There’s a new fad in town, and it’s called “Big Guys Pick On Little Guys”. Previously Microsoft played the game by threatening a 17-year old kid who had the website, MikeRoweSoft.com. Intel doesn’t want to miss out on the wonderful game, so they are going after an America’s Army fansite, IntelRecon.com. The PC game, America’s Army, is a popular online first-person shooter, and the word “intel” is a popular term used in the military, which is short for intelligence (something the Intel PR team lacks, apparently.)

Okay, being realistic here, these major companies feel that their brand is important, and people using their brand name in a context other than their image, will damage their company and cause a financial backlash. But do you honestly think Mikerowesoft.com and IntelRecon.com can hurt Microsoft’s and Intel’s image — major corporations with huge vertical markets and bottomless pocketbooks? Absolutely not.

What this is is a form of marketting/advertisement for these companies. Just the same with Janet Jackson, bad publicity is free publicity, and it rakes in the money because America loves bad publicity (see reality TV, Enron, Playboy, etc.) It’s pulling the strings of America, hoping to get a reaction, and it works everytime. Unfortunately, the victim here is the little guy – average people trying to get by everyday, learn things, following a dream, and so on. Do these large corporations care? Absolutely not. They only care about the bottomline – money.