INSIDE LEGAL BLOGS AND CHAT BOARDS INSIDE LEGAL BLOGS AND CHAT BOARDS SPONSORED BY JUDGED SPONSORED

BY JUDGED

1. 800. 973.1177

Inside Legal Blogs

[By Brooke Chappell] Your buzzword for this week, readers, is astroturfing. You know that fake too-bright green grass called AstroTurf? You know how spontaneous, non-corporate/government sponsored movements are referred to as grassroots? What do you call it when theres a formal public relations movement meant to simulate grassroots behavior?

You got it. One of the big linked-to posts this week was from Thomas Nephews news/ opinion site Newsrack Blog []. The article in question was titled Their voice. Amplified. or Why Im banning 5.200.70, and concerned a comment made on the blog which Nephew found suspicious, somehow, and eventually traced back to a company which bases its business on astroturf. In the figurative sense. Now, anyone who works in the corporate world or even has a vague idea how the corporate world works is aware that this kind of thing is par for the course. You werent expecting ad campaigns to be honest, were you? Manipulation-wise, the world of politics is several light-years behind the fashion industry. But the blogosphere, as a young and, yes, grassroots industry, has a way of regarding itself as somehow apart from all that, and advertisers and lobbyists stepping in on their turf (I need some new analogies) makes bloggers very, very cross. As witness:

Youll also have noticed that a lot of the blogs listed lean towards the left, so The Rendon Groups partial clients list for, say, the Middle

using illegal drugs. The Circuit Court ruled overruled a former district courts decision, saying that the message was essentially political, not drug-related, and should therefore be considered as free speech. Bob Loblaws catch phrase: Bong Hits 4 Bush. Thats the news for this week. Join me next

East is not met with hugs and puppies. The word scary appears with considerable frequency, as does some version of there oughta be a law.
But then, isnt the most cherished principle of the blogosphere that its, for the most part, a self-policed community? If there were a law, wouldnt that be infringing on free speech (on top of being well-nigh unenforceable)? Meanwhile, Richard Roeper of the Chicago Sun-Times takes a moment to snark about the value of the work done these days by both bloggers and traditional media. On a lighter note, legal bloggers have been having fun over the last week with Ken Starrs latest Supreme Court appeal. Who can blame them, when theyve got the phrase Bong Hits 4 Jesus to work with? It seems that a high schooler in Juneau, Alaska was suspended in 2002 for putting out a banner with those words at an Olympic torch relay off-campus. In March, the Ninth U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals ruled that this was a violation of free speech; as the case waits to be heard or passed over,

week for more unfocused ramblings about ultimately unverifiable information. Hey, the story has to reflect the source, doesnt it?

Making Light, Cybersoc.com, Deconsumption, Blantons and Ashtons, Sivacracy, Watch Me Sleep, Pandagon, Deconsumption again [], Dr. Peter Rost, and Making Light again. Among many, many others.
Youll notice that the smaller blogs seem to have cottoned on first, and the larger ones picked the story up from there; thats unsurprising as, the less traffic you have on your blog, the more likely you are examine your commentators closely. The bigger blogs have had the intervening time to track down the sources of a lot of the astroturf - two companies called NetVocates and The Rendon

Gawker observes, We love: That Kenneth

Starr took the case pro bono. We love: That the Supreme Court, whether they decide to hear the case or not, will have to read the words Bong Hits 4 Jesus. It only gets better when Decision of the Day connects the case with a Second Circuit case, Guiles v. Marineau, involving a students an anti-Bush t-shirt which showed the President

Group.

PAGE