Scott Cleland

Scott Cleland is the founder and president of Precursor, LLC, a research and consulting firm, specializing in the techcommunications sector, whose mission is to "help companies anticipate change for competitive advantage."

An ardent advocate for an unregulated Internet, Cleland is also Chairman of NetCompetition.org, a wholly-owned subsidiary of Precursor LLC and an e-forum on Network neutrality.

Corporate backing and "payola punditry" charges
NetCompetition.org and Precursor are funded by a wide range of broadband telecom, cable and wireless companies, including:
 * AT&T
 * Comcast
 * Sprint
 * Verizon Wireless
 * Qwest
 * American Cable Association
 * National Cable and Communications Association

In 2009, Cleland "also signed on as a hired gun for Microsoft," reported National Journal. Some have questioned whether Cleland's being "a frequent critic of Google" is encouraged by his corporate backers.

In 2008, Cleland released a controversial report "alleging that Google 'is by far the largest user of Internet bandwidth,' the company's share of bandwidth usage is rising rapidly, and its bandwidth use 'is orders of magnitude greater than its payment for its cost.'" Not surprisingly, Google disputed the report, but independent voices like Free Press' Tim Karr also faulted what he called Cleland's "payola punditry."

Background
Scott Cleland served President George H.W. Bush as a Deputy Assistant Secretary of State for telecom trade matters, and served as a Senior Policy Advisor for Legislative Affairs to then Secretary of State James A. Baker III. In addition, he has served as Director of Legislative Affairs for the U.S. Department of the Treasury and as a Budget Examiner for OMB in the U.S. Executive Office of the President.

Cleland has a Masters of Public Affairs from the LBJ School of Public Affairs at the University of Texas at Austin and a BA in Political Science from Kalamazoo College.

Cleland is currently a Member of the United States Department of State, Advisory Committee on International Communications and Information Policy.

Related SourceWatch articles

 * Pundit payola

External articles
http://www.precursor.com/documents/SmartMoney_Reprint_071906B.pdf

Precursor specialized in uncovering long-term industry trends. They shunned price targets and earnings models and the other trappings of the standard Wall Street research firm. And that’s what made Precursor such a good resource: Freed of the tyranny of quarterly earnings estimates, they were able to actually sit back and think. And then they’d write concise,fact-packed research notes, generally no more than a single page in length.