Both cable and phone companies hire outside lobbying firms to make up completely bogus consumer groups to support their political positions. But they also frequently donate cash to minority, disability and other advocacy organizations in exchange for vocal political support for policies that, more often than not, aren't in constituents' best interest. The combined tactics make it appear to lawmakers and an uncritical press as if anti-consumer positions have broad consumer support.

Groups like the National Association for the Deaf and the NAACP regurgitate the political positions of their baby bell donors, and even FCC boss Kevin Martin complained how minority groups were used as political tools to fight his quest for a-la-carte TV pricing (though you'll notice he'd ignored similar tactics by phone carriers). To the consumer it appears that civil rights groups just really hate network neutrality.

The latest attempt at sock-puppetry, according to CNET, is the cable industry's use of corn farmers to attack Google, whose positions on network neutrality and white space broadband, as well as their ad stranglehold, have angered the cable industry. Metadata contained in a letter professing to be from the American Corn Growers Association was actually written by the LawMedia group, a secretive lobbying firm employed by the cable industry.

Cable denies they're involved in any such campaign, though I've yet to see any phone or cable company publicly admit to using these kinds of political tactics. Cable isn't alone in its efforts to send its sock puppet groups after Google. The lobbying and PR firms employed by AT&T and Verizon have also made Google public enemy number one.

The result of these attacks, of course, will be Google's inevitable use of similar tactics, though they'll be up against a formidable opponent. The phone and cable industry has perfected their PR and lobbying game to the point where they're able to use the once-objective Department of Justice as a PR agent. The loser in the end will be the consumer, who won't be able to find the telecom truth amidst all the public relations and lobbyist smoke.