User:Knowledgebattle/interesting

ECT News Network, NewsFactor, and CIO Today ... sockpuppeting news

Richard Kern (over the popular "LinuxInsider") seems to own and run several "news" networks, modeled after each other, and rehashing the same stories. An echo chamber of the same news stories. Purpose: generate extra revenue? LinuxInsider (and friends) seem to just be a bunch of blogs that just picked a nice-looking layout, trying to pass themselves off as legit "news".

Claimed locations

ECT News Network is allegedly headquartered: 16133 Ventura Blvd, Suite 700, Encino, CA 91436 USA – That's a bank.

NewsFactor is allegedly headquartered: 9858 Clint Moore Rd, C111-240, Boca Raton, FL 33496 USA – That's a fitness center.

NewsFactor's "article reprints" does not state location, but has an identical page to CIO Today.

CIO Today is allegedly headquartered: 9858 Clint Moore Rd, C111-240 Boca Raton, FL 33496 USA – Same location as NewsFactor, the fitness center.

CIO Today's "article reprints" is located at: 23679 Calabasas Rd. #805, Calabasas, CA 91302

ECT News Network

(ectnews.com – registered in California, to Richard Kern – list of Kern's ECT sites)

CRM Buyer (crmbuyer.com)
E-commerce Times (ecommercetimes.com)
LinuxInsider (linuxinsider.com)
TechNewsWorld (technewsworld.com, macnewsworld.com)

NewsFactor

(newsfactor.com – registered in Canada, private registration – Alexa shows the link to NewsFactor)

CRM Daily (www.crmdaily.com, www.crm-daily.com)
Enterprise Security Today (www.enterprise-security-today.com)
Sci-Tech Today (www.sci-tech-today.com)
FreeNewsFeed (www.freenewsfeed.com)

CIO Today

(cio-today.com, ciotoday.com – registered in Canada, private registration – bottom of the page says "in partnership with NewsFactor" – which is also shown to be the same as ECT News)

Data Storage Today (www.data-storage-today.com)
Mobile Tech Insider (www.mobiletechtoday.com)
TopTechNews (www.toptechnews.com)

Links

The links between ECT News Network and NewsFactor:

http://www.ecommercetimes.com/story/17963.html – end of the article: "Audiogalaxy representatives failed to respond to NewsFactor's query prior to publication." ... but this is supposed to be ECT News?? So why call yourselves NewsFactor?

ECT News Network reporting on CIO Today (their other network):

http://www.technewsworld.com/story/71552.html – "Mac Rumors, The Next Web, Electronista, Venturebeat, NPR, Forbes, CNET, Los Angeles Times, CIO-Today, Afterdawn.com."

Also compare

the "About" pages' wording, between ECT News Network (see: Overview) and NewsFactor (see: Online Publications and Coverage) and CIO Today (see: Editorial Mission and Coverage)
the pages are the same, slightly reworded to prevent direct association or jogging memories
the websites' almost identical modus operandi
their almost identical stories (or identical, especially between CIO and NewsFactor)

Main points to take away

At ECT News, in that "Audiogalaxy representatives" article, they accidentally refers to themselves as "NewsFactor".^Ref
Alexa shows, under "Other sites owned", that ECT also owns NewsFactor. ^Ref
Over at NewsFactor and CIO Today, they have identical articles, but only CIO Today says they're "partners" (at the bottom).
All roads lead back to California, even when going through Canada and Florida.

Given their mistaken leaks throughout, it seems that they are all owned by the same person (Richard Kern), or at least the same people (ECT News Network, as a whole).