By John Leyden, VNU Net
Oracle today admitted that it hired a detective agency to
investigate research groups it believed were funded by Microsoft
during its antitrust trial.
Investigative Group International (IGI) was hired by Oracle to
look into the actions of two research bodies – the Independence
Institute and the National Taxpayers Union (NTU). However, it is
believed that IGI behaved in a somewhat maverick way during its
investigations.
In a statement issued today, Oracle said it was trying to
uncover ties between the organisations and Microsoft during the
antitrust trial. “Oracle discovered that both [bodies] were
misrepresenting themselves as independent advocacy groups. In fact,
their work was funded by Microsoft for the express purpose of
influencing public opinion in favour of Microsoft during its
antitrust trial,” the statement said.
The move followed reports in the Wall Street Journal and the
Washington Post of financial links between Microsoft and the
groups.
The NTU released a study estimating that public pension funds
lost $38.6bn because of the decline in Microsoft’s stock.
Subsequent to this, the Wall Street Journal reported that the
organisation had received more than $200,000 from Microsoft.
“Left undisclosed, these Microsoft front groups could have
improperly influenced the outcome of one of the most important
cases in US history,” said the Oracle statement.
Oracle admitted hiring IGI after newspaper reports alleged
that the detective agency had tried to buy rubbish from cleaning
staff working at the Association for Competitive Technology
(ACT). Rubbish was not specified by Oracle as a target for
investigation, and the company declined to comment on alleged
reports that two cleaning women at ACT turned down an offer of
$1200 for the rubbish.
Oracle has distanced itself from these last allegations and
said that although it didn’t specify how the investigation
should be conducted, it had always insisted that the detectives
act within the law.
“When Oracle hired IGI to investigate Microsoft’s numerous front
organisations, we didn’t specify how IGI should go about gathering
information. We did, however, insist that whatever methods IGI
employed, those methods must be legal,” said Oracle.
A Microsoft spokesman declined to comment on the issue, or on
Microsoft’s relationship with the research groups.
IGI is well known in Washington for its political
investigations. It worked for President Bill Clinton investigating
his political accusers during the investigation by independent
counsel Kenneth Starr.