The TimesOnline ran a story last Friday, Fake bloggers soon to be ‘named and shamed’, heralding the passing into law of a EU directive that bans sockpuppetry.
And while I have to admit that this is admirable in its intent, I really am struggling to come to terms with how on earth they are going to police, much less enforce this law.
Businesses which write fake blog entries or create whole wesbites (sic)
purporting to be from customers will fall foul of a European directive banning them from “falsely representing oneself as a consumer”.From December 31, when the change becomes law in the UK, they can be named and shamed by trading standards or taken to court.
Taken to court? For sockpuppetry and astroturfing? Let’s think this through for a minute…
I, nefarious PR mastermind that I am, convince my client that creating a blog that lauds their activities/product is a savvy Web2.0 move. We get busted by some damn blogger and our competition rat us out to the peelers.
Then what? We get named and shamed and our reputation is forever sullied on Google (see below for an example prepared earlier). Not good — but that describes what happens now. Under this bold new law, what will change?
Will businesses be taken to court? or the PR firms that represent them? Possibly. Who takes the fall? The client or the flack? Will it stop the practice? I can’t see it happening. There will always be unscrupulous types willing to shill, and flacks who either cross the line (often through ignorance more than design) or ignore it altogether.
There are laws in place in many jurisdictions designed to protect consumers from their own cupidity. It is hard to see this one contributing anything more than wasted court time and longer lunches for the lawyers.
It strikes me as a case of legislators keen to act on something that they probably don’t fully understand yet. Or, worse, keen to be seen to be doing something.
…and in New Zealand?
Of course, we have seen this thing happen here in Aotearoa. Google Ticketek and –surprise– there, on the first page of results, is this link to a BoingBoing story on their lame attempt at sockpuppetry. Note that this ran in 2004 and is still in the top returns page. The damage is permanent.
I’ll leave it to Alan, the enterprising blogger who caught the Ticketek employee with her hand well and truly up the puppet’s, um, cavity, to sum the whole mess up:
Your ignorance in these matters is amusing and sad and unfortunately appears par for the course with your company. Your rather ill-advised comment further reinforces the lack of respect I have Ticketek and further demonstrates why your website - and your business - should be avoided as much as possible.
Have a nice day.
