Sunday, October 30, 2005
Nothing says "can't-put-it-down reading!" like census data.
Frank Ahrens of the Washington Post has a summary of the latest Census Report on Computer and Internet Use. It seems more ladies are online and more Internet users are shopping. I'm sure there is no connection. :)
Friday, October 28, 2005
Kitty Genovese and the cold call six
On March 13th, 1964, Kitty Genovese was murdered outside her apartment building in an assault that lasted thirty-five minutes. Thirty-eight people witnessed the attack, not one took any step to stop it, not even to call the police.
In July of 2003, Scooter Libby shopped a story with six different journalists, Matt Cooper, Judith Miller, Walter Pincus, Tim Russert, Andrea Mitchell, and Robert Novak, that Joe Wilson’s wife was the CIA Case officer in charge of monitoring the spread of weapons of mass destruction. Libby was trying to paint Amb. Joe Wilson as the beneficiary of nepotism, that his wife was responsible for his assignment to investigate claims that the Iraqis were trying to obtain Niger uranium.
Not a single reporter put his country first. Not a single reporter understood that his first obligation was to his readers/viewers/listeners. The real story here was that the administration was so desperate to discredit its critics, that they were prepared to blow an entire intelligence operation for the sake of political payback. It should never had required a special investigation. All of these reporters should have run with the story instantly, and the story should have been that Scooter Libby’s political warfare was placing an intelligence operation at risk. It would have been possible to write such a story without indicating which intelligence operation. Let me make this clear. Citizens have certain obligations, one of them is to report crimes in progress. A reporter’s obligation to their source is trivial by comparison.
Try to imagine what it was like to have been Valerie Wilson that morning, to wake up before dawn to the sound of your beeper, to be informed that your cover has been blown and you have hours to warn whichever agents you can.
Try to look at this from point of view of international opinion. The world sees the United States insisting that a war against Iraq is necessary to halt the spread of weapons of mass destruction. The world is told we cannot wait for diplomatic efforts. As the war progresses it becomes embarrassingly clear that there are no weapons of mass destruction.
Imagine the diplomatic corps opening their Washington Post on the morning of July 14, 2003. Imagine them reading Robert Novak’s column to discover the name of the CIA case officer in charge of monitoring the spread of weapons of mass destruction. Attachés from our allies are on the phone with their counterparts in the CIA demanding an explanation. Attachés from hostile intelligence agencies are convulsed in laughter. But for the American people this is no laughing matter.
It will now be far more difficult for our spies to recruit agents. Allied intelligence agencies will be hesitant to share information. Hostile intelligence agencies will be more aggressive, and with Plame’s network shot to pieces (in some cases literally) we will have great difficulty monitoring developments. We are at great risk.
All of this we owe to the pernicious practice of anonymous sources. And who are these sources? Well, in many cases our clients. Let us put an end to this evil practice.
WHITE HOUSE OFFICIAL I. LEWIS LIBBY INDICTED ON OBSTRUCTION OF JUSTICE, FALSE STATEMENT AND PERJURY CHARGES RELATING TO LEAK OF CLASSIFIED INFORMATION REVEALING CIA OFFICER'S IDENTITY
In July of 2003, Scooter Libby shopped a story with six different journalists, Matt Cooper, Judith Miller, Walter Pincus, Tim Russert, Andrea Mitchell, and Robert Novak, that Joe Wilson’s wife was the CIA Case officer in charge of monitoring the spread of weapons of mass destruction. Libby was trying to paint Amb. Joe Wilson as the beneficiary of nepotism, that his wife was responsible for his assignment to investigate claims that the Iraqis were trying to obtain Niger uranium.
Not a single reporter put his country first. Not a single reporter understood that his first obligation was to his readers/viewers/listeners. The real story here was that the administration was so desperate to discredit its critics, that they were prepared to blow an entire intelligence operation for the sake of political payback. It should never had required a special investigation. All of these reporters should have run with the story instantly, and the story should have been that Scooter Libby’s political warfare was placing an intelligence operation at risk. It would have been possible to write such a story without indicating which intelligence operation. Let me make this clear. Citizens have certain obligations, one of them is to report crimes in progress. A reporter’s obligation to their source is trivial by comparison.
Try to imagine what it was like to have been Valerie Wilson that morning, to wake up before dawn to the sound of your beeper, to be informed that your cover has been blown and you have hours to warn whichever agents you can.
Try to look at this from point of view of international opinion. The world sees the United States insisting that a war against Iraq is necessary to halt the spread of weapons of mass destruction. The world is told we cannot wait for diplomatic efforts. As the war progresses it becomes embarrassingly clear that there are no weapons of mass destruction.
Imagine the diplomatic corps opening their Washington Post on the morning of July 14, 2003. Imagine them reading Robert Novak’s column to discover the name of the CIA case officer in charge of monitoring the spread of weapons of mass destruction. Attachés from our allies are on the phone with their counterparts in the CIA demanding an explanation. Attachés from hostile intelligence agencies are convulsed in laughter. But for the American people this is no laughing matter.
It will now be far more difficult for our spies to recruit agents. Allied intelligence agencies will be hesitant to share information. Hostile intelligence agencies will be more aggressive, and with Plame’s network shot to pieces (in some cases literally) we will have great difficulty monitoring developments. We are at great risk.
All of this we owe to the pernicious practice of anonymous sources. And who are these sources? Well, in many cases our clients. Let us put an end to this evil practice.
WHITE HOUSE OFFICIAL I. LEWIS LIBBY INDICTED ON OBSTRUCTION OF JUSTICE, FALSE STATEMENT AND PERJURY CHARGES RELATING TO LEAK OF CLASSIFIED INFORMATION REVEALING CIA OFFICER'S IDENTITY
Thursday, October 27, 2005
Daniel Lyons’ anti-blogging screed
Forbes Magazine has, for reasons best known to itself, has published an anti-blogging screed. It is filled with misinformation and spectacularly bad advice. The first paragraph says it all:
Katie bar the door! The blogs are coming!
Did Circle Holdings post a response on its website? Did it engage sympathetic bloggers? No, it got into it with the blogger. Because putting a stick in a hornets’ nest works so well.
And the evidence to support this contention would be?
Depends on the blog.
George III felt the same way.
It would also be unconstitutional.
Great, character assassination via anonymous sources, because it's working so well for Scooter Libby and Karl Rove.
But you just have to love the ending:
Mr. Lyons, why didn’t you call Trent Lott for a quote?
Web logs are the prized platform of an online lynch mob spouting liberty but spewing lies, libel and invective. Their potent allies in this pursuit include Google and Yahoo.
Katie bar the door! The blogs are coming!
Gregory Halpern knows how to hype. Shares of his publicly held company, Circle Group Holdings, quadrupled in price early last year amid reports that its new fat substitute, Z-Trim, was being tested by Nestlé. As the stock spurted from $2 to $8.50, Halpern's 35% stake in the company he founded rose to $90 million. He put out 56 press releases last year.
Then the bloggers attacked. A supposed crusading journalist launched an online campaign long on invective and wobbly on facts, posting articles on his Web log (blog) calling Halpern "deceitful,""unethical,""incredibly stupid" and "a pathological liar" who had misled investors. The author claimed to be Nick Tracy, a London writer who started his one-man "watchdog" Web site, our-street.com, to expose corporate fraud. He put out press releases saying he had filed complaints against Circle with the Securities & Exchange Commission.
Did Circle Holdings post a response on its website? Did it engage sympathetic bloggers? No, it got into it with the blogger. Because putting a stick in a hornets’ nest works so well.
...Some companies now use blogs as a weapon, unleashing swarms of critics on their rivals. "I'd say 50% to 60% of attacks are sponsored by competitors," says Bruce Fischman, a lawyer in Miami for targets of online abuse.
And the evidence to support this contention would be?
Dry treatises on patent law and trade policy don't drive traffic (or ad sales) for bloggers and hosts; blood sport does.
Depends on the blog.
... "A blogger can go out and make any statement about anybody, and you can't control it. That's a difficult thing,"says Steven Down, general manager of bike lock maker Kryptonite, owned by Ingersoll-Rand and based in Canton,Mass.
George III felt the same way.
..."Blogging is still in its infancy. Imposing regulations would create a chilling effect," says Annalee Newitz
It would also be unconstitutional.
Gregory Halpern at Circle Group, in Mundelein, Ill., used this approach against his nemesis, Nick Tracy, a.k.a. Timothy Miles. After the first attack Halpern contacted the blogger's lawyer but got nowhere. He demanded a correction, only to get mocked:Miles posted on his blog an audio file of a perturbed message Halpern had left on his voice mail.
Halpern had better luck, however, when he allied with Gayle Essary, who runs the FinancialWire online news service and had tangled with Miles, too. Halpern dug up details on Miles (his photo and Oregon driver's license; his links to a litany of questionable companies; his claim to be an ordained minister; his Web site that describes a mysterious crystal that contains a message from God) and fed them to Essary. Essary did 15 articles on Miles without citing Halpern as a source, and when Halpern heard from people asking about Miles' allegations against Circle Group, he referred them to FinancialWire, saying it had "exposed this guy a long time ago."
Great, character assassination via anonymous sources, because it's working so well for Scooter Libby and Karl Rove.
But you just have to love the ending:
Halpern has had less luck getting anyone in Congress to listen to his plaint. He says that may change if a few politicians get a taste of what he has gone through. "Wait until the next election rolls around and these bloggers start smearing people who are up for reelection,"Halpern says. "Maybe then things will start to happen."
Mr. Lyons, why didn’t you call Trent Lott for a quote?
New Communications Forum 2006, call for speakers
The deadline has been extended to November 4, a week from tomorrow. The last one was super, so I am planning to go to the next one.
New Communications Forum
New Communications Forum
Where the government blogs are
David Fletcher points to Nick Mudge's government blog aggregator.
Now all he needs to do is put it on a RSS reader.
Now all he needs to do is put it on a RSS reader.
Another sign that blogging has become part of the establishment
From Steve Rubel we learn that the World Bank is blogging.
Safari, not ready for prime time
I have been trying out the Safari browser. Not good enough. Renders most sites slowly and some not at all. It seems to have great difficulty with web forms. It won't work at all with Blogger, publishes the titles; but swallows the body of the post whole.
Stay with Firefox.
Stay with Firefox.
They said the same thing about mainframe computers
Henry Copeland
It is more likely that Henry Copeland will be offering to help advertisers place ads in a complementary mix of newspapers, magazines and blogs before newspapers disappear. I wouldn't be surprised if he didn't get commissions from mainstream media for the service.
I've been arguing that anyone who thinks the "old media" model is a gonner should stop theorizing and just short newspaper stocks.
"Newspaper" is an oxymoron. Nowadays, anything on paper is either history or a novel. Though newspaper companies are buying and building online extensions, the revenue gains will never offset the scale of losses coming as subscribers and advertisers defect to cheaper, faster tools AND as individual papers lose their monopoly pricing leverage in their respective markets.
It is more likely that Henry Copeland will be offering to help advertisers place ads in a complementary mix of newspapers, magazines and blogs before newspapers disappear. I wouldn't be surprised if he didn't get commissions from mainstream media for the service.
Writing press releases just got more complicated
Shel Holtz points to this advice from Lee Oden on writing press releases in the age of the Web:
It is difficult enough to write a release that communicates your client's message in a way that is interesting and compelling. Inserting the critical key words adds a whole different dimension. But then if it were easy, clients wouldn't pay us.
A talented writer should be able to incorporate keywords into a press release as well as satisfy any creative requirements for a compelling read.
It is difficult enough to write a release that communicates your client's message in a way that is interesting and compelling. Inserting the critical key words adds a whole different dimension. But then if it were easy, clients wouldn't pay us.
Wednesday, October 26, 2005
A 16-city, 4 week treasure hunt for cash prizes.
BL Ochman has orchestrated a first, an all-blog promotion campaign for Budget Rent-a-car. The first winner has been announced.
I think all of PR blogosphere will be using it as a model for future campaigns.
Well done. Very well done.
I think all of PR blogosphere will be using it as a model for future campaigns.
Well done. Very well done.
Responding to a negative analyst report
Tom Murphy pointed to this great post, When Analysts Attack. I particularly like this advice:
It bears repetition, do not be angry. So much of good public relations consists of never getting angry, but looking for solutions.
I am still learning about analyst relations, so blogosphere has been a great resource for free information. I think the key must be preparation. Tekrati is the best place to begin research on analysts.
2. Ask the analyst firm to discuss . After you have done your preparation, contact the firm formally. Do not be angry.
It bears repetition, do not be angry. So much of good public relations consists of never getting angry, but looking for solutions.
I am still learning about analyst relations, so blogosphere has been a great resource for free information. I think the key must be preparation. Tekrati is the best place to begin research on analysts.
A dangerous precedent
BL Ochman tells us that the Delaware Supreme court has rejected a town councilman's quest to discover the identity of a blogger who was posting obscene things about him.
Now perhaps the court did right, surely we have the right to call into question the possible ancestry and personal virtue of politicians and other public figures. But if those obscenities went beyond general insult to specific obscene allegations, then that would seem to this observer to be libelous. And I don't think it would be a healthy thing for free speech if libel could hide behind a cloak of anonymity.
I don't think you have to be very sophisticated to see how that sort of digital brown shirt, as Al Gore might put it, could threaten free speech.
Now perhaps the court did right, surely we have the right to call into question the possible ancestry and personal virtue of politicians and other public figures. But if those obscenities went beyond general insult to specific obscene allegations, then that would seem to this observer to be libelous. And I don't think it would be a healthy thing for free speech if libel could hide behind a cloak of anonymity.
I don't think you have to be very sophisticated to see how that sort of digital brown shirt, as Al Gore might put it, could threaten free speech.
Tuesday, October 25, 2005
Towards an integrated emergency response
IJIS Institute Endorses Functional Specification for Computer Aided Dispatching
Whether it is flood, fire, or terrorism, jurisdictions need their computer aided dispatch systems to work together.
On Thursday the IJIS Institute announced that its Board of Directors, on behalf of the 140 member and affiliated companies of the IJIS Institute, has endorsed the functional specification for computer aided dispatching systems that was developed by the Law Enforcement Information Technology Standards Council (LEITSC).
LEITSC is a consortium of law enforcement organizations including the International Association of Chiefs of Police, the National Sheriffs' Association, the Police Executive Research Forum and the National Organization of Black Law Enforcement Executives who have joined forces to develop standards to improve the application of technology to law enforcement operations. The project was funded by grants from the National Institute of Justice and the Bureau of Justice Assistance in the Office of Justice Programs at the U.S. Department of Justice.
Whether it is flood, fire, or terrorism, jurisdictions need their computer aided dispatch systems to work together.
Monday, October 24, 2005
Freedom blogs
The eight Reporters Without Borders nominees for the blog contest
The German radio station Deutsche Welle has published the list of nominees for its weblog contest, including those chosen by Reporters Without Borders for the “freedom of expression” category. The bloggers who have been singled out include former Tunisian judge Mokhtar Yahyaoui, currently on a hunger strike in protest against President Ben Ali’s repressive policies.
Figuring out community search
PC Magazine has a good introduction to del.icio.us, Clipmarks, et al. Pretty good for those of us who are still trying to puzzle these tools out.
Think my bank would accept it as collateral?
My blog is worth $23,710.68.
How much is your blog worth?
Sunday, October 23, 2005
Lends a whole new meaning to the phrase "venture capital"
CIA's investment arm expands high-tech reach
I have mixed feelings about In-Q-Tel (translation, none of my present or past clients were financed by In-Q-Tel). In some ways it is like the SBIR program; but wouldn't you hate to compete with an In-Q-Tel financed firm?
SAN JOSE, Calif. — In-Q-Tel, the venture capital arm of the CIA, is aggressively expanding its technology portfolio by pumping new investments into startups involved in networking, energy, semiconductor and software visualization.
On Thursday (Oct. 20), In-Q-Tel (Arlington, Va.) separately announced undisclosed investments in three startups and no less than six companies this week alone.
The spy agency's venture capital arm invested in two energy-related companies: Electro Energy Inc. and SkyBuilt Power Inc. It also poured money into two networking startups: Ember Corp., and Tendril Networks Inc.
I have mixed feelings about In-Q-Tel (translation, none of my present or past clients were financed by In-Q-Tel). In some ways it is like the SBIR program; but wouldn't you hate to compete with an In-Q-Tel financed firm?
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