from Mother Jones magazine

   _
   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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