Burson's efforts, on behalf of an unnamed client, also highlight the delicate balancing act Google, Microsoft, Facebook and Apple face as they rush to profit from cutting-edge Internet services that tap into consumer data. Burson even offered to help an influential blogger write a Google-bashing op-ed, which it promised it could place in outlets like The Washington Post, Politico, and The Huffington Post. The story gained wider attention when USA Today reported that two PR flacks from Burson—former CNBC tech reporter Jim Goldman, and John Mercurio, a former political reporter—had been pushing reporters at USA Today and other outlets to write stories and editorials claiming Google was violating people’s privacy with Social Circle. “After Goldman’s pitch proved largely untrue, he subsequently declined USA Today’s requests for comments,” the paper reported. Credit: AP Photo 
 
 At issue in this latest skirmish is a Google tool called Social Circle, which lets people with Gmail accounts see information not only about their friends but also about the friends of their friends, which Google calls “secondary connections.” Burson, in its pitch to journalists, claimed Social Circle was “designed to scrape private data and build deeply personal dossiers on millions of users—in a direct and flagrant violation of [Google's] agreement with the FTC.” 
 
 Also from Burson: “The American people must be made aware of the now immediate intrusions into their deeply personal lives Google is cataloging and broadcasting every minute of every day—without their permission.” 
 
 Chris Soghoian, a blogger Burson offered to help write an op-ed, says Burson was “making a mountain out of molehill,” and that Social Circle isn’t dangerous. Google, the search giant, views Facebook as a threat, and has been determined to fight back by launching a social-networking system of its own.
– One of the world's biggest PR firms pitched anti-Google stories to newspapers and bloggers in what appeared to be an attempt to smear the search giant. Who could have hired them: Apple? Microsoft? Turns out it was Facebook, as a spokesman for the company confirmed last night. The bizarre move escalates the war between the two companies, and makes Facebook—which previously seemed "so invincible"—look "clumsy" and "a little bit afraid," writes Dan Lyons in the Daily Beast. Facebook's main beef with Google appears to be Google's use of Facebook data in its own new social networking operation. Facebook hired Burson-Marsteller, which has worked with both Bill and Hillary Clinton in its 58-year history, to do the dirty work. Two Burson flacks, former reporters both, pushed negative stories about Google's foray into social networking to multiple outlets, claiming Social Circle, a tool that lets Gmail users see info about their friends and their friends' friends, violated privacy. USA Today looked into the privacy claims, wasn't convinced, and accused the PR firm of spreading a "whisper campaign." Lyons thinks Facebook's "pious handwringing" about privacy might be a "smokescreen. What really seems to be angering Facebook is that some of the stuff that pops up under 'secondary connections' in Google’s Social Circle is content pulled from Facebook," he writes, concluding that the whole incident is simply "embarrassing" for Mark Zuckerberg & Co. Click for his full piece.