Big Telecom spams 1-star reviews of "Captive Audience"; Amazon customer hits back

[brentspeak]

Law professor Susan P. Crawford's 2012 book "Captive Audience", which argues against today's telecom monopolies and urges greater oversight of the industry, is apparently not appreciated by Big Telecom -- as evidenced by a number of dubious 1-star reviews of the book posted on Amazon.

However, an Amazon reader decided to post his own fake "1-star" review:

382 of 567 people found the following review helpful
1.0 out of 5 stars Not recommended, July 29, 2013
By
James McManus "The Optimizer" (Wisconsin, USA) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)
This review is from: Captive Audience: The Telecom Industry and Monopoly Power in the New Gilded Age (Hardcover)

I am a PRofessional PRopagandist Trainee at an industry PR firm (though we prefer to call it the Fancy Center for Strategic Research and Reporting) in [innocuous city: Madison, WI]. I haven't actually read [author: Susan P. Crawford]'s "[title: Captive Audience]", but my employer has provided this review template and a PowerPoint file with a bulleted list of talking points to insert. Unfortunately, I cannot remember where I saved the PowerPoint slides, so I will have to wing it.

Something something government regulation something something. I depend on the Internet for my work every day. The status quo in the telecom industry is just fine as it is, because it is a shining example of a free and competitive market, or something like that.

Umm, I guess now I'm supposed to present some kind of factoid or statistic to make myself sound authoritative, so I will just mention that Murica has better and more awesome broadband service than the 71% of the Earth that is covered by oceans. And Africa.

Although I won't be able to afford international travel until I finish my Ph.D in Persuasive Internet Communications, my mentors assure me that the Internet service is terrible in those foreign lands full of foreigners and terrorists. Some people might argue that the services are faster and cheaper throughout most of Europe and Asia, but those countries aren't really comparable to the United States because they don't have farms.

I guess that'a about it for now. Please accept my apologies and apologetics in advance, as I am still new at this.

And don't forget to not read this book, "Captive Audience" by Susan P. Crawford, lest it corrupt your mind!

[bemildred]

1. +1. nt

[woo me with science]

2. Excellent to see people calling out manufactured garbage propaganda.

Good to see it here at DU, too.

[L0oniX]

3. K & R

[Scuba]

4. Brilliant!

[roguevalley]

5. god, some people are so amazing. This person is one of them. :D

they have no farms. LOL!

[eggplant]

6. Be sure to upvote this comment and downvote the others... ;-)

[prairierose]

7. I read the book when it first came out....

it is a bit dense but it very clearly explains how we got the place where we are somewhere around 37th in the world in internet connection and speed. It also explains how the FCC could make things better for people but is pretty much controlled by the telecoms.

I would recommend this book to anyone interested in the internet or the future of telecos in the US.

[Victor_c3]

13. That happens with a lot of things in our country

The people who were executives in large businesses like Monsanto are now running the department of agriculture. The same holds true for defense (war) contractors and the department of defense as I'm sure it is true for other sectors as well.

[toby jo]

8. Sounds like a book that better be read.

[DonCoquixote]

9. Brilliant

the enemy needs to be ridiculed, because humor destroys fear.

[KT2000]

10. Wish I wrote that!

Landing a punch and a good laugh at the same time - genius.

[Bryce Butler]

11. Interesting observation...

If you don't include James McManus' review, there are three other 1-star reviews that are genuine. (The rest are paid reviews)

Of those three, the one by Geoffrey A. Manne is a copy from his article in Forbes

[Enthusiast]

12. You favor the telecom monopolies? Seriously?

The one star reviews are genuine? And you say that the positive reviews are paid for?

[Bryce Butler]

15. Out of all the 1-star reviews...

[Blue_Tires]

14. A corporate lobby trolling on the internet?

That can't be right -- I've been told that only the NSA/CIA/GCHQ uses fake accounts to discredit people, and hires shills to troll propaganda...