from Mother Jones magazine
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Compaq's Clout
Nov./Dec. 1998
If high-minded high-tech enthusiasts are to be believed, the Internet
is an unrestricted zone for the free exchange of information. But
Houston-based computer manufacturer Compaq-the world's No. 1 PC maker,
with $25 billion in revenue last year-doesn't appear to share that
vision. It recently used its clout as a major online advertiser (one
industry analyst estimates the company spends $5 million on online ads
each year) to quash criticism of its products.
In June CNET, an online publisher, quietly pulled a column by
technology writer Bronwyn Fryer from one of its sites just a few hours
after posting it. Fryer's column detailed a class-action lawsuit
against Compaq alleging it knowingly sold defective computers. Two
CNET sources tell Mother Jones that Compaq, which advertises with
CNET, quickly called to complain, after which editor Christopher Barr
pulled the column.
Fryer says Barr told her that he pulled the column because he
considered the story one-sided, but Fryer, who has also written for
Newsweek and the New York Times, disagrees.
"I was dismayed," she says. "I knew I had carefully checked [the
story]. I was simply reporting what the class action was." Barr denies
that Compaq called.
Fryer is not the only victim of Compaq's heavy hand on the Internet.
Charlotte, N.C., businessman Dale Johnson initiated the class-action
lawsuit in 1997 after, he says, his Compaq Presario didn't work as
advertised. When he criticized Compaq computers on an America Online
message board hosted by Compaq technical support, his posts were
deleted (as were his subsequent posts about the lawsuit).
"Compaq just did not want [Johnson] communicating with anyone," says
Jeffrey Sprung, the attorney handling the suit. "They put themselves
in the position of editors of a...public forum." Compaq declined to
comment.
In June, Compaq stopped moderating its AOL message boards. And Fryer's
column, substantially rewritten at her CNET editors' insistence, was
re-posted in August. The new version discussed in broad terms how
competitive pressures lead some PC manufacturers to rush products to
market without adequately testing them first. Where were the
class-action lawsuit and Compaq mentioned? In a few short paragraphs
at the end, under the heading "When All Else Fails." -Vikki Kratz
The MoJo Wire and MOTHER JONES are projects of the
Foundation for National Progress, a nonprofit 501(c)3 organization,
founded in 1975 to educate and empower people to work toward
progressive change. All Rights Reserved.
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