The SEC is taking stock online chat rooms serious, too.
Chairman Arthur Levitt told a crowd at a recent Investors Forum meeting in Davie that he would be appearing on CBS News' 60 Minutes to take on the notorious 14-year-old pump-and-dumper who allegedly defrauded online investors on a message board. The boy will also be appearing on the show taking the other side of the issue.
"I regard the Internet chat room as graffiti," Levitt said. "The stuff you hear there is outrageous."
But French regards online postings as free speech entitled to protection under Fourth Amendment privacy rights. He admitted the ruling in the Hvide case caught him by surprise. But what bothers him the most, he said, is that the plaintiff will know the identity before the merit of the suit was demonstrated.
"There's been no verdict or court finding ever made [in these cases] in favor of a plaintiff," he said. "The vast majority of these cases never go to trial because they are dropped by the plaintiff or a settlement is made, usually for the defendant."
E-mail corporations writer John T. Fakler at jfakler@ bizjournals.com.
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