I'd like to know whether the "is big brother listening" came from the subject of this story, or whether is was suggested by the reporter. I have my suspicions simply due to the general hostility many news outlets show towards the whole two way communication thing. After complaining about Comcast service on his blog - and then getting contacted by Comcast with some tips - he said this:

"Nobody has left a comment in months." But he said he found the email to be a little creepy. "The rest of his e-mail may as well have read, "Big Brother is watching you, "

Umm, no - someone is using RSS searches to scan for corporate mentions (a generally smart idea). I do the same thing, watching for mentions of Cincom, Smalltalk, VisualWorks, and ObjectStudio (and the requisite ego searches as well :) )

The web now allows for two way communication - if someone posts a complaint about your product or service, you should notice and at least consider a response. Heck, it's not like a blog post is the equivalent of a living room conversation - it's public speaking.

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