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Pastimes : Investment Chat Board Lawsuits -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: Jeffrey S. Mitchell who wrote (59)	8/25/1999 7:40:00 AM
From: TideGlider	Respond to of 12465

I am curious as to just how this will pan out. Exactly what does a company have a right to know about people that don't work for them. For instance, if a person was to engage is discussion regarding information he received about the company thru a 3rd party; whether that 3rd party is an employee of the company or another unattached party, how far would their discovery probe go? Would information on all people repeating such information be exposed to their discovery process? Surely if insider information is being leaked it is the concern of the company. However, is not the discovery vehicle provided via the civil suit going to eventually expose information of a great number of individuals that have no connection to the company? If indeed the information posted was insider information, it would most likely be accurate information. What would be the right of the company to seek the identity of people posting the truth? I understand the damage of false information and would understand the right of the company to pursue the identities and bring action against them, especially if they are employees. My question would be , what right does a company have to seek information of individuals that have posted facts and nothing false about the company. They may or may not be employees, but does the company or should the company have the right to the private information of any particular individual to determine if they are employed by said company? It would seem to me that would be the domain of the SEC and other regulatory agencies. The abuse of the discovery aspect of civil lawsuits should be carefully monitored. If a company suspecting leaks check (via discovery) 25 people and find one of their employees posting, that guy they have a case against. So they toss the info on the other 24 people and take another shotgun blast into the crown of cyber citizens to see if they know them? The potential for abuse is great. JMO TG

To: Jeffrey S. Mitchell who wrote (59)	8/26/1999 4:39:00 AM
From: EL KABONG!!!	Read Replies (3) \| Respond to of 12465

Jeff, This one sounds interesting, but I cannot find any published material about it. There are similar posts on Yahoo, but nothing factual or documented. There are no Varian press releases mentioning these alleged subpoenas, no Edgar filings that mention it, no mention of it in any of the California area newspapers, no mention of it at the Varian web site, and no mention of it on the SI Varian thread. I am presuming that these posts were made by the same person who posted similar remarks on Yahoo. With no documentation, my opinion is to take it with a grain of salt until more is known. At this point, I'm not even sure if Varian is a plaintiff or a defendant (or something betwixt and between). <gg> Subject 30315 Subject 30316 KJC