In an era where compettion is supposed to drive business and innovation, it seems that it really has become the reason for lawyers to remain in business. The most recent example of this is the Facebook vs. Google PR Campaign.
Last week the PR giant Burson-Marsteller began a campaign to enlighten everyone about Facebook’s concerns of Google’s actions. This campaign went as far as to blast media outlets with emails who’s subject read “Google quietly launches sweeping violation of user privacy!”
According to the public record of an email exchange between BM and Christopher Soghoian (a globally known blogger) ” Google, as you know, has a well-known history of infringing on the privacy rights of America’s Internet users.” was the major push behind the campaign.
Now down to the “theory” behind the whisper campaign. From what I can see, it is that Facebook is simply scared. They are afraid that access to the data that they use, by google, will remove some of their edge. This edge is simply the Marketing aspect of Facebook. This truly is the only money-making aspect that Facebook has going for them. If Google were able to mine the data related to people, and connections their marketing (AdSense) would spike. They would be able to focus users towards ads related to their friends, their search results, and their overall perspective of the world.
Now while this is a great concept, and the appropriate direction for Google to address (as most teen to 20 year olds spend more than 6 hours per day on social media sites like Facebook) it is a tricky place to break into. You must respect user rights, access issues, and overall perception.
You can read more about the story on CNN