Cyber sleuths

The web surveillance industry was born at the height of the bull market when chat room whispers were having a landslide effect on corporate reputation and stock price. In the late 1990s, there were many well-publicized incidents of sneaky netizens posting errant messages in chat rooms or sending out phony press releases in an effort to manipulate a company's stock. Remember Emulex? A fake press release about Emulex's CEO resigning and overstated earnings which was sent out over Internet Wire