Handbook of Corporate Communication and Public ... - Blogs Unpad

Mojo Wire, 11 is the website which connects
the databases into a ‘Taking Stock in
Congress’ section where citizens can follow
the stock transactions and voting records of
‘83 members of Congress who purchased
or sold stocks near the time of Congressional
votes or other government actions
relevant to the stocks’ value’.
There have been some interesting revelations.
Senator Alfonse D’Amato (R-NY) bought up
public utilities stock just two days before
President Bush signed the National Energy
Conservation Act, which deregulated energy
transmissions, offering growth opportunities
for many utilities.
Newt Gingrich (R-GA) helped kill amendments
to cut funding for the space station
programme just three weeks after buying
stock in Boeing, which was subsequently
named the prime contractor for the station.
Protect your employees
Since February 1997, Bill Sheehan has
operated a website which contains four
general types of content: (1) Sheehan’s
grievances against government officials and
private parties, most of them credit reporting
agencies and debt collection services;
(2) strongly worded expressions of opinion
(e.g. referring to a corporation as ‘criminally
insane’, etc.); (3) allegations about corporations
and persons which were claimed
to be defamatory; (4) information about
employees of companies.
After Sheehan filed his lawsuit, he added to
the website information regarding defendants’
outside counsel.
The information about employees includes:
home addresses; street maps identifying
the locations of the addresses; home telephone
numbers; fax numbers; social security
numbers; photographs of automobiles
and their licence plates which appear to
have been taken in public; and photographs
of people which appear to have
been taken in public. Sheehan declares
that he obtained this information lawfully,
from such public information sources as
the Washington Secretary of State and
other internet sites. Sheehan’s website contains
no explicit encouragement for readers
to engage in any specific conduct, or to use
the information about employees or attorneys
in any specific way.
Iffy analysts commenting on your
share price
There are a host of scams. Professional
internet promoters, some with elaborate
briefing sites and any number of ways to
avoid regulators.
Masquerading as ‘Analysts’ they offer a
range of services. And look very appealing.
The content of www.financialWeb.com/
stockdetective is packed with scams and
promotion devices, names people and
companies and shows website URLs. It has
a marvellous page of alleged scams called
‘Stinky Stocks’.
Using your site for scam
Turner Phillips found a novel way to make
it appear as though it was a member of the
Investment Dealers Association of Canada,
three Canadian stock exchanges and the
NASDAQ Stock Market in the United States.
© 2004 Sandra Oliver for editorial matter and selection;
individual chapters, the contributors