This page permanently redirects to gemini://gemini.techrights.org/2009/05/02/waggener-edstrom-bad-patent/.

● 05.02.09

●● Microsoft’s PR Department (Waggener Edstrom) Patents AstroTurfing-related Methods

Posted in GNU/Linux, Marketing, Microsoft, Patents at 2:52 am by Dr. Roy Schestowitz

Summary: Microsoft’s PR contacts are Waggener Edstrom staff, who were patenting new analysis and surveillance methods

FOR THOSE WHO ARE not familiar with Waggener Edstrom (W-E), there are many ways to learn about it [1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10]. Waggener Edstrom is effectively Microsoft’s PR handler (by far the biggest), which uses a name other than “Microsoft” because it lends credibility to its message. It’s only the illusion of independence. One of the many activities at Waggener Edstrom involves spying on reporters and this habit is already being extended to Twitter.

=> 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | 10 | ↺ spying on reporters | being extended to Twitter

“This includes some anti-Linux press campaigns that are well documented.”We wanted to find out more about how W-E works. Along the way we found some interesting new factoids. From what we could gather, Waggener Edstrom goes a long way back with Microsoft. It grew along with Microsoft because of its manipulation that had been done many years ago. This includes some anti-Linux press campaigns that are well documented. Some very old exhibits from Comes vs Microsoft reveal the eternal presence of Waggener Edstrom, which must have assisted with manipulation of perceptions.

=> manipulation of perceptions

Oiaohm has discovered that W-E is actually listed as part of Microsoft. It’s “basically MS press,” he says. In W-E’s Windows-powered site he found this page which states: “A U.S. patent-pending product, the Narrative Network software is available immediately and can be used to analyze English, Chinese, German, French, Russian and Spanish text, eliminating the need for costly language translation.” The applicability of business method (or software) patents aside, what will such methods be used for?

=> ↺ listed as part of Microsoft | ↺ this page

“Patent holder for some very strange patents,” says oiaohm, who claims that W-E is “basically patenting a internet scanning tool to work out if your press is working.”

“Don’t miss the PR_Contacts,” adds oiaohm, who has finally realised what W-E’s role really involves. “That is a big one. How can they be independent if they are the PR contact for so many of Microsoft departments? Don’t Microsoft departments trust themselves talking to the public?” █

=> ↺ the PR_Contacts

“We’ve got to put a lot of money into changing behavior.”

–Bill Gates

Share in other sites/networks: These icons link to social bookmarking sites where readers can share and discover new web pages.

Permalink  Send this to a friend

=> Permalink | ↺ Send this to a friend


=> Techrights

➮ Sharing is caring. Content is available under CC-BY-SA.

Proxy Information
Original URL
gemini://gemini.techrights.org/2009/05/02/waggener-edstrom-bad-patent
Status Code
Success (20)
Meta
text/gemini;lang=en-GB
Capsule Response Time
280.088705 milliseconds
Gemini-to-HTML Time
10.191108 milliseconds

This content has been proxied by September (3851b).