Complaint Review: QuiBids.com

QuiBids.com has hired Matthew A. Carney to edit its Wikipedia article. Carney has not declared that he has a conflict of interest anywhere in his edit summaries, the article's talk page, or his own user page (though I've pointed it out myself). I found out about his conflict of interest when checking out his personal web pages where he boasts about doing work for QuiBids.com. I have asked him to declare his conflict, and I have recommended to him that he follow Wikipedia's standards regarding such edits, but he has refused to do so or even reply to my recommendations.

Is this behavior ethical, clearly not. Is this legal? Well... in Germany a judge ruled for the EU that companies can not edit their own Wikipedia articles (or their client's articles) because it violates the EU's rules against openness in advertising. That is, consumers have the right to know when they are receiving information from a company and a right to not be deceived about the information's source. So no, in Europe this would not be legal. However, U.S. laws haven't caught up. 

Even so, all the major PR societies in the U.S. have made it policy that their members not engage in this sort of underhanded marketing as it brings disrepute on their profession.

Should I be reporting this unethical behavior here? Yes. This website isn't limited to simple reports on illegal behavior - but to alert consumers about "ripoffs", and I think this unethical behavior is a blatant ripoff and speaks volumes about QuiBid's unethical business practices.