Updated on February 27, 2010 at 10:20 AM: Tim Karr has demanded a retraction with claims that he fact checked his piece.  Upon further review of his claims, and having offered Tim $1,000 for proof of my “deep ties” to Arts & Labs, I have decided to change the title of the post to indicate he was “98% Fact Free”. He did, after all, spell my name correctly.

Updated on February 26, 2010 at 6:46 PM: I had suspected this, but did not know it at the time of the original writing. I have now confirmed that Bret Swanson is also an unpaid contributor at Digital Society, and is also not paid by Arts & Labs – who has contributed to Digital Society.  So the descriptions of both Bret and I offered by Tim Karr are completely inaccurate.

I’d like to respond to Tim Karr’s attempt at character assassination published this morning on the Huffington Post. While he tried very hard to make this sound like it was officially sanctioned by the Huffington Post, I suspect it wasn’t. It’s important to note that I don’t hold HuffPo responsible for Tim’s misrepresentations.

I am glad Tim has continued in the fine Free Press tradition of never letting the facts get in the way of good hyperbole. So let me address this ridiculous screed one piece at a time.

First, Tim states that Huffington Post has “opened its platform for public debate on issues”, but in the very same breath says that anyone who disagrees with his position has “invaded” the site and is “attacking the open Internet and disparaging reform efforts by groups like ours.”

So which is it, Tim? Do you want to engage in a debate, sponsored as you note by the platform Huffington Post provides, or do you want to have a vehicle for your organization to spew its talking points unchallenged?

Since Digital Society has challenged Tim’s organization to a debate on these issues, and offered an opportunity to support their positions in the public arena, and they have so far declined, I can only assume it’s the latter.

Second, Tim is regurgitating the “they’re paid industry shills” line, as he did recently with Larry Downes, but with evidence that is equally faulty. He has even gone so far as to suggest that I was involved in Comcast’s operations.

Contrary to his claims, I have never been employed by Comcast. Further, I fully disclose my past association with NCTA when I post at the Huffington Post. I fully disclose my association with NCTA on my company’s website as well. I do not yet have that disclosure on Digital Society primarily because I needed to get a headshot to our webmaster to accompany my bio.  It should be up shortly, and will also note my past position with NCTA.

That position, by the way, consisted of helping the industry organize its employees on policy issues. Some may tell me that employees speaking out only count if union officials are doing the organizing, but I disagree.

The fact is, you don’t have to look hard to find evidence of my past position at the cable industry.

You know what you do have to look really hard to find? Any evidence at all of who funds Free Press. As near as I can reconcile, they have about 40 people on staff. That must put their bill for staff alone at about 2 million dollars or more per year. Yet the only time I have seen a public effort to raise funds, it dragged on for months and they were unable to reach a matching goal of less than one hundred thousand dollars.

So where is their money coming from?

As I have told Tim before when he challenged my posts at Digital Society, my work for this organization is unpaid. I serve on the board of directors, but receive no compensation for doing so. Digital Society has provided me with a platform to engage in debate of telecom issues (as has Huffington Post) and I have accepted. I am not paid by anyone for the positions I take and receive no compensation for my writing.

Digital Society, for its part, has disclosed that it is funded by contributions from Jon Henke and Arts & Labs. Arts & Labs has been fully transparent about being a coalition of business groups. So any misconception Tim has about the source of funding should be cleared up by simply reading the “About Us” page of both organizations.

As a result of his unwillingness to do this basic research, Karr makes these allegations of “shills” who are hiding their affiliations. They make him look ridiculous.

Tim is someone who claims passing familiarity with the Internet. Let me suggest that he try something called a “search engine.” They are wonderful devices that let you find a great deal of information. Unless, that is, you are looking for the source of funding for Free Press.

On another note, I’d like to reiterate the challenge to engage Tim in a debate. I’d be happy to facilitate an in-person debate, or perhaps we could set up a four way ooVoo discussion with his policy people and engineers and Digital Society’s engineering and policy people.

I’d also like to offer Tim a vocabulary lesson. Astroturf, despite its wide misuse by his group and others, is not the act of simply being paid by a corporation for doing PR work. Astroturf is the practice of suggesting a large grassroots effort absent real numbers – thus “fake grass.”

I, and many others who speak out on policy matters but do not claim to speak for anyone but ourselves, would appreciate it if Tim and his group would use the proper vernacular when they attempt to smear our character.