This _has_ to be happening on a much larger scale. This company was just incompetent enough to get caught. Why there may even be someone on this list, influencing us in certain directions secretly. Perhaps DB is on the list as a fake persuader.
DB mentioned this in Transparent Society, about online personas eventually having to be validated and linked to a real person. It looks like that day is closer at hand. Nerd From Hell > -----Original Message----- > From: The Fool [mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED]] > Sent: Tuesday, May 14, 2002 5:52 PM > To: Brin_L > Subject: The Fake Persuaders > > > http://www.monbiot.com/dsp_article.cfm?article_id=510 > > Companies are creating false citizens to try to change the > way we think > > By George Monbiot. Published in the Guardian 14th May 2002 > > Persuasion works best when it's invisible. The most effective > marketing > worms its way into our consciousness, leaving intact the > perception that > we have reached our opinions and made our choices > independently. As old > as humankind itself, over the past few years this approach has been > refined, with the help of the internet, into a technique called "viral > marketing". Last month, the viruses appear to have murdered > their host. > One of the world's foremost scientific journals was persuaded to do > something it has never done before, and retract a paper it > had published. > > While, in the past, companies have created fake citizens' groups to > campaign in favour of trashing forests or polluting rivers, now they > create fake citizens. Messages purporting to come from disinterested > punters are planted on listservers at critical moments, disseminating > misleading information in the hope of recruiting real people to the > cause. > >
