The Adverse Effects of Corporate Bullying

As some commentators have pointed out, I got burned on the MPAA post below. I missed the obvious clues indicating that the site was a fake news site. But the larger point I wanted to make--and that this parody was obviously making--was that corporate bullying may not be a good business practice.

Here's another example (a legitimate one, too) of this happening.

Lawyers for the plush children's icon [Barney the Purple Dinosaur) have agreed to pay $5,000 to settle a federal lawsuit filed against them in August by the Electronic Frontier Foundation, which was defending an anti-Barney Web site called the "Source of All Evil."

The settlement, announced on Tuesday, caps a five-year campaign by the New York firm of Gibney, Anthony and Flaherty to rid the Internet of unflattering images of its plump saurian client.

Parody is a protected form of free speech.

The $5,000 payment is weak, but expect to see more Barney targets in the future.