It was reported on BoingBoing.net that Google has hired the DCI Group, a political lobbying and public relations firm notorious for being “lying, astroturfing, push-polling scumbags ” as described by BoingBoing.
DCI Group is known for contributing to anti-Democratic humor which sometimes crosses the line. For example, in August 2006, The Wall Street Journal discovered that the DCI Group created a video and posted it on YouTube for the purpose of ridiculing former Vice President, Al Gore for his take of global warming. The video on YouTube, entitled “Al Gore’s Penguin Army” parodies Al Gore’s documentary film, An Inconvenient Truth, which is the former Vice President’s contribution to raising awareness of the effects of global warming.
The Wall Street Journal reports that a professor of communications described the DCI Group video as “Propaganda 101” because it does not contain any factual data and it shows a highly negative image of the former Vice President. Although the DCI Group denied that they had created the video and claimed that the video was an amateur production of a 29-year old in Beverly Hills, the Wall Street Journal revealed that using computer routing information, the videos were connected to a “computer registered to DCI Group.”
Cory Doctorow of BoingBoing.net states “I think that I probably share more than 80 percent of Google’s legislative goals — goals like a neutral Internet.” Doctorow states. “But my biggest and most important legislative goal is an America where open democracy, and not lies, push-polls, and sleaze dominate the political process.”
For what purpose is DCI Group on Google’s payroll? Representatives of Google stated that DCI Group Vice President, Stuart Roy, is responsible for lobbying Google’s Print project. As you may be aware, the DCI Group has a solid influence in the political offices in Washington D.C.
DCI Group’s client list also includes major corporations: AT&T, Coca-Cola, Exxon Mobil, GM Corporation, Intel, Merck, McDonald’s, Microsoft, and Qualcomm. As time goes on, Pulse 2.0 will report what further news has come from DCI Group and Google’s partnership.
