Sun Micro vs SEC in blogosphere

If you ever doubt the future of corporate blogging (CapGemini joined Technorati on March 8th, for example), just have a look here at the to-and-fro of the ongoing dialogue between Sun Microsystem’s CEO, Jonathan Schwartz, and Chris Cox, the Chairman of the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission.

This topic is made that much more interesting as the SEC Chairman actually engaged in a dialogue (sort of) about Reg FD and blogging on the Sun website comment space. Now that’s a modern day regulator!

In the world of fair and broad disclosure, it isn’t a surprise that a corporate CEO is trying to ensure that whatever he/she writes on a corporate blog counts as having passed the test of “broad dissemination”. Why is it, you might ask, that a press release on CNW (and posted on a website) is officially sanctioned, but the same information in a corporate blog (and posted on a website) isn’t?

If the playing field for access is level, I think the blog should count. Putting up a link to a web feed for a CEO’s speech at a conference counts, even if new juice is being shared with institutional investors; as long as the web broadcast is available everyone is safe. I’ve always wondered how fair a press release system is, when retail investors don’t have a Bloomberg machine at home/work, and can’t possibly stay on top on any corporate release in any event.

In many ways, RSS feeds are more available and accessible to individual investors while the market is open than a press release is.

Let’s hope that the SEC gives the idea the green light, and the folks up here follow suit.

MRM