Is corporate 'Big Brother' watching your blog?

Wrote a rant against a company on your personal blog recently? Watch out - they might respond. That's what University of Washington student Brandon Dilbeck learned after he complained on his blog about Comcast's on-screen programming guide. Comcast's response - and Dilbeck's reaction - now leads a front-page story in today's New York Times. It happened back in June. Shortly after publishing his post panning Comcast's addition of advertising space on the guide, Dilbeck received an e-mail from Frank Eliason, a "digital care manager" at Comcast who's at the head of a trend seeing more companies monitor and respond to online conversation - even the small ones. Dilbeck, who told me he's seen a bit of a bump in blog comments since the Times article went up, was surprised. And a little creeped out. He had already filed a formal... [read full story]