I always figured that elaborate conspiracies by the govt/corporations were unlikely and figments of Hollywood. Sad that my wonderful sense of naiveté was crushed....Considering the whole incident came out by complete accident (the idiot Barr poking the Bear), this naturally leads to the questions about how widespread such ludicrous strategies really are...
I work for a major F500 Company. We wouldn’t get anywhere close to tactics like that. We bend over backwards to protect our good name, so far as to give our competitors too good a position so we don’t look “unfair”.