[Julian Smart]

Originally Posted by JohnHorb

Now that IS worrying.

http://www.corporatewatch.org.uk/?lid=392

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Burson-Marsteller

and from 80/20's web site

80/20's UK strategic partner is the global PR firm Burson-Marsteller. B-M and 80/20 will be working closely together to build networks and create projects and events that address key privacy and security issues.

I'm just boggled by this. 80/20 claims there is no conflict of interest, and yet their 'strategic partner' is a notorious PR company that happens also to be employed by Phorm?? Huh? I'm not a conspiracy theorist - normally they're just fun diversions - but this is extraordinary. Why would a privacy consultancy need to team up with a huge spin-meister anyway? There's got to be more to this than meets the eye.

This article is fascinating:

http://www.thismagazine.ca/issues/20...ayingdirty.php

"Burson-Marsteller does not publish a list of its clients, but it has purportedly worked for some of the most infamous governments of the twentieth century, including the military junta in Argentina in the 1970s, Nicolae Ceausescu’s dictatorship in Romania, the government of Indonesia (following the massacre in East Timor) and the Nigerian government (to discredit reports of genocide)...

One of the most effective PR tools is the “third party” technique, where a firm will hire an “expert” to speak on behalf of a company. People don’t generally trust corporate executives who say a product is harmless (say cigarettes, Teflon cookware or household insecticides), but are more likely to believe the same words from a scientist. And sometimes even more effective than hiring experts is getting average citizens to do the same. PR firms have time and again managed to create the illusion of public support for corporate causes through front groups, such as the CCRES."

Sound familiar?