Silicon Investor (SI) -- The First Internet Community

STOCKTALK

We've detected that you're using an ad content blocking browser plug-in or feature. Ads provide a critical source of revenue to the continued operation of Silicon Investor. We ask that you disable ad blocking while on Silicon Investor in the best interests of our community. If you are not using an ad blocker but are still receiving this message, make sure your browser's tracking protection is set to the 'standard' level.

Technology Stocks : COMS & the Ghost of USRX w/ other STUFF -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: Bill Ulrich who wrote (20936)	7/16/2000 1:05:51 PM
From: David E. Taylor	Respond to of 22053

Bill: These touchy analysts and their employers had better watch out. Individual investors may hire hit men. Now that the Mafia is making more off the market than through crime, there are probably some unemployed strong arms out there: By Brian Kelleher NEW YORK, July 14 (Reuters) - Wall Street analysts, who long toiled in anonymity as bean-counters, now are icons of the decade-long bull market and are receiving million-dollar bonuses, heaps of TV time -- and death threats. A Salomon Smith Barney analyst received a death threat after he lowered his rating on semiconductor companies on July 5, CNN's Moneyline program reported on Thursday night. The analyst who made the call on the sector, Jonathan Joseph -- who was not specifically named by the TV station -- was not immediately available for comment and the investment bank declined to comment. But a source within Salomon said "people are really upset," by what happened, without being more specific. San Francisco-based Joseph is not the only one. Dan Niles, an analyst at Lehman Brothers, said he has received death threats after downgrading hot tech stocks such as Dell Computer Corp. (NASDAQ:DELL) and Rambus Inc. (NASDAQ:RMBS) He said the threats began last February and include an instance where he was harassed at home. "I've got an unlisted phone number now," he said. All of this attention clearly indicates that, for better or for worse, analysts have become the featured performers on the increasingly visible U.S. stock market stage. "(Analysts) appear on TV or on Web casts to talk to the public, which obviously includes the individual investors," said Chuck Hill, director of research for First Call/Thomson Financial, which tracks the estimates of analysts. "Before, an analyst was more like a consultant to the institutional business." The reason behind the rise in analyst profiles is technology, Hill said, as research reports are readily available through outlets such as the Internet for anyone to peruse. Sometimes that technology puts the information in the wrong hands, resulting in frightening scenarios. Niles recalled one instance when an investor sent him an e-mail after he downgraded Dell, claiming the move wiped out his children's college fund money when the stock price fell. The e-mailer threatened Niles with bodily harm if the investor ever made it to the analyst's home town, San Francisco, Niles said. The threatening calls and messages are only after company share prices dip, Niles noted, as people are desperate to find a scapegoat for a poor investment decision. "If you want to blame somebody, you might as well blame the analyst," Niles said. "I've never gotten a threatening anything when the stock is going up." In some cases, it is an analyst's reputation -- rather than his or her life -- that is put in jeopardy. Investment firm Credit Suisse First Boston (ZSE:CSGZ.N) on Wednesday filed a lawsuit against 11 people, alleging the group posted bogus messages on a Yahoo! Inc. (NASDAQ:YHOO) message board. The suit charges the individuals with slandering a Credit Suisse analyst and illegally copying the analyst's research. The suit does not charge Yahoo with any wrongdoing and does not reveal the name of the analyst. A Credit Suisse spokesman declined to comment on the situation. The Yahoo finance message board, along with financial Web site RagingBull.com, was the backdrop of another hoax last week when U.S. Bancorp analyst Ashok Kumar was quoted falsely in a bogus story alleging 24 stock brokers had been arrested for securities fraud. "It's bizarre," Kumar told Reuters on July 7. "This is libel." The game has changed, said First Call's Hill, himself a former analyst. "I was a technology analyst for 20 years and nobody ever heard of me," he said with a laugh. Copyright 2000, Reuters News Service

To: Bill Ulrich who wrote (20936)	7/16/2000 2:34:26 PM
From: Scrapps	Read Replies (2) \| Respond to of 22053

They should go after anyone who is harassing or making death threats. Libel is not good either, but to be dis-ed goes with the territory...boo hoo...they shouldn't be so thin skinned. The false reports being posted only serve to screw over fellow investors and traders, however it sure sounds like most of the complaint is about free speech.

To: Bill Ulrich who wrote (20936)	7/18/2000 2:05:47 PM
From: Scrapps	Respond to of 22053

Feds may update wiretap law for e-mail The White House is urging changes in U.S. law to make it easier to eavesdrop on Internet communications and trace the transmission and receipt of Internet data nationwide. By Ted Bridis, WSJ Interactive Edition July 18, 2000 6:58 AM PT WASHINGTON -- The White House is urging changes in U.S. law to make it easier for authorities to eavesdrop on Internet communications such as e-mail, updating what the government described as wiretap laws written for an earlier era. The administration said that the changes would enhance legal privacy protections because they would require, for example, approval by senior Justice Department officials before the Federal Bureau of Investigation could use software surveillance, such as its "Carnivore" system. That approval already is required in cases where law enforcement wants to monitor telephone conversations. The changes require U.S. judges to suppress electronic evidence obtained by illegal wiretap; current law mandates suppression in such circumstances of only oral or written communications, not e-mail. The proposals were all made by the Justice Department in a March study that identified what the government said were deficiencies in enforcing laws against crimes on the Internet. The American Civil Liberties Union said the White House announcement was "deeply disappointing," because it did not include any promise to suspend use of Carnivore, which the group charged gives the government "unsupervised access to a nearly unlimited amount of communications traffic." Proposal 'makes sense' The Internet Alliance, a Washington trade group for Internet providers, said the White House proposals "make sense," but also warned that its member companies "should not be deputized," spokesman Jeff Richards said. The proposals were announced at the same time that the administration relaxed restrictions on the export of powerful encryption technology to the European Union and to Australia, Norway, the Czech Republic, Hungary, Poland, Japan, New Zealand and Switzerland. White House Chief of Staff John Podesta said the change, which will benefit some U.S. hardware and software firms, was not offered in exchange for the high-technology industry's support of the White House wiretap proposals. "We've never tried to link those two," he said. The White House also sought to give authorities undisputed access to the Internet traffic of roughly 2.2 million consumers using cable modems. And it proposed making it easier for police to obtain court orders to trace the transmission and receipt of Internet data nationwide without asking permission from a judge in every jurisdiction the data passes through. Another change would give judges greater latitude in denying those requests. But in extraordinary cases, such as an attack by hackers, the FBI could perform tracing, then obtain court approval as much as 48 hours later. Legal dispute A legal dispute continues between Internet providers and law enforcement. The nation's cable Internet providers have argued that they are not required under the U.S. Cable Act to turn over subscriber information without giving customers the opportunity to fight the disclosure in court. However, the Justice Department argues it is entitled to cable Internet data under the Electronic Communications Privacy Act without warning the customer in advance about its proposed surveillance. U.S. District Judge J. Young of Boston called the dispute "a thorny and important issue" in a case last year, in which he ordered an unidentified cable Internet provider to turn over the customer's records. Judge Young acknowledged that his decision should not be read too broadly, saying that it was "not the day to resolve such ephemeral puzzles." Podesta said the administration's proposals would continue to prohibit disclosure of which broadcasts a cable customer views on television. With only weeks left before Congress adjourns, the administration is asking Congress to approve its proposals, though Podesta predicted, "we can work to get them done this year." Variations of some proposals already are in competing bills in the Senate Judiciary Committee. zdnet.com