-data-from-public-databases-after-forensic-breakthrough/
Recent:
Corn Farmers Against Google?
,----[ Quote ]
| Only if they're planting in AstroTurf
|
| [...]
|
| How do you know the organization, and the op-ed, weren't created by LawMedia
| Group at the behest of some well-funded clients? If they did their jobs
| right, you don't know.
|
| Some of them have left digital fingerprints here and there, though, says
| Declan McCullagh, in a blockbuster of a report exposing the intellectual
| whoredom offered for various important issues. Shortly after Microsoft hired
| LawMedia, for example, legislators, national agencies, and news outlets
| received pointed complaints from coalitions of farmers, rural voters, and
| geeky Latinos about how Google's advertising deal with Yahoo would wreck
| everything.
|
| [...]
|
| Don't call them a PR firm or a lobbying firm though, Law Media – which has a
| ton of lawyers working for them too—is a "public affairs firm" specializing
| in producing "remarkable coalitions" for anything one might need a coalition
| for.
`----
http://www.webpronews.com/topnews/2008/08/14/corn-farmers-against-google
Related:
Astroturfing
,----[ 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
Microsoft Pays $200 for Mentioning Its Tools
,----[ Quote ]
| If you're a professor and you mention Microsoft programming tools in a
| scholarly presentation -- in fact, even if you just use the tools --
| Microsoft will send you a check for $200.
`----
http://chronicle.com/data/articles.dir/art-44.dir/issue-33.dir/33a03001.htm
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
Microfraud?
,----[ Quote ]
| THE ALLEGATIONS WERE shocking: For years, Microsoft has systematically
| distorted its profit figures in an effort to consistently beat Wall Street
| expectations and keep its stock price steadily rising. The false reports
| would violate SEC regulations, and amount to outright fraud.
|
| More shocking was the source of the allegations: Microsoft's chief of
| internal audits, Charlie Pancerzewski, who reported directly to the company's
| chief financial officer.
|
| Most shocking of all was what happened to Pancerzewski when he reported the
| suspicious bookkeeping to his supervisors, Microsoft CFO Mike Brown and chief
| operating officer Bob Herbold, in the spring of 1995. Soon afterward,
| Pancerzewski—who for nearly five years had received stellar performance
| evaluations—received his first-ever unsatisfactory one, and was eventually
| forced to resign.
|
| Two months ago, Microsoft quietly settled a lawsuit containing these
| allegations, filed in 1997 by Pancerzewski under the Whistleblowers
| Protection Act. The auditor claimed he was wrongfully terminated after
| telling his supervisors that Microsoft might be breaking securities and tax
| laws. The lawsuit made its tortuous way through several rounds of pretrial
| motions until last fall, when US District Judge Carolyn Dimmick denied
| Microsoft's final plea for summary judgment, finding credible evidence that
| Microsoft may have violated SEC rules, as Pancerzewski alleged. Shortly
| thereafter, Microsoft and Pancerzewski settled out of court. Terms of the
| agreement were sealed, but one source who claims familiarity with the case
| says that Microsoft paid Pancerzewski $4 million.
`----
http://web.archive.org/web/20070308032343rn_2/www.seattleweekly.com/1999-01-06/news/microfraud.php
-----BEGIN PGP SIGNATURE-----
Version: GnuPG v1.4.9 (GNU/Linux)
iEYEARECAAYFAki5+/YACgkQU4xAY3RXLo6cPACfYlCrIpEW75xTb/iWOzq7KVvC
25cAmwXOXrM2ZHLlezjFYWhCJr78H0HA
=knHG
-----END PGP SIGNATURE-----
|
|
