Investing on Information We Get Here

[tcmay@got.net (Timothy C. May)]

At 1:35 PM 9/19/95, Duncan Frissell wrote:
>At 11:00 PM 9/18/95 -0400, John Young wrote:
>>   The New York Times, September 19, 1995, pp. A1, D21.
>>
>>
>>   Security Flaw Is Discovered In Software Used in Shopping
>>
>>   By John Markoff
>
>On the Front Page, *above* the fold.  Perhaps John was trying to make up for
>being scooped by the WSJ on the SSL Crack story.

Also front page, above the fold, for the "San Jose Mercury News," the
newspaper of record of the Silicon Valley.

And CNBC is reporting the story on its hourly updates of the news.

(These computer lists are really great for investors! I heard about the
Apple problems a few days before they hit the street, and was able to
unload a bunch of shares at $45, a day before it dropped, now down to
around $36. "He who hesitates to act on inside information is lost.")

P.S. On Netscape, I've finally decided to do some buying. Sure, this latest
flaw is another embarrassment. But more deals and link-ups than ever are
being inked, and they've got the resources to really spruce up Navigator
and related products. I just don't see too many competitors on the horizon.

Actually, I was planning to buy some Netscape stock, now that the IPO froth
has settled. And since I have this info on the flaw, I _have_ to buy it,
else be guilty of "insider non-trading." As Stew Brownstein, a friend of
mine, has noted, if insider trading rules are interpreted logically, then
_failure_ to make a planned trade on the basis of insider information is
just as illegal as deciding to make some trade on the basis of insider
information. The SEC should require all insiders to file a daily report,
preferably before the market opens in NY, listing all of their planned
transactions for that day, so that violations of the "insider non-trading"
laws can be detected and prosecuted.

(Yes, I know that I am not an "insider" by SEC definitions. Poetic license.)

--Tim May

---------:---------:---------:---------:---------:---------:---------:----
Timothy C. May              | Crypto Anarchy: encryption, digital money,
tcmay@got.net  408-728-0152 | anonymous networks, digital pseudonyms, zero
Corralitos, CA              | knowledge, reputations, information markets,
Higher Power: 2^756839      | black markets, collapse of governments.
"National borders are just speed bumps on the information superhighway."