Originally Posted By mawnck Because WE isn't paranoid enough about fake user names ... >>After I wrote about online astroturfing in December, I was contacted by a whistleblower. He was part of a commercial team employed to infest internet forums and comment threads on behalf of corporate clients, promoting their causes and arguing with anyone who opposed them. Like the other members of the team, he posed as a disinterested member of the public. Or, to be more accurate, as a crowd of disinterested members of the public: he used 70 personas, both to avoid detection and to create the impression there was widespread support for his pro-corporate arguments.<< >>• Companies now use "persona management software", which multiplies the efforts of each astroturfer, creating the impression that there's major support for what a corporation or government is trying to do. • This software creates all the online furniture a real person would possess: a name, email accounts, web pages and social media. In other words, it automatically generates what look like authentic profiles, making it hard to tell the difference between a virtual robot and a real commentator.<< More at da link: <a href="http://www.guardian.co.uk/environment/georgemonbiot/2011/feb/23/need-to-protect-internet-from-astroturfing" target="_blank">http://www.guardian.co.uk/envi...oturfing</a>
Originally Posted By skinnerbox My next door neighbor has a business on the side, apart from her mainstream corporate salaried day job, in the medical marijuana industry. She and her fellow hemp entrepreneurs use this stuff, to hide their true identities from their employers and the real world. She has three different screen names that I know of, at least one fake Facebook page and several email accounts. But I wouldn't be surprised if she had even more than that. Doesn't surprise me that these same tactics would be utilized by corporations to sway public opinion by "proving" there's support for their anti-democratic political behaviors.
Originally Posted By ecdc Lovely. NPR had something on this a week or so ago. When the government sets up pages asking for public input on business regulation, they start getting flooded with things that they don't expect - mainly supporting the business. Some people started digging into the profiles and they did find that most of the comments came from the same person working for one of the companies.
Originally Posted By skinnerbox Well... didn't the Koch brothers, via the Tea Party Express, bus in "Walker supporters" from other states to the Wisconsin protests? How many of those Walker supporters are actually citizens in Wisconsin who voted for Walker AND do NOT have professional ties to Koch Industries or the GOP or the backers of the Tea Party (like Dick Armey's group)? My guess is, virtually none. The vast majority of Wisconsin citizens are behind the unions on this issue. Anyone taking a public stand against the union workers, in my mind, is a plant with ties to industries that will benefit from Walker's corporate loyalties.
Originally Posted By skinnerbox <<Some people started digging into the profiles and they did find that most of the comments came from the same person working for one of the companies.>> Which is why I still believe that several posters in WE are indeed sock puppets, given their actions and the predictable patterns of their posts. It's not a conspiracy theory if you have enough evidence to prove otherwise, especially when one of them gets caught: Oldschool Disney Thu 2/24/2011 5:26p Fine I don't care. This guy is the most arrogant person I have ever encountered. He only values one opinion his own and the fact that so many of you have been taken in with him like he's some sort of god proves just how gullible many of you are. Kiss my [*bleep*] all of you. I can't believe how much time I wasted over the years on this stupid place.
Originally Posted By gadzuux All of this may be true, but if so it seems like their efforts are being wasted in this room. For one thing, we're a teeny speck in the blogosphere - we're not exactly opinion shapers around here. For another thing, for many years this particular board has been mostly populated by participants with moderate to progressive views. I tend to believe that this is because people who enjoy active participation in civic debate are people who are better informed than the average citizen. They're also better able to communicate effectively through writing. This rules out vast numbers of people who either aren't much engaged in the world around them, or aren't capable of expressing themselves. Even if these 'corporatists' were infiltrating this board, their agenda is never going to stick. So what's the point? I've always been 'on record' as wanting more right-wing voices within these threads. But we've seen people try and fail miserably - partly because the specifics of what their side is advocating cannot stand up to the daily drip-drip-drip of reality, and partly because they don't possess the rhetorical chops to defend their positions. So if there's some vast right-wing conspiracy taking place to pollute discussion boards with GOP talking points, it's not going to get very far. At least not around here.
Originally Posted By SpokkerJones Another leftist hit job by lefty leftists. Corporations built this country but today, entrepreneurial spirit has been snuffed out of existence by high taxes and environmental laws that protect birds nobody has ever heard of. Vote Mitt Romney 2012! Now where do I pick up my check?
Originally Posted By fkurucz ^^Yeah, Robber Barons are a figment of our imagination. Funny how when they need a bailout there's always money. If anyone "picks up a check" it's them. As for where you can pick up your check Spokker, don't be silly, you're middle class, there is no check for you. " entrepreneurial spirit has been snuffed out of existence by high taxes and environmental laws that protect birds nobody has ever heard of" By all means, let's repeal environmental laws so our nation can have the same wonderful environmenytal conditions as China. No brown cloud or unsafe drinking water for me, thank you. As for "high taxes": 1) Entrepreneurs don't pay income tax until they are profitable. 2) While officially corporate tax rates are "high" more than half of the Fortune 500 (who are very profitable) pay no income tax at all, thanks to a very business friendly tax code.
Originally Posted By Mr X Who coined the phrase "regulate the snot out of them"? Whoever it was, I like it.
Originally Posted By Dabob2 <2) While officially corporate tax rates are "high" more than half of the Fortune 500 (who are very profitable) pay no income tax at all, thanks to a very business friendly tax code. > I'd actually be okay with lowering the corporate tax rate, IF (and ONLY if) the loopholes that allow so many to pay nothing were closed entirely. Then the GOP would no longer be able to say "B-but, we have the highest corporate income tax in the world!" and we'd collect what we were supposed to collect. Having an (ostensibly) high rate and then all the loopholes also guarantees that corporate lobbying will take up a huge share of the time of our congresscritters. After all, if the corporations DON'T lobby to create or maintain those loopholes, they actually would have to pay quite a lot of money. Take that away and make it so that corporations simply DO have to pay a lower rate, and you get rid of at least some of the need to lobby, making Congress less beholden to corporate largess.
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