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PR firm pushing anti-Google message for undisclosed client

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Re: PR firm pushing anti-Google message for undisclosed client

#11

Post by recoiledsnake »

tensafefrogs wrote: post #3

related: "Google deflects PR firm's attack of Gmail privacy" http://www.usatoday.com/money/media/2011-05-06-google_n.htm

From that article:

>The service also privately sends each Gmail user the names of "secondary connections," a listing of the people each direct connection happens to be following publicly on the Web.

So it will show me the friends of my friends? What is this obsession with degrading privacy in this way? Didn't Google learn lessons from the way Buzz exposed your friends to other friends? Why can't email and chat be just that? If I want social networking I will use a social networking site.

If this continues, I will look at making another email service my primary email.

Re: PR firm pushing anti-Google message for undisclosed client

#12

Post by msredmond »

This is pretty standard -- get anti-Google (and Microsoft, and Apple) pitches all the time. About the only thing that isn't standard is the fact that the PR firm won't say who their client is. That pretty much never happens (at least to me). So the fact that they won't say who it is makes it kinda interesting, but it could just be some nutjob somewhere who decided to spend his money on hiring a PR firm.

Re: PR firm pushing anti-Google message for undisclosed client

#13

Post by oinksoft »

Google crawls publicly available data and uses it -- scandal! This is getting old, but it seems like some people still need a reminder: If you submit information about yourself that you know will be publicly viewable, you have no right at all to anger. I think that some people truly still do not understand how the internet works, and think that login page == walled garden privacy.

Re: PR firm pushing anti-Google message for undisclosed client

#14

Post by yanw »

I'm glad that this sample is available, there were always the rumors about another big PR firm 'Edelman' hired for this sort of thing, the subject isn't always privacy they are also beating the antitrust drum, Google spokesman in DC called it then an 'Anti-Google industry complex'.

Re: PR firm pushing anti-Google message for undisclosed client

#15

Post by warfangle »

recoiledsnake wrote: post #10
aresant wrote: post #4

"Caught" seems like a funny word to use. They pretty clearly lay out a case that this is an interesting story, and all's fair in love and PR. In fact the email they're sending seems relatively benign compared to what I expected to see. And the juiciest part of the story - who's paying the PR person - is missing. Wondering why this wound up @ the top of HN as a result? EDIT - Slightly more interesting (err, predictabl…

More likely to be Facebook, since Social Circles seems to be directly competing with them, not Microsoft.

Which is kind of funny, comparing GOOG's privacy with Facebook's privacy.

Re: PR firm pushing anti-Google message for undisclosed client

#16

Post by jgroome »

raganwald wrote: post #8

Seems like a good time to revist Paul's essay "The Submarine:" PR is not dishonest. Not quite. In fact, the reason the best PR firms are so effective is precisely that they aren't dishonest. They give reporters genuinely valuable information. A good PR firm won't bug reporters just because the client tells them to; they've worked hard to build their credibility with reporters, and they don't want to destroy it by fee…

Very true. Reminds me of the concept of "churnalism" outlined in Nick Davies' book Flat Earth News [1].

Thanks for the link. Am now off to read that essay.

[1] http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nick_Davies#Critical_reaction_o...

Re: PR firm pushing anti-Google message for undisclosed client

#17

Post by recoiledsnake »

warfangle wrote: post #15
recoiledsnake wrote: post #10

Earlier quoted context omitted.

More likely to be Facebook, since Social Circles seems to be directly competing with them, not Microsoft.

Which is kind of funny, comparing GOOG's privacy with Facebook's privacy.

Not really, because when I go to FaceBook(a social network website) I have a totally different expectation of privacy compared to when i go to Gmail.

Re: PR firm pushing anti-Google message for undisclosed client

#19

Post by bellaire »

ltamake wrote: post #9
RexRollman wrote: post #5

Earlier quoted context omitted.

That doesn't make it right.

But it's nothing new. :P

Scandals rarely are. Someone gives or receives money, favors, or information inappropriately. It's the perceived degree of impropriety that makes something scandalous, not how commonly it occurs.

That said, this one does seem pretty tame.

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