CovOps
Location : Ether-Sphere Job/hobbies : Irrationality Exterminator Humor : Über Serious
| Subject: Statist Lowlife: When Attorneys General Attack Sun Aug 22, 2010 9:22 pm | |
| Earlier this year Topix CEO Chris Tolles got the call no one wants to get – that they were under investigation by a government entity. Two attorneys general, one of which was deep into his senate run, were leveling accusations of abuse at Topix. The company eventually settled with thirty three AGs, plus two U.S. territories. We asked Chris to tell us about his experience dealing with these people. Too often, we’ve found, the office of attorney general is used for little more than a way to advance one’s political career.
“Would you like to comment on the accusations being made about your site by the Attorney General?” Excuse me? What is it about the week after my birthday? Two years ago, Google launched a local news product the day after my birthday and this year, it was Cheryl Truman of the Lexington KY Herald-Leader calling me with this little gem.
Evidently, this is how a California company finds out that the Attorneys General of Kentucky and Connecticut have “significant concerns” about how your company does business. They have a press conference. When I told Cheryl I had no idea what she was talking about, she kindly forwarded me the press release from Jack Conway, the Attorney General of Kentucky.
Through this press release, which accused us of requiring payment to review abusive posts, I discovered that the Kentucky Attorney General had allegedly sent a letter asking me to provide information regarding our terms of service and policies around payment for expediting reviews. (The letter to which the press release referred was put in the US Mail and post marked five days after this incident.)
Topix is the largest local forum site in the US and deal with 3-4 million comments a month, and I was going to find out a little more than I bargained for with regard to the politics involved in focusing on local audiences.
Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Press Release,,,
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