Shawn Hogan, the operator of the DigitalPoint forums, tools & services has used his SEO knowledge and tactics to construct a site that operates solely as a reflexive act of antagonism against a law firm that unlawfully sued him (without his knowledge) and took $7,000 from a bank account of his.
The law firm, Winn & Sims, appears to be the worst kind of legal institution – one whose corruption extends far into the reaches of bad business & financial ethics. I wish Shawn well on his endeavor, he has certainly contributed a great amount to the community – but, nothing, perhaps, is more interesting than his initiation of this virtual guerilla warfare tactic against a company by way of the Internet. The web has truly taken away the consolidation of power that was once held by firms like Winn & Sims and placed it into the hands of the people they influence.
I have heard of other cases similiar to this… For example, a search for Lincoln Towing of Seattle reveals a very unhappy client who is airing her dirty laundry publicly. Lincoln Towing can’t be happy about their rankings either, which as of the current time are squarely ahead of any of the company’s own sites. I’m not even sure she was attempting to out-rank them, but on the web… these things can happen. The rule here is, don’t upset the bloggers, they have “eery powers”.
