Guy Who Signed 'XYZ Corp.' Astroturf Letter... Worked As Telco PR Person For Nearly 3 Decades?
from the funny-how-that-works... dept
So, remember last week when we wrote about how anti-net neutrality lobbyists from AT&T had crafted astroturf letters for various "special interest groups" to sign -- but someone forgot to remove the boilerplate "XYZ Organization" in the first paragraph? We also noted that there was little evidence that the group -- the Arkansas Retired Seniors -- actually existed. However, Matt Cutts did a bit of digging and found that the name of the guy who signed the letter -- Bob Sells -- appears to have worked in PR for Southwestern Bell for 28 years (there appears to be only one Bob Sells or Robert Sells in Little Rock). Southwestern Bell, of course, became better known as SBC. SBC, of course, became AT&T after it bought the old AT&T and took on its name. So, if you're an AT&T lobbyist and you want to convince the FCC that "seniors" are against net neutrality -- and you don't want it to appear to come from AT&T employees -- who better to go to than an ex-employee? Still, next time you get a former employee to shill for you, remember to replace the bogus XYZ Organization you left for him in the text of the letter you sent him.Thank you for reading this Techdirt post. With so many things competing for everyone’s attention these days, we really appreciate you giving us your time. We work hard every day to put quality content out there for our community.
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Filed Under: astroturfing, bob sells, cut and paste, lobbying, net neutrality
Companies: at&t, sbc, southwestern bell
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Please don't say public embarrassment, because AT&T gets away with that already due to being a monopoly. The FCC should issue serious fines.
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and hes married to Georgia Sells who is DNC contributor.... so maybe they sent the letter out to those who are known sympathizers of the cause, and just happened to get lucky that her husband was willing to sign it because she wouldnt want to lose realty business by choosing sides??
There were 3-4 other letters posted on the same day the Bob Sells was posted (all about the same thing, using remarkably similar language) all making it seem more logical that a form letter was sent out to all potentially active parties and they just got lucky with this one.
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Penalty?
A penalty for not telling the truth in a debate about lies is kinda moot don't you thing?
@BT Hope you were being serious, because I can say I agree. I would rather those that own something have the right to make decisions on it's use or misuse than those who don't own it. But that's just me. Call me crazy but since I was about three years old I have been a big fan of the word "MINE".
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Re: Penalty?
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Re: Penalty?
Too subtle ?
I'll try harder next time
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The guy is like 100 years old.
He's an easy find on FB if you search for BOB SELLS in Arkansas.
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The guy is like 100 years old.
He's an easy find on FB if you search for BOB SELLS in Arkansas.
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Just cause you cant google it does not make it fake. Im sure plenty of very real groups, hold very real, very predatory sessions in the community rooms of retirement condos. With such a captive audience there would be no need to even advertise.
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I
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