This recent article in the Orlando Times [link broken] is indicative of a concerning view of the WOM marketing industry. It actually sounds more like The Invasion of the Bodysnatchers - the 50's horror classic where a local community gets infiltrated by alien duplicates. BzzAgent is again the press whipping boy - perhaps unsurprisingly given the company's current newsworthiness following the substantial VC injection.

From what I can see, BzzAgent have worked really hard to open up their business to the world and  have issued a code of ethics to help police the conduct of its agents who are required to be honest and open with their opinions. I guess it doesn't help that the word 'agent' is so loaded but that's another argument - and certainly no justification for this mass conspiracy rhetoric. 

Having read the article, and knowing how all industry voices are pulling so hard for ethical standards, I think I know where the real obfuscation lies.

For more on word of mouth ethics see the WOMMA site or read the 1000heads take here.