Think Tank Blog Quotes Internal Verizon Memo Without Attribution

THINK TANK BLOG QUOTES INTERNAL VERIZON MEMO WITHOUT ATTRIBUTION
[SOURCE: Ars Technica, AUTHOR: Nate Anderson]
[Commentary] Adam Thierer, the director of the Center for Digital Media Freedom at The Progress & Freedom Foundation (a free-market think tank) used verbatim and without attribution quotes from a Verizon memo circulated to company consultants, who are hitting the pavement to let Wall Street hear its side of the Net Neutrality story. Why would he do that? When you look at the PFF's list of supporters, a possible answer emerges. Sponsors include Verizon, AT&T, BellSouth, Comcast, Qwest, and the National Cable & Telecommunications Association. Verizon executives have attended several PFF conferences, and Common Cause claims that the group wants only to "advance the bottom line interests of their corporate sponsors on a variety of telecom and media issues." Whether that's true or not, this example nicely illustrates the web of relationships purchased by major industry groups in the hope of influencing public policy for their best interests. The goal is to make it look as though pressure on an issue is coming from many different directions (not just from the company's lobbyists), and the more "independent" a source appears, the better.
http://arstechnica.com/news.ars/post/20060509-6785.html