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[News] Political AstroTurf in the UK Goes on Uninterrupted

  • Subject: [News] Political AstroTurf in the UK Goes on Uninterrupted
  • From: Roy Schestowitz <newsgroups@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>
  • Date: Mon, 26 Oct 2009 00:14:48 +0000
  • Followup-to: comp.os.linux.advocacy
  • Newsgroups: comp.os.linux.advocacy
  • User-agent: KNode/4.3.1
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UK Government Blows it on Lobbying

,----[ Quote ]
| If you wanted proof that the UK government 
| is still an enemy of transparency, try this:
| 
|     The Government is grateful to the Public 
|     Administration Select Committee for its 
|     examination of lobbying in the UK, which 
|     is the first Parliamentary inquiry on 
|     the subject since 1991.
| 
|     [...]
| 
| What this conveniently glosses over is the 
| difference between "making representations 
| to government on issues of concern" - which 
| is what you and I as citizens do all the 
| time, mostly by sending emails to MPs and 
| ministers - and *lobbying*, which is now an 
| entire industry of people employed to use 
| every trick in the book, from the most to 
| least subtle, to get what their clients 
| want.
| 
| The first - making representations - is just 
| what it seems: someone expressing their view 
| and/or asking for action. Lobbying, by 
| contrast, is your typical iceberg, with most 
| of its intent invisible below the surface. 
| That is why a lobbyists' register is needed 
| - so that others can work out the iceberg. 
| The UK government's refusal to countenance 
| this - and the pathetic excuse it offers for 
| doing so - are yet another blot on this 
| administration's record as far as openness 
| is concerned.
`----

http://opendotdotdot.blogspot.com/2009/10/uk-government-blows-it-on-lobbying.html
 	
LDA Reports	 

,----[ Quote ]
| Section 209 of HLOGA requires the Secretary 
| of the Senate to make all documents filed 
| under the LDA, as amended, available to the 
| public over the Internet. The information 
| and documents may be accessed in two ways. A 
| researcher with a specific query in mind may 
| use the query system, which has been 
| expanded from that available prior to 
| January 1, 2008. A researcher who is 
| interested in downloading the Secretaryâs 
| lobbying documents database may do so by 
| clicking below. 
`----

http://www.senate.gov/legislative/Public_Disclosure/LDA_reports.htm


Recent:

Dear Lobbyists: When Crafting Astroturf Letters, Remember To Do
A Search & Replace On XYZ Corp.

,----[ Quote ]
| In researching this further, Karl also can't
| find any other evidence that the Arkansas
| Retired Seniors exist. Separately, he found
| another mistake by the lobbyists when it sent a
| different anti-net neutrality letter from
| Grumman Shipbuilding (ship builders against
| neutrality?). This one wasn't as egregious, but
| the lobbyists forgot to remove the header info
| that says "Governor/PUC Letters to FCC on Net
| Neutrality" with the neat little classification
| system the lobbyists use: "Letter 2: Specific
| to Investment and Employment." Wonder what the
| original header for XYZ organization was?
`----

http://techdirt.com/articles/20091022/1204566640.shtml


Yes Men Pull Off Chamber Of Commerce Hoax On Climate Change (VIDEO)

,----[ Quote ]
| Political performance artists, The Yes Men,
| have taken credit for today's prank, in which
| they posed as Chamber of Commerce officials
| pushing for comprehensive climate change
| legislation. In a statement from the group
| offered hours after a fake press conference was
| held at the National Press Club and a fake
| press release was sent out under the Chamber's
| name...
`----

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2009/10/19/chamber-of-commerce-hoax_n_326069.html


AT&T Asks Employees To Hide AT&T Affiliation While Protesting Net Neutrality Laws

,----[ Quote ]
| Take, for example, the backlash today on the news
| that AT&T's chief lobbyist sent out an email to
| all AT&T employees urging them to protest any new
| net neutrality laws and hide their AT&T
| affiliation as they do so. AT&T has confirmed the
| email, which has numerous factual errors (and
| remember, I actually agree that net neutrality
| laws don't make sense). But, more importantly, the
| mainstream media is now calling AT&T out for this
| outrageous effort to have employees pretend
| they're not employees in protesting these rules.
`----

http://techdirt.com/articles/20091020/1054406603.shtml
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