OK, here’s the deal. A big corporate PR firm, Burson-Marsteller, tried to entice USA Today to lambaste a Google feature called Social Circle, on privacy grounds. It also encouraged a security blogger to write an op-ed attacking Google on the product. Burson would not say the name of its client. But instead of taking the bait, USA Today did due diligence and consulted experts who said that Social Circle was small potatoes compared to more pressing privacy stories. Instead it published a story about the Burston “whisper campaign” against Google on behalf of a secret client.

Meanwhile...

Google is reportedly set to hand over half a billion dollars to the feds to settle a criminal investigation into the search giant profiting from rogue pharmacy ads, according to the Wall Street Journal.

Google revealed a hint of the settlement earlier this week in a filing to the SEC that said it was setting aside $500 million for a government settlement, but didn’t specify why.

According to the WSJ’s Thursday report, the FDA and Rhode Island’s attorney general have been looking into whether Google profited illegally from ads placed by non-U.S. pharmacies. Google and other search sites blocked m...