Web Shorts

ExpertSource spills the beans on reporters
Reporters tend to guard their sources like territorial Doberman pinschers—one reason that a security lapse at a source-finding web site has journalists fuming. ExpertSource, a site that matches journalists with experts in particular subject areas, accidentally exposed to the public its databases of information requests. All kinds of sensitive data were laid bare, from story ideas to reporters’ phone numbers and email addresses. The information requests came from many publications, including Salon.com, MarketWatch.com and Inside.com. The data is supposed to be password-protected, but security specialists believe that ExpertSource carelessly left the private database vulnerable. BusinessWire, which runs ExpertSource jointly with the Round Table Group, closed the security breach on Tuesday. But some of the data was still available later that day on the search engine Google, which stores cached pages for as long as a month after they have been removed from servers. By Wednesday, the sensitive data had been purged from Google as well.

Howard Stern, web’s hottest radio personality
Who’s the fairest DJ of them all? Why, it’s talk-radio host and mass-media overachiever Howard Stern, according to the most recent edition of the Lycos 50. The dirty-minded DJ has been the most popular radio personality since the Lycos 50 started tracking, two years ago, the people, places and things that web surfers search for. The only time that Stern has fallen from his perch was during last year’s presidential elections, when right-wing talking head Rush Limbaugh pushed him aside and came in at No. 1, netting the highest Lycos 50 ranking ever for a radio personality. But Stern has since reclaimed his spot at the top. In the past two months, web users searched for Limbaugh just 30 percent as often as Stern. No. 3 radio host Art Bell received 24 percent as many searches as Stern. Dr. Laura Schlessinger is the fourth-most-popular radio host online, followed by Paul Harvey. Stern’s rival Don Imus came in at No. 8.

Back to tennis, Boris: Sportgate.com craters
Tennis pro Boris Becker’s dot.com has hit the clay. Sportgate.com, a Germany-based portal for amateur sports buffs, has been forced to declare bankruptcy. Becker launched the web site back in August. The tennis great invested heavily in Sportgate, but apparently not heavily enough, since the company has burned through all of its cash. Sportgate also had backing from several European venture capital groups, including Venturepark Incubator AG. Like many internet companies, Sportgate jettisoned its plans for a public stock offering after investor enthusiasm for internet companies began to dissipate. Becker is hardly the first retired top-flight athlete to try to cash in on the bygone dot.com craze. MVP.com, a sporting goods e-commerce site, had backing from hockey’s Wayne Gretzky, basketball’s Michael Jordan and football’s John Elway. MVP.com shut down late last year, but was resurrected last month by new owner CBS SportsLine.com.

Fraud charges sting Stan Lee Media
Stan Lee Media, the comic book site co-founded by the creator of the Incredible Hulk and the X-Men, may be bankrupt, but the troubles are just getting started for some of its principals. Company co-founder Peter Paul has been indicted for possibly orchestrating a $25 million stock manipulation conspiracy and artificially inflating the company’s value. Stan Lee, the comic book artist himself, has not been charged. Paul, together with Stan Lee Media executive vice president Stephen Gordon, stock promoter Charles Kusche and stock analyst Jeffrey Pittsburg, faces charges of security fraud. Pittsburg is accused of concocting bogus research reports to hype stock in Stan Lee Media. Meanwhile, Paul and Gordon allegedly borrowed millions of dollars from Merrill Lynch, using Stan Lee Media as collateral. They then sold their shares back to Merrill Lynch. Ultimately, this led to the stock price’s collapse; Merrill Lynch was left without collateral and investors were out $25 million.

EBay: No McVeigh memorabilia
Opportunists have been taking to web auctions in an effort to profit from memorabilia associated with Oklahoma City bomber Timothy McVeigh. But auction site eBay is having none of it. The site has been deleting all auctions for McVeigh mementos from its listings. EBay reports that it has seen an increase in McVeigh-related items in the days preceding and following his execution, which took place Monday. So far, would-be sellers have tried to auction off the bomber’s handwritten final statement, personal letters and the domain names McVeighbombing.com and McVeighexecution.com. Another seller wanted $1,000 for a baseball cap worn by a federal prison guard who supervised McVeigh. EBay’s actions are part of a larger policy it recently adopted banning the sale of items tied to homicides and infamous criminals. EBay officials say that the company deletes McVeigh-associated listings as they learn of them, often through complaints.

Printer-Friendly Version | Send to a Friend
Cover Page | Contact Us