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Going undercover online
Comments posted to blogs are a reminder that what's on the Web is not always what it seems

By CHRIS CHURCHILL, Staff writer
First published in print: Sunday, November 15, 2009

TROY -- Last June, Troy's decision to offer tax breaks to the Dinosaur Bar-B-Que restaurant chain resulted in a heated debate on a Times Union blog, with many of the anonymous online comments supporting the city's position.
"Is this the same restaurant that won Best BBQ in America?" asked a person commenting under the name Dinolover. "If so, let's bring them here!"
Another post added: "I, for one, am totally fine with the responsible use of taxpayer money for getting a nationally-known business."

Those posts, and dozens more like them, suggested there was broad support for aiding the restaurant. But many of the favorable comments shared more than a point of view and love of barbecue.
They shared an Internet Protocol address.

That address is assigned to Troy City Hall.

Jeff Pirro, the spokesman for Troy Mayor Harry Tutunjian, is among those using that IP address. It's attached to a Times Union blog comment made under his name.

Pirro said he has never written anonymous comments on Times Union blogs, and notes that Troy government computers are behind a fire wall that results in shared IP addresses. He also said the Tutunjian administration does not try to influence online debates and doesn't even take them seriously.

"You read them but you take them with a grain of salt," Pirro said.

But the frequency of posts linked to City Hall -- more than 50 in recent months alone, on just the Times Union site -- suggests some in Troy government consider online media important enough to try to influence opinion there. And those posts are a reminder that what you read on the Web is not always what it seems.

"You need to be skeptical," said Andrea Baker, a University at Albany graduate student studying how political leaders use Schenectady's Virtual Community, an online forum.

"You can read it and get a sense of what's out there," she said. "You can't necessarily believe that it's true."

Read more: http://www.timesunion.com/AspStories/story.asp?storyID=865883&TextPage=1#ixzz0Wvs4XEL2

The fact that the TU knew this, and didn't report it BEFORE the city approved this money grab by Dinosaur is pathetic.  WHY do they wait months to bring this out?

It'd be interesting to see what IP's / usernames are the same in this forum too I bet.

I'm surprised that the Times Union who adminsters the blog would compromise the integrity of their own web site by revealing the source IP addresses of posters for the sole sake of scooping a story.

I would think that this will make posters to their web site who desire anonymity reluctant to participate in the exchange of ideas for fear that the user information will not be held in strict confidentiality.  It may ultimately lead to legal proceedings and/or the demise of the blog.  IMHO  

Is this the beginning of state control of the internet perhaps entwined with a federal bailout of the
newspaper industry?  Freedom of the press as guaranteed in the Bill of Rights is under assault as the government attempts to gain leverage against its opponents.

Their privacy policy appears to clearly give them the rights do do whatever they wish.  You have a choice to participate or not - but if you do, you agree to their privacy policy when you post/sign up ...

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D. Do we Share Personal Information and Web Site Usage Information with Others?

(i) Public Forums

When you contribute to a public area or feature of our Web Site, such as a chat room, bulletin board, list serve, blog, wiki or other open forum that we may make available on or through our Web Site, the information that you submit will be made available to the general public. For this reason, we recommend that you do not submit any sensitive information, including your full name, home address, phone number, other information that would enable other users to locate you or your financial information on these areas of our Web Site. Instead, make up a username that does not disclose your personal identity.

http://www.timesunion.com/help/privacy.asp

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the information that you submit will be made available to the general public

The Privacy Policy speaks primarily to the information (e.g., name, address, email address, etc.) that is provided to the Administrator to validate a user account and that may contain personal and private information.  

Should a poster to the blog expect that, by signing the agreement, that the owner/Administrator has the right to publish source IP addresses and the owner of the subnet?  Does this right extend to installing spyware and/or mining data and releasing it, if such information can be deemed?

Looks as though their Privacy Policy should better be termed a "Lack of Privacy" Policy.  
I believe that the integrity and reputation of the Times Union has been compromised by this story.

I never 'blogged' on the tu site....and you can be I never will now!

Quoted from 78

I'm surprised that the Times Union who adminsters the blog would compromise the integrity of their own web site by revealing the source IP addresses of posters for the sole sake of scooping a story.

I would think that this will make posters to their web site who desire anonymity reluctant to participate in the exchange of ideas for fear that the user information will not be held in strict confidentiality.  It may ultimately lead to legal proceedings and/or the demise of the blog.  IMHO  

Is this the beginning of state control of the internet perhaps entwined with a federal bailout of the
newspaper industry?  Freedom of the press as guaranteed in the Bill of Rights is under assault as the government attempts to gain leverage against its opponents.

I'm surprised too. It should be in strict confidentiality, especially since its a newspaper.

Quoted from bumblethru

I never 'blogged' on the tu site....and you can be I never will now!

I tried once. A nice post that I made on Philip Morris's blog. And they DELETED it. So screw them. He wants to be an a**hole? I'll help promote that.  

The Constitution folks......the constitution.......

the government DOES NOT OWN US.....