After Columnist with The Daily Beast Dan Lyons claimed Facebook hired a team of PR professionals to spread rumors about problems privacy against Google, Burson-Marsteller has issued an official note confirming that he was contracted to provide services to Facebook in the United States.
The client was told that his name would remain in secrecy on the grounds that he was hired BM to shed light on public domain information and that such information could easily be replicated by independent media. All information provided to the media were effectively in the public domain and could therefore generate relevant questions and be verified by independent sources, "the statement said the company, one of the largest PR firms in the world.
In the complaint made to The Daily Beast, the Facebook spokeswoman said he had hired Burson because Facebook really believe that Google does actions that cast doubt on the concerns of the Mountain View company sbore and privacy because Facebook is still feeling the the fact that Google tried to use data from social network users into Google's own services. The Brazilian subsidiary of Burson-Marsteller said in a statement after the complaint that "this is not an accepted procedure and should have been refused.
The blogger Christopher Soghoian, an advocate of online privacy and Google critic, received an email from Burston-Marsteller stimulating to write about the Google Social Circles. The blogger, however, said the service did not violate the privacy of users and published the email exchange with the firm of Public Relations. In emails exchanged, the representative of Burston says Soghoian that Google Social Circles "is intended to collect private data and build dossiers on millions of users deep - in a direct and flagrant violation" of the Google agreement with the Federal Trade Commission U.S.. According to The New York Times, Soghoian said he would "raise the issue of privacy, they (Facebook) need to hide behind public relations professionals." "Google is an important criminal privacy. But on this particular issue," he said.
Now that Facebook went public, Burson-Marsteller is authorized to confirm that it was contracted to provide services to that company in the United States.
The client asked that his name would remain in secrecy on the grounds that he was hired BM to shed light on public domain information and that such information could easily be replicated by independent media. All information provided to the media were indeed in the public domain and could therefore generate relevant questions and be verified by independent sources.
Despite the explanation, this is not an accepted procedure in Burson-Marsteller and against our policies. Should, therefore, have been refused. Our relationship with the media is guided by strict standards of transparency with regard to customers, and this incident underscores the undeniable importance of this principle.
