October 11, 2006 at 17:35Sun Microsystems CEO Fights Blogosphere Rights
Jonathan Schwartz, the head of Sun Microsystems Corporation , is rightfully considered one of the most famous bloggers in the world. He maintains his own blog , which tells in detail about what is happening in and around the “sun”. Moreover, recently, his blog has become available not only for English-speaking readers, but also, for example, for Russians .
At the end of September, Jonathan sent a letter to Christopher Cox, chairman of the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission, asking him to contribute to changes in US law regarding corporate information publishing. The fact is that, according to the rule of equal access of investors to essential information about the company (Regulation Fair Disclosure or Reg FD), no one has the right to gain an advantage in obtaining new information about the state of affairs in a particular company, therefore they are all obliged to openly publish their financial indicators - or not to publish at all. However, the Internet - and in particular blogs - is not recognized as a sufficient means for the public dissemination of information.
Sun didn’t like the situation with Sun, so Jonathan Schwartz and Sun's General Counsel Michael Dillon prepared and sent a letter to Christopher Cox. He is also known to have a positive outlook on the Internet, so Sun has chosen the right recipient.
The arguments in favor of blogs as sources, including official information, are quite convincing. Especially for the USA, where a huge audience has constant access to the Internet. In contrast to press releases, which are now used to officially inform the media about company news and which are available only to a limited circle of journalists, a corporate blog is a more affordable means of disseminating information and, therefore, in fact jerially complies with the requirements of American law.
At the end of September, Jonathan sent a letter to Christopher Cox, chairman of the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission, asking him to contribute to changes in US law regarding corporate information publishing. The fact is that, according to the rule of equal access of investors to essential information about the company (Regulation Fair Disclosure or Reg FD), no one has the right to gain an advantage in obtaining new information about the state of affairs in a particular company, therefore they are all obliged to openly publish their financial indicators - or not to publish at all. However, the Internet - and in particular blogs - is not recognized as a sufficient means for the public dissemination of information.
Sun didn’t like the situation with Sun, so Jonathan Schwartz and Sun's General Counsel Michael Dillon prepared and sent a letter to Christopher Cox. He is also known to have a positive outlook on the Internet, so Sun has chosen the right recipient.
The arguments in favor of blogs as sources, including official information, are quite convincing. Especially for the USA, where a huge audience has constant access to the Internet. In contrast to press releases, which are now used to officially inform the media about company news and which are available only to a limited circle of journalists, a corporate blog is a more affordable means of disseminating information and, therefore, in fact jerially complies with the requirements of American law.