Battleangel

Amazing trash journalism from the corporate apologists over at Forbes. Filled with uneducated guesses, blatant stupidity and a flair for conspiracy theories.

Forbes via Boing Boing - Web logs are the prized platform of an online lynch mob spouting liberty but spewing lies, libel and invective. Their potent allies in this pursuit include Google and Yahoo.

They destroy brands and wreck lives. Is there any way to fight back?

Some companies now use blogs as a weapon, unleashing swarms of critics on their rivals. “I’d say 50% to 60% of attacks are sponsored by competitors,” says Bruce Fischman, a lawyer in Miami for targets of online abuse. He says he represents a high-tech firm thrashed by blogs that were secretly funded by a rival; the parties are in talks to settle out of court. One blog, Groklaw, exists primarily to bash software maker SCOGroup in its Linux patent lawsuit against IBM, producing laughably biased, pro-IBMcoverage; its origins are a mystery.

The most controversial portion of the article deals with how corporations are instructed and encouraged to fight back against this injustice.

BASH BACK. If you get attacked, dig up dirt on your assailant and feed it to sympathetic bloggers. Discredit him.

ATTACK THE HOST. Find some copyrighted text that a blogger has lifted from your Web site and threaten to sue his Internet service provider under the Digital Millennium Copyright Act. That may prompt the ISP to shut him down. Or threaten to drag the host into a defamation suit against the blogger. The host isn’t liable but may skip the hassle and cut off the blogger’s access anyway. Also:Subpoena the host company, demanding the blogger’s name or Internet address.

SUE THE BLOGGER. If all else fails, you can sue your attacker for defamation, at the risk of getting mocked. You will have to chase him for years to collect damages. Settle for a court order forcing him to take down his material.

And like many later pointed out, the DMCA does indeed make the ATTACK approach feasible. It doesn’t matter if it’s fair use and the corporate lackeys don’t have a just cause. The law was constructed with the police state in mind.

I’m sick of the whining of corporations. You should be glad we haven’t stormed your palaces of glass and steel already and dragged you screaming to a welcoming lynch mob. Make a few more bucks while you still can. Your days are numbered.