Astroturfing is nothing new, but seldom if ever are high profile organisation caught red handed. That all changed a couple of days ago when blogger Arlen Parsa documented undeniable proof that Belkin, a company that manufactures a variety of computer hardware peripherals, has been paying people to give positive reviews with a 100% rating on Belkin products listed on Amazon.com - even if they don't own or have never used the product they are reviewing.

It appears one Belkin rep (Mike Baynard) in particular is responsible for, and was targeting one of his company's products that specifically got consistent bad reviews. Naughty.

Parsa has contacted Belkin asking if this sort of thing is in Belkins' policy but thus far has not received anything.

Adding to the conspiracy (although at this stage it's more fact than conspiracy) Amazon deleted the most recent reviews after this story broke.

It goes without saying that his is very slimy practice on Belkins' part. Like many others I rely to some degree on the reviews posted by people who I like to think have given an honest review. And there is the expectation that the person has actually used the product I am considering to purchase.

I'm willing to postpone my judgement as there is always the chance that Baynard may have acted without the companies consent, though I can not see how Belkin can publicly admit they knew or condoned this practice. Belkin will need a fall guy, and whether Baynard acted alone or nor it wouldn't surprise me if he ends up being it.