Don't Be Evil — Hire It Done

MarkusQ writes, "The NY Times among others is reporting that Google is ramping up its lobbying clout (registration or bugmenot required). The 'Don't be evil' search engine company has hired the infamous astroturfing and dirty tricks firm Direct Connect, Inc. You may remember DCI from their recent attempts to pass off their 'Penguin Army' video as a product of some lone wit, unconnected with their client, Exxon. Or their involvement in Microsoft's 'even dead voters love Microsoft' campaign. With a staff of veterans in the biz (such as Chris 'Swiftboat' LaCivita and Jim 'Electioneering' Tobin), led by Tom 'Big Tobacco on the Dole' Synhorst, I'm sure DCI will be able to give Google whatever they're paying them for. The question is, what are they paying them for? And does 'Don't be evil' imply 'Don't pay professionals to be evil for you?' Or could there possibly be a non-evil reason to hire these clowns?"

Comments

Re:Surprise!

[Rocketship Underpant]

Actually, according to the terms of their incorporation, they promise to uphold certain principles above shareholder value, and they have no legal responsibility to reneg on this promise.

Corporations are psychopathic

[mspohr]

There is a basic conflict between the legal and financial mandate for a corporation (make a profit for the shareholders) and all type of "evil" behavior that facilitates the profit.

It is very admirable that Google is attempting to bridge this divide but the effort is ultimately futile. Google has shown that when it gets down to the bottom line, it must choose profit (i.e. China).

Hiring this lobby firm is just what is necessary for business as usual in the good old USA capitalist system. You buy youself whatever laws you need to maximize your profit. I love Google just as much as the next person but to expect a corporation to not be evil is unrealistic.

The Economist (a pro-capitalist magazine) has some more information on this: http://www.economist.com/business/displayStory.cfm ?story_id=2647328

Re:But astroturfing is what they DO

[MarkusQ]

DCI is a full spectrum political consulting, PR, and telemarketing firm; while some of the work it has done certainly has been "astroturfing", a lot of it seems to be routine political consulting and marketing.

They sure are. As they put it themselves "Whatever the issue, whatever the target--elected officials, regulators or public opinion--you need reliable third party allies to advocate your cause. We can help you recruit credible coalition partners and engage them for maximum impact. It's what we do best." The services they provide include:

• Astroturfing (see links in story)
• Push-polling
• Telemarketing (as you mentioned)
• Grass-tops (their term, not mine, but I can guess)
• Fake blog and video production (see links in story)
• Journo-Lobbyists
• Spamming (see previous links)
• Junk mail (dead tree spam) (their original line)
• and employment services

What they don't seem to do is anything legitimate, or at least non-slimy. Got any examples you'd like to share?

--MarkusQ

Two Words...

[Etherwalk]

Net Neutrality.

Read my links

[MarkusQ]

Er, wait, DCI have gone from making dumb home movies to fraud?? Can you actually prove the company has been involved in money laundering, fraud and electioneering? Because if you can it seems to me you should be doing something about it rather than posting it to Slashdot ...

*sigh* And after all the trouble I went to to provide links. This isn't some "gosh I think they may have done it" speculation. Tobin, for example, is presumably telecommuting from prison at this very moment, since he started his ten month sentence in May. And the other charges are likewise documented in the links I provided. At this point there's no reason for me to tell the authorities anything because they already know.

--MarkusQ