Bribes for bloggers
By Techgirl

Regular readers of Techgoss are well aware that a large number of our articles are crowd sourced.  People send in tips, photos, story ideas and even articles. Many of our contributors have full times jobs in IT - ITES, and so prefer using a pseudonym.  A Tipster wrote in

“
About 2 years ago, Oracle had filed a lawsuit against Google in USA alleging that Google was infringing on its Java patents.

It was a hard fought battle with both Google and Oracle hiring the best lawyers whose fees ran into millions of dollars.

It was also fought out in the media as public opinion favourable to either Google or Oracle would make a huge difference on who was seen as the bad guy in this lawsuit.

And now it has emerged that there is a chance that both Google and Oracle paid journalists and bloggers to write favourable articles supporting their stand in this legal case.

The Californian Judge, William Alsup, overseeing this trial has passed the following order to reveal the names of paid journalists and bloggers: “The Court is concerned that the parties and/or counsel herein may have retained or paid print or internet authors, journalists, commentators or bloggers who have and/or may publish comments on the issues in this case. Although proceedings in this matter are almost over, they are not fully over yet and, in any event, the disclosure required by this order would be of use on appeal or on any remand to make clear whether any treatise, article, commentary or analysis on the issues posed by this case are possibly influenced by financial relationships to the parties or counsel. Therefore, each side and its counsel shall file a statement herein clear identifying all authors, journalists, commentators or bloggers who have reported or commented on any issues in this case and who have received money (other than normal subscription fees) from the party or its counsel during the pendency of this action”

Both Google and Oracle have to give details of any journalists and bloggers they paid or ‘influenced’ by Aug 17, 2012.

This is great news as this would tell the public if any Tech companies bribe journalists and bloggers to unfairly affect public opinion.
“

Know of any such thing in the IT-BPO sector?  Email us!  If you know of any such bribes being offered in India, we will give you a reward of Rs. 5000 for hard evidence.  No questions asked. Anonymity guaranteed.

Techgoss note:  Techgirl is a senior Tech journalist who reports on the IT, KPO and KPO Sectors for a leading media house.  In her spare time, she dabbles in satire in her blog techgirltalk.blogspot.com.  Techgirl has been ejected from Twitter for satirizing an Indian Minister.  Her satire blog has links to her Times of India interview detailing her being kicked out of Twitter, and then being invited back.

(Tipsters, Big thank you for all your tips and photos. We pay up to Rs. 5000 for exclusive photos of the Indian IT, BPO and KPO Sector.  Do you have a story to tell? If you need to speak to us in confidence or write for us, email us at techgoss[at]hotmail. Or use the Anonymous Tip form at the top of our website. Anonymity guaranteed. We pay Rs. 1000 – Rs. 1250 for 100 – 200 word snippets in the form of Tips. Unfortunately, we cannot use any tips which are not backed up by enough facts)