Do Broadband Providers Employ Blog Comment Shills?

[Robbien]

Over the past four or five months, I’ve noticed that a group of commenters to blog posts related to network neutrality tend to say the same things over and over again. What’s interesting is that there’s a core group of the same commenters that show up time and again saying the same things (although not always phrased the same way) repeatedly.

Here’s what this group typically says in one form or another: we don’t need network neutrality regulations because there is no evidence of abuse and in any event government intervention in the Internet marketplace will mess everything up.

Now, along comes another commenter, sagecast, who tells us that this group is an organized tag-team of industry representatives, semi-sock puppets if you will, who troll the Internet making such comments to give the false impression of broad-based support of industry-friendly positions.

Here’s what sagecast has to say :
Readers of this comment thread should know that Paulaner01, pkp646, lessgov and oldhats are part of a tag-team of industry shills who invade blog comments on net neutrality to argue against any government regulation of the Internet. Other names who run with this crowd are John Rice and AJ Carey. (Google any of these names in combination and you’ll see how their game works).

By tag-teaming the blogs, this small handful of individuals gives the false impression of broad popular support for an industry-friendly position.

What they fail to point out is that Net Neutrality has been the rule that has governed access to the Internet since its inception. It’s the reason that the Internet has become such a dynamic force for new ideas, economic innovation and free speech. What they really want is for Congress to radically re-write our telecommunications laws so that companies like AT&T, Verizon and BellSouth can swoop in and become gatekeepers to Internet content — in a way that benefits no one except the largest ISPs.

I’d like these people to tell us how it is that they appear together (usually one after the other) praising one another’s comments and spouting identical industry talking points across the blogosphere.

What gives fellas? Are you being paid to do this? And by whom?

http://www.ipdemocracy.com/archives/001580do_broadband_providers_employ_blog_comment_shills.php

Doing a search on this group of names, it doesn't appear this gang posts at DU. . . so far. Just a heads up that they are out there.

Your teleco dollars at work.

[bryant69]

1. It could just be one guy

Easy enough to set up four or five identities - I did it once at a conservative website.

Harder here i suppose, since you can't register with a web based e-mail account (or couldn't last time i checked (which was a couple of years ago I admit)).

Bryant
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