spitzer

Q&A: Henry Blodget on redemption, Eliot Spitzer, and taking criticism

Words like "scumbag," "fraud," and "crook" once trailed after Henry Blodget's name anytime it came up in Silicon Valley. The budding Web-publishing mogul, who was once a superstar tech analyst before being accused of securities fraud, has spent the past five years trying to recover his credibility. Last week, his efforts may have suffered a setback.

This interview began in August, when I sent Blodget the questions. He e-mailed his answers on Wednesday, two days before Silicon Alley Insider, the technology news blog Blodget co-founded, wrote itself into a controversy. A member of … Read more

The 404 144: Where we just got Rickrolled, f'real

It's not easy doing a show after a trench-coated troubadour walks in wearing a pair of sunglasses, and starts to sing "Never Gonna Give You Up" by Rick Astley. A singing telegram... That's right, folks, we got a live Rickroll! Wow, it's pretty hard to follow that up with an equally funny and disturbing show, but we try our hardest, 'cause hey! It's Friday. On today's episode, we exonerate Andy Dick for his underage groping, analyze some strange statistics, and Jeff tells us about his favorite thing to do on a sunny Saturday … Read more

CNN tracks Ashley Dupre's social networking activity and provides full report

For most people, updating your MySpace or Facebook profile is not news. Sure, it might appear in your news feed on the site, but that's just about as far as the story is likely to travel. For Ashley Alexandra Dupre, the woman who reportedly worked as an escort and whose clients included former New York Governor Eliot Spitzer, not only has her social networking become a significant news item, but it's even possible that her life-long dream of becoming a professional singer may turn into a reality as a result of getting caught in the prostitution ring that brought down a New York Governor.

In a CNN article that's been updated on at least one occasion, Mallory Simon details the activity on Dupre's profiles at both MySpace and Facebook since the time her identity was publicized by the New York Times earlier in the week. According to Simon, "It seemed she was trying to stay one step ahead of journalists, attempting to limit what information they could access."

The damage control was not limited to deleting scantily clad photographs and embarrassing comments from the past but also involved deleting contacts in her network as well. Simon points out that both Facebook and My Space are used by journalists to gleam background information on their subjects and suggests that, "She was seemingly aware that the press would have access to her friends and every word, photo and comment on her profiles, so she began by deleting connections between her friends on Facebook."… Read more

Virgin Mobile turns Spitzer woes into ad copy

Virgin Mobile Canada knows how frustrated people can get with the lack of personalized service these days. Faster than Eliot Spitzer could say, "Um, oops," the company came out with a print ad that features the newly former New York governor, aka Client #9, musing as follows under a thought bubble: "I'm tired of being treated like a number..."

"At Virgin Mobile," the ad goes on to say, "you're more than just a number. When you call us we'll treat you like a person, not a client. Whether you're #… Read more

Meet Spitzer's 'Kristen' on MySpace

It's probably a safe bet that you won't find Eliot Spitzer listed among "Kristen's" friends on MySpace, even though the alleged prostitute in the sex scandal seems to have quite a few.

But thanks to the magic of social networking, we get a fairly intimate look at one of the players in a sex scandal that brought down the governor of New York.

Two days ago, we learned that Spitzer--the politician who made his reputation as being tough on crime--had been implicated in a prostitution scandal. We got to see Silda Wall Spitzer stand by … Read more

N.Y. governor resignation puts pressure on media Web sites

News sites carrying coverage of New York Gov. Eliot Spitzer's resignation faced an onslaught of traffic Wednesday, but demand on the servers paled in comparison to earlier in the week when news of the sex scandal first broke.

Spitzer, who developed a reputation as a bulldog while attorney general for the state of New York, was a hot news topic on Monday, when allegations surfaced that he had hired high-priced prostitutes.

And on Wednesday, the former attorney general turned governor announced his resignation, a move that comes early in his term.

The New York Times, for example, faced a … Read more

Eliot Spitzer and the Internet bubble

Five years ago, then N.Y. Attorney General Eliot Spitzer was involved in an investigation into conflicts of interest between research and investment banking at ten of the nation's top investment firms during the Internet bubble.

The landmark $1.4 billion settlement helped put Mr. Spitzer on a fast track to the governor's mansion, but that's not the whole story.… Read more

Who says IT ain't sexy? Not Eliot Spitzer

I was sure that Henry Blodget's comment on the Eliot Spitzer prostitution scandal would come with a heavy dollop of schadenfreude.

After all, Spitzer as New York Attorney General forced Blodget to eat humble pie en route to an ignominious exodus from the securities industry. But in his new role as tech industry commentator, we're seeing a kinder, gentler side from the one-time Wall Street stock pumper.

On this blog at Silicon Alley Insider, Blodget opted for a "just the facts, ma'am," approach and reposted The New York Times' coverage as well as an excerpt … Read more

Where we care more about the camera than coming up with titles

EPISODE 53

Gov. Spitzer.... [insert joke here]. Jeff's Mogul nabs an upgrade, and we reveal the winner of Super Smash Bros. Brawl! Plus, do we really need to be going into space? And If you want to win something, e-mail your best faux Steven Segal movie titles to us (the404 [at] cnet [dot] com). Don't worry about that bumper before the show, it's still us.

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