Lots of folks commented on a big trial between Google and Oracle, and the judge has ordered both parties to disclose whether they paid bloggers, academics, and journalists to comment on the trial. Both parties filed initial orders complying, but the Judge found Google's dislcosure lacking, and ordered additional disclosures after clarifying his order. The initial order is here; Google's initial dislcosure is here; Oracle's is here.
My own thought is that this is sort of like sponsored science -- if Bob writes an article about X compound, and Y corporation is the main manufacturer of X compound, I want Bob to disclose that he got paid by Y corporation to write about it. With "soft" things like legal arguments, arguably it's even more necessary. Now, I suppose the concern the judge has is that blogs may be read by an appellate court and influenced by it? Is that the analog to the "buying public" in my science article analog?
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