Fake Grass Episode Six

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This exciting episode looks at what areas of the law astroturfing may be illegal under, exposing great deficiencies in our judicial system to deal with this act of online fraud. Particularly in the event of positive-opinion-creation astrotrufing.

There have been many difficulties punishing online crimes globally, particularly when citizens are geographically diverse. While there is a greater need for regulation in regard to astroturfing, it would prove very hard to prosecute/prove a case where the action in question is designed to look like regular internet content. There is no obvious smoking gun, just words.

This episode will be my last investigation of astroturfing, with my final videoblog reflecting on these past few weeks.

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Media, Images and People used in Episode Six:

Websites:

ACCC. (2006) [online] Retrieved 20 October 2006: http://www.accc.gov.au/content/index.phtml/itemId/142.

American Airlines. (2006) [online] Retrieved 20 October 2006: http://www.aa.com.

Australian Communications and Media Authority. (2006) Retrieved 20 October 2006: http://www.dcita.gov.au/Article/0,,0_7-2_4011-4_118741,00.html.

Chartered Institute of Public Relations. (2006) [online] Retrieved 20 October 2006: http://www.ipr.org.uk.

Microsoft. (2006) [online] Retrieved 20 October 2006: http://www.microsoft.com.

Walmart. (2006) [online]. Retrieved 20 October 2006: http://www.walmart.com.

Young PR (2006) ‘Join the Astroturfing Campaign.’ [online] Retrieved 20 October 2006: http://youngie.prblogs.org/2006/07/16/join-the-anti-astroturfing-campaig....

Images:

American Cash Image. (2006) [online] Retrieved 20 October 2006: http://www.ibrium.se/desktop_picts/jpg/Cash(1280x960).jpg

Interview:

Trevor Cook. (2006) ‘Hack.’ (radio broadcast), Triple J [online] Retrieved 20 August 2006: www.abc.net.au/triplej/hack/podcast.

Music:

Ring tone from Optus Zoo: www.optuszoo.com.au.

Drum beat from GarageBand.

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