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Yesterday, Bristol-Myers Squibb joined the sweaty crowd under the SEC's microscope, and investors punched the drugmaker's stock down to a six-year low.

But to which interested parties could the SEC probe have been a surprise? Bristol-Myers has been a magnet for regulatory scrutiny this year. Remember, this is the company that paid $2 billion to partner up with would-be cancer curer ImClone, only to see that company's drug rejected by the FDA and its CEO arrested for insider trading. In this case, what caught the SEC's eye was the ramifications of some overzealous pill-pushing. In the final quarter of last year, Bristol-Myers enticed wholesalers into buying up huge quantities of certain medicines. That produced a juicy boost in profits. Problem is, the company neglected to point out to shareholders that the sales were atypical and sure to create a glut. This story was well-reported in April, when the company owned up to the excess inventory. So, the only news yesterday was that the SEC would be taking a peek into the matter. What made the news more interesting was that the SEC had been peeking since April, a fact that Bristol-Myers had been trying to keep hush. A report in the Financial Times forced the company into confirming the inquiry.

Just to make the drugmaker's day worse, a U.S. Senate panel greenlighted legislation that would make it easier for the makers of generic drugs to bring their products to market, the Wall Street Journal reported. Generic competition has grabbed the market for Bristol-Myers' key products.

For Bristol-Myers CEO Peter Dolan, the only consolation may be the SEC's suffering. As the Washington Post pointed out, SEC Chairman Harvey Pitt remains under scrutiny as tight as than on any of the companies his commission has been investigating. A former private attorney, Pitt continues to draw heavy fire for his connections to big accounting firms, all of which have been clients. Senator John McCain, among others, has been calling loudly for Pitt's resignation. Meanwhile, the Post observed, Pitt is the only one of the SEC's five commissioners who has been confirmed by the Senate. Two commissioners are working without confirmation, and two seats remain vacant. Last week a judge threw out an SEC action against Ernst & Young because only one commissioner voted for it. Pitt and the third commissioner had to recuse themselves because of potential conflicts of interest. Unless Pitt's crew convenes quickly, the SEC may not be packing much of a punch. - Lori Patel

A guide to corporate scandals
http://www.economist.com/agenda/displayStory.cfm?story_id=1224700

Bristol-Myers Under Investigation
http://abcnews.go.com/wire/Business/ap20020711_720.html

SEC Is Probing Bristol-Myers
Over Sales-Incentive Accounting
http://online.wsj.com/article/0,,SB1026392290850783160,00.html

Amid Accusations, SEC Seats in Limbo
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A58212-2002Jul11.html

SEC Chairman Pitt A Potential Liability To Administration
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A52327-2002Jul10.html

Bristol-Myers Confirms SEC Probe
http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,57448,00.html

Senate Panel Approves Legislation
To Speed Access to Generic Drugs
http://online.wsj.com/article/0,,SB1026417853925306720,00.html

SEC INVESTIGATING BRISTOL-MYERS
http://www.nypost.com/apstories/business/V8571.htm

A coalition of public-interest groups is trying to pressure ISPs into notifying their customers when civil lawsuits seek their identities. A few outlets covered the campaign: Perhaps after the ACLU's big push earlier in the week for open access to cable wires, news outlets are tired of public advocacy stories.

Five groups are behind the initiative: the American Civil Liberties Union, the Center for Democracy and Technology, the Electronic Frontier Foundation, the Electronic Privacy Information Center, and Public Citizen. The three stories Unspun surveyed mentioned only the better-known organizations, not including Public Citizen, though InternetNews and the Post ran a comment from that group's director: "You can't fight to protect your privacy and anonymity when you don't even know that it's being attacked,"

The coalition, which has mounted an informational Web site at CyberSLAPP.org, wants ISPs to side with their customers -- or at least to give them a fighting chance -- when a suit is filed that seeks to reveal the identity of an anonymous online speaker, often simply in order to silence or intimidate that person. (The site's frequently-asked questions page defines SLAPP as Strategic Lawsuits Against Public Participation.)

All three outlets mentioned that EarthLink, Yahoo, and America Online have policies in place to notify customers of legal filings seeking information about them. Both CNET and InternetNews add Microsoft to that list, although Microsoft is not currently mentioned on the CyberSLAPP site. The Washington Post went into detail on AOL's policies -- the big national ISP gives its customers 14 days' warning before turning over any such information. In its model policy sent to hundreds of ISPs, CyberSLAPP.org recommends a waiting period of 30 days.

Wired reported on a new, hacker-written tool that should make it much harder for anyone, including courts and lawyers, to find out the online identity of someone determined to hide it. The tool, to be previewed at a New York hacker convention today, is named "6/4" after the date of the Tiananmen Square massacre. - Keith Dawson

Groups Defend Anonymous Online Critics
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A56260-2002Jul11.html

Privacy Groups Pan 'cyberSLAPP'ing
http://siliconvalley.internet.com/news/article.php/1383751

ACLU: Don't rat out your customers
http://news.com.com/2100-1023-943160.html

A New Code for Anonymous Web Use
http://www.wired.com/news/privacy/0,1848,53799,00.html

Anonymity on the Net
http://www.cyberslapp.org/

McCain Accounting Proposal Scuttled
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A58272-2002Jul11.html

GOP Plan Sets Moratorium On Paper Moves to Bermuda
http://online.wsj.com/article/0,,SB1026419696708365120,00.html

Dell: Second Quarter Ahead of Expectations
http://www.thestreet.com/tech/kcswanson/10031307.html

F U Cn Rd Ths, So Can Translator
http://www.wired.com/news/wireless/0,1382,53626,00.html

Groups Vow Renewed Cable ISP Open-Access Fight
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A50363-2002Jul10.html

Writing file sharing's final chapter
http://news.com.com/2010-1078-942681.html

Lawmakers: Keep your tunes to yourself
http://news.com.com/2100-1023-943134.html

Silicon Valley's New Pessimists Talk of Pain Beyond the PC
http://www.nytimes.com/2002/07/12/technology/12VALL.html

Kleiner Perkins hopes Segway scooter gets on a roll
http://www.siliconvalley.com/mld/siliconvalley/3638934.htm

The Hackers Who Ate New York City
http://www.wired.com/news/culture/0,1284,53772,00.html

Copyedited by Jim Duffy (jimduffy86@yahoo.com).

Advertising: Erik Vanderkolk (erikvanderkolk@yahoo.com).

Editor and publisher: Jimmy Guterman (guterman@vineyard.com).