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____/ High Plains Thumper on Monday 21 Jun 2010 23:28 : \____
> Roy Schestowitz wrote:
>> High Plains Thumper on Saturday:
>>> Roy Schestowitz wrote:
>>>> High Plains Thumper on Friday:
>>>>> nessuno wrote:
>>>>>
>>>>>> <Quote> Yes, Microsoft basically bribed the press....
>>>>>>
>>>>>> When I was a newspaper journalist working for a business
>>>>>> publication, PR houses would send us free stuff all day, every
>>>>>> day. The ethical line was a frequent consideration and lots (I
>>>>>> mean LOTS) of gifts were returned to sender.
>>>>>>
>>>>>> I do not expect anyone in the gaming press will be refusing
>>>>>> their free consoles & Even though virtually everyone already has
>>>>>> an older 360 model.
>>>>>>
>>>>>> While there is a valid ethical response to accepting the thing
>>>>>> - hardware reviews are a vital keystone in the gaming press - the
>>>>>> way Microsoft went about their gifting today smacks of bribery
>>>>>> and toe-sucking. </Quote>
>>>>>>
>>>>>> http://weblogs.jomc.unc.edu/talkingbiznews/?p=16348
>>>>
>>>>> Yes, there seems to be a lot of underhanded things going on that
>>>>> are less than scrupulous. Thanks for expressing this little bit of
>>>>> truth. The convicted monopoly maintenance continues.
>>>>
>>>> Unscrupulous Microsoft never changed its ways/
>>
>>> I found this article, which is of interest regarding astroturfing:
>>
>>> [quote]
>>> Americans for Technology Leadership
>>> From SourceWatch
>>
>>> Americans for Technology Leadership was founded by Jonathan Zuck in 1999
>>> as a "grassroots" organisations for concerned consumers who want less
>>> regulation in the technology sector. It also campaigns on general tech
>>> issues such as spam.
>>
>>> It has been frequently described as a Microsoft front group.[1][2][3]
>>
>>> [...] Synhorst is a founding member of the DCI Group, a Washington
>>> DC-based strategic consulting and lobbying firm which has counted
>>> Microsoft as a prime client for a number of years.
>>
>>> Joshua Micah Marshall reports in the July 17, 2000 American Prospect:
>>> "[W]hile Microsoft did confirm that Synhorst's DCI had been retained as
>>> a consultant, it insisted that another DCI employee, Tim Hyde, and not
>>> Synhorst, was handling the company's account. In any event, the web of
>>> connections among DCI, ATL, and Microsoft is striking. While working for
>>> Microsoft, DCI has also provided consulting services to ATL. And Josh
>>> Mathis, the man [ACT president Jonathan] Zuck installed as ATL's
>>> executive director, is also an employee of DCI, who still works out of
>>> the same Washington, D.C., office as Synhorst and Hyde."
>>
>>> Pro-Microsoft letter campaign discovered
>>
>>> In August 2001 the Los Angeles Times reported that a ATL was behind a
>>> "carefully orchestrated nationwide campaign to create the impression of
>>> a surging grass-roots movement" behind Microsoft. "The campaign,
>>> orchestrated by a group partly funded by Microsoft, goes to great
>>> lengths so that the letters appear to be spontaneous expressions from
>>> ordinary citizens. [...] Experts said there's little precedent for such
>>> an effort supported by a company defending itself against government
>>> accusations of illegal behavior."
>>
>>> According to the Times, the campaign was discovered when Utah's Attorney
>>> General at the time Mark Shurtleff received letters "purportedly written
>>> by at least two dead people ... imploring him to go easy on Microsoft
>>> Corp. for its conduct as a monopoly."
>>
>>> Eighteen state's attorneys general were joining with the Justice
>>> Department in its anti-trust suit against Microsoft. Iowa's Attorney
>>> General Tom Miller reported receiving more than 50 letters in support of
>>> Microsoft during the summer of 2001. "No two letters are identical, but
>>> the giveaway lies in the phrasing," the Times wrote. "Four Iowa letters
>>> included this sentence: 'Strong competition and innovation have been the
>>> twin hallmarks of the technology industry.' Three others use exactly
>>> these words: "If the future is going to be as successful as the recent
>>> past, the technology sector must remain free from excess regulation."
>>
>>> Dewey Square Group and DCI Group sibling firm DCI/New Media are credited
>>> with assisting Microsoft with its "grass-roots" campaign, according to
>>> the Times.
>>> [/quote]
>>
>>> http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php?title=Americans_for_Technology_Leadership
>>
>>> If I am reading things correctly, Gate's philanthropy is funding efforts
>>> as such above. Some time back, I recall reading about the same
>>> purchasing newspaper publisher companies. The Wintrolls would like us
>>> to believe that the man's agenda is saintly and good, quoting medical
>>> help investments, etc.
>>
>>> IIRC, the record shows otherwise. The following was said by the
>>> Minnesota State Attorney General:
>>
>>> [quote]
>>> "It's sleazy," said Minnesota Attorney General Mike Hatch, whose
>>> office received about 300 pro-Microsoft letters. "This is not a
>>> company that appears to be bothered by ethical boundaries."
>>> [/quote]
>>
>>> http://www.usatoday.com/tech/news/2001-08-23-microsoft-letters.htm
>>
>> Where did you find a Gates Foundation connection? I'd be /very/ interested to
>> know of one.
>
> See about mid way down on webpage, Subtopic: "Capitalists cum
> Philanthropists: the roots of Gatesâ philanthropy" at
>
> http://www.2012theawakening.com/?p=1845
>
> It has a rather interesting treatise on philanthropy and particularly
> related to Microsoft.
>
> Within the same subtopic, under the hot link for "Americans for
> Technology Leadership" is where I found the link I quoted earlier above.
I see now. At one stage, Larry Ellison did a probe into ATL/ACT; he wanted to find
out what this AstroTurfing shell really was. There's an article about it, titled
"Peeping Larry".
When Jonathan Zuck E-mailed me he pretended not to know what he was doing. Hilarious.
- --
~~ Best of wishes
"It's a shame when god gives them such great butts and makes 'em think
with them too" -- phantasmobastard
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