{"id":873,"date":"2008-08-08T14:00:28","date_gmt":"2008-08-08T13:00:28","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.corporate-eye.com\/?p=873"},"modified":"2021-01-04T13:19:20","modified_gmt":"2021-01-04T12:19:20","slug":"sec-interpretive-release-part-1-section-1","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.corporate-eye.com\/main\/sec-interpretive-release-part-1-section-1\/","title":{"rendered":"SEC Interpretive Release Part 1 Section 1"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>As mentioned here previously, the Securities and Exchange Commission recently released an &#8220;Interpretive Release&#8221; regarding SEC guidance on the use of company web sites.\u00a0 The document totals 47 pages and can be found <a href=\"http:\/\/www.sec.gov\/rules\/interp\/2008\/34-58288.pdf\">here in its entirety<\/a>.<\/p>\n<p>As reported in <a href=\"https:\/\/www.corporate-eye.com\/main\/sec-updates-website-and-electronic-guidance\/\" target=\"_self\" rel=\"noopener\">my prior post<\/a> the release is intended to address four specific parts:<\/p>\n<div class=\"clearall\"><\/div>\n<ul>\n<li>Clarification of how information posted on a company website can be considered &#8220;public&#8221; and guidance on complying with Regulation FD.<\/li>\n<li>Clarification of the liability framework for certain types of electronic disclosure.\u00a0 Of note, is that companies cannot require users to waive any protections from federal securities laws as a condition of participating in forums or blogs.\u00a0 Also, included is guidance on linking to third party information without having to &#8220;adopt&#8221; such information.\u00a0 How companies can provide historical data without it being considered &#8220;republished.&#8221;<\/li>\n<li>Clarification of how anti-fraud positions apply to postings by the company or on behalf of the company in blogs and forums.<\/li>\n<li>Clarification of which information is not generally subject to the Sarbanes-Oxley Act regarding &#8220;disclosure controls and procedures.&#8221;<\/li>\n<li>Clarification that information may not need to satisfy the &#8220;printer friendly&#8221; standard in some cases, which would free companies to use &#8220;dynamic&#8221; technologies.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>We&#8217;ll start by breaking down the release into each attempted clarification.\u00a0 It should be noted that in addition to being an interpretive release, the document is also a Call for Comment.\u00a0 As such, those involved in the production and maintenance of Corporate Websites and the Investor Relations section thereof, should carefully study the release in order to make relevant comments to the SEC.\u00a0 Such comments are the best way to influence the course of any further action or clarification.<\/p>\n<p><strong>Part 1 Section 1<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>The first 15 pages of the release primarily cover prior actions by the agency.\u00a0 So, we&#8217;ll jump right in at the first section of &#8220;new&#8221; information entitled: &#8220;<em>Application of Certain Provisions of the Federal Securities Laws to Information Presented on Company Web Sites&#8221;<\/em><\/p>\n<p>The first section is: <em>&#8220;Whether and When Information Is \u201cPublic\u201d for Purposes of the Applicability of Regulation FD&#8221;<\/em><\/p>\n<p>Now, let me just say that if you are looking for some straight forward, &#8220;Do this&#8221;, but &#8220;Do not do this&#8221;, then you have the wrong document.\u00a0 Still, there is some valuable information in here for those charged with maintaining company websites and compliance with regulations.<\/p>\n<p>The information in this first section pertains mostly to when information that is posted on a company&#8217;s website can be considered &#8220;public&#8221; for compliance with Regulation FD.\u00a0 Specifically when disclosure of information in a private manner to a specific individual or group of individuals can be considered acceptable based on the information having been public.\u00a0 In order to be considered &#8220;public&#8221; information must be &#8220;disseminated in a manner calculated to reach the securities market place in general through recognized channels of distribution, and public investors must be afforded a reasonable waiting period to react to the information&#8221; (<em>see note 1<\/em>)<\/p>\n<p>The catch here has long been whether or not the company&#8217;s website constitutes a &#8220;recognized channel.&#8221;\u00a0 As the SEC notes, they have stated previously that such a website could someday be a recognized channel.\u00a0 Is today that day?\u00a0 Well, sort of.<\/p>\n<p>The SEC notes that in order to be a recognized channel, investors must know the website&#8217;s location, that the company should let investors know that it does now, and intends in the future, to publish important information on its website, and that such information be easy to find, as well as the information be made available for a long enough period of time before any subsequent non-public disclosure.<\/p>\n<p>So, how does a company go about making its website a recognized channel.\u00a0 Ah, welcome to the gray area.<\/p>\n<p>That is where we are headed <a href=\"https:\/\/www.corporate-eye.com\/main\/sec-interpretive-release-part-1-section-1-usable-details\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">next<\/a>.<\/p>\n<p><em>Note 1: From page 18 of the release, which cites Faberge, Inc. in footnote 48.<\/em><\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>As mentioned here previously, the Securities and Exchange Commission recently released an &#8220;Interpretive Release&#8221; regarding SEC guidance on the use of company web sites.\u00a0 The document totals 47 pages and can be found here in its entirety. As reported in my prior post the release is intended to address four specific parts: Clarification of how [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_lmt_disableupdate":"","_lmt_disable":"","_genesis_hide_title":false,"_genesis_hide_breadcrumbs":false,"_genesis_hide_singular_image":false,"_genesis_hide_footer_widgets":false,"_genesis_custom_body_class":"","_genesis_custom_post_class":"","_genesis_layout":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[436,435,402,306],"class_list":{"0":"post-873","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","6":"category-investor","7":"tag-online","8":"tag-release","9":"tag-sec","10":"tag-website","11":"entry"},"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v27.0 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/product\/yoast-seo-wordpress\/ -->\n<title>SEC Interpretive Release Part 1 Section 1 - Corporate Eye<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.corporate-eye.com\/main\/sec-interpretive-release-part-1-section-1\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"SEC Interpretive Release Part 1 Section 1 - Corporate Eye\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"As mentioned here previously, the Securities and Exchange Commission recently released an &#8220;Interpretive Release&#8221; regarding SEC guidance on the use of company web sites.\u00a0 The document totals 47 pages and can be found here in its entirety. As reported in my prior post the release is intended to address four specific parts: Clarification of how [&hellip;]\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.corporate-eye.com\/main\/sec-interpretive-release-part-1-section-1\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Corporate Eye\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2008-08-08T13:00:28+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2021-01-04T12:19:20+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"http:\/\/www.corporate-eye.com\/blog\/images\/logo.gif\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Lucy Nixon\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:creator\" content=\"@lucynixon\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:site\" content=\"@lucynixon\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Lucy Nixon\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"3 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.corporate-eye.com\/main\/sec-interpretive-release-part-1-section-1\/#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.corporate-eye.com\/main\/sec-interpretive-release-part-1-section-1\/\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"Lucy Nixon\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.corporate-eye.com\/main\/#\/schema\/person\/d273bf7421dc8f5fec96785876b760e2\"},\"headline\":\"SEC Interpretive Release Part 1 Section 1\",\"datePublished\":\"2008-08-08T13:00:28+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2021-01-04T12:19:20+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.corporate-eye.com\/main\/sec-interpretive-release-part-1-section-1\/\"},\"wordCount\":638,\"commentCount\":0,\"publisher\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.corporate-eye.com\/main\/#organization\"},\"keywords\":[\"online\",\"release\",\"SEC\",\"website\"],\"articleSection\":[\"Investor\"],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"CommentAction\",\"name\":\"Comment\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/www.corporate-eye.com\/main\/sec-interpretive-release-part-1-section-1\/#respond\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.corporate-eye.com\/main\/sec-interpretive-release-part-1-section-1\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.corporate-eye.com\/main\/sec-interpretive-release-part-1-section-1\/\",\"name\":\"SEC Interpretive Release Part 1 Section 1 - Corporate Eye\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.corporate-eye.com\/main\/#website\"},\"datePublished\":\"2008-08-08T13:00:28+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2021-01-04T12:19:20+00:00\",\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.corporate-eye.com\/main\/sec-interpretive-release-part-1-section-1\/#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/www.corporate-eye.com\/main\/sec-interpretive-release-part-1-section-1\/\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.corporate-eye.com\/main\/sec-interpretive-release-part-1-section-1\/#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\/\/www.corporate-eye.com\/main\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"SEC Interpretive Release Part 1 Section 1\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.corporate-eye.com\/main\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.corporate-eye.com\/main\/\",\"name\":\"Corporate Eye\",\"description\":\"...compare, compete, excel\",\"publisher\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.corporate-eye.com\/main\/#organization\"},\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\/\/www.corporate-eye.com\/main\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":{\"@type\":\"PropertyValueSpecification\",\"valueRequired\":true,\"valueName\":\"search_term_string\"}}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"Organization\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.corporate-eye.com\/main\/#organization\",\"name\":\"Corporate Eye\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.corporate-eye.com\/main\/\",\"logo\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.corporate-eye.com\/main\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.corporate-eye.com\/main\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/11\/corporate-eye-logo.png\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/www.corporate-eye.com\/main\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/11\/corporate-eye-logo.png\",\"width\":283,\"height\":42,\"caption\":\"Corporate Eye\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.corporate-eye.com\/main\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/\"},\"sameAs\":[\"https:\/\/x.com\/lucynixon\"]},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.corporate-eye.com\/main\/#\/schema\/person\/d273bf7421dc8f5fec96785876b760e2\",\"name\":\"Lucy Nixon\",\"image\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.corporate-eye.com\/main\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/538dc739f95aa5a2fd75d054808b18b2afa37a9282a7a8f87001a77dc128d759?s=96&d=identicon&r=g\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/538dc739f95aa5a2fd75d054808b18b2afa37a9282a7a8f87001a77dc128d759?s=96&d=identicon&r=g\",\"caption\":\"Lucy Nixon\"},\"description\":\"Lucy is Editor at Corporate Eye\",\"sameAs\":[\"http:\/\/www.corporate-eye.com\",\"https:\/\/x.com\/lucynixon\"],\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.corporate-eye.com\/main\/author\/lucy\/\"}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"SEC Interpretive Release Part 1 Section 1 - Corporate Eye","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/www.corporate-eye.com\/main\/sec-interpretive-release-part-1-section-1\/","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"SEC Interpretive Release Part 1 Section 1 - Corporate Eye","og_description":"As mentioned here previously, the Securities and Exchange Commission recently released an &#8220;Interpretive Release&#8221; regarding SEC guidance on the use of company web sites.\u00a0 The document totals 47 pages and can be found here in its entirety. As reported in my prior post the release is intended to address four specific parts: Clarification of how [&hellip;]","og_url":"https:\/\/www.corporate-eye.com\/main\/sec-interpretive-release-part-1-section-1\/","og_site_name":"Corporate Eye","article_published_time":"2008-08-08T13:00:28+00:00","article_modified_time":"2021-01-04T12:19:20+00:00","og_image":[{"url":"http:\/\/www.corporate-eye.com\/blog\/images\/logo.gif","type":"","width":"","height":""}],"author":"Lucy Nixon","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_creator":"@lucynixon","twitter_site":"@lucynixon","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"Lucy Nixon","Est. reading time":"3 minutes"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"Article","@id":"https:\/\/www.corporate-eye.com\/main\/sec-interpretive-release-part-1-section-1\/#article","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.corporate-eye.com\/main\/sec-interpretive-release-part-1-section-1\/"},"author":{"name":"Lucy Nixon","@id":"https:\/\/www.corporate-eye.com\/main\/#\/schema\/person\/d273bf7421dc8f5fec96785876b760e2"},"headline":"SEC Interpretive Release Part 1 Section 1","datePublished":"2008-08-08T13:00:28+00:00","dateModified":"2021-01-04T12:19:20+00:00","mainEntityOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.corporate-eye.com\/main\/sec-interpretive-release-part-1-section-1\/"},"wordCount":638,"commentCount":0,"publisher":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.corporate-eye.com\/main\/#organization"},"keywords":["online","release","SEC","website"],"articleSection":["Investor"],"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"CommentAction","name":"Comment","target":["https:\/\/www.corporate-eye.com\/main\/sec-interpretive-release-part-1-section-1\/#respond"]}]},{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/www.corporate-eye.com\/main\/sec-interpretive-release-part-1-section-1\/","url":"https:\/\/www.corporate-eye.com\/main\/sec-interpretive-release-part-1-section-1\/","name":"SEC Interpretive Release Part 1 Section 1 - Corporate Eye","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.corporate-eye.com\/main\/#website"},"datePublished":"2008-08-08T13:00:28+00:00","dateModified":"2021-01-04T12:19:20+00:00","breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.corporate-eye.com\/main\/sec-interpretive-release-part-1-section-1\/#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/www.corporate-eye.com\/main\/sec-interpretive-release-part-1-section-1\/"]}]},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/www.corporate-eye.com\/main\/sec-interpretive-release-part-1-section-1\/#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/www.corporate-eye.com\/main\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"SEC Interpretive Release Part 1 Section 1"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/www.corporate-eye.com\/main\/#website","url":"https:\/\/www.corporate-eye.com\/main\/","name":"Corporate Eye","description":"...compare, compete, excel","publisher":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.corporate-eye.com\/main\/#organization"},"potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/www.corporate-eye.com\/main\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":{"@type":"PropertyValueSpecification","valueRequired":true,"valueName":"search_term_string"}}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"Organization","@id":"https:\/\/www.corporate-eye.com\/main\/#organization","name":"Corporate Eye","url":"https:\/\/www.corporate-eye.com\/main\/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/www.corporate-eye.com\/main\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/","url":"https:\/\/www.corporate-eye.com\/main\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/11\/corporate-eye-logo.png","contentUrl":"https:\/\/www.corporate-eye.com\/main\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/11\/corporate-eye-logo.png","width":283,"height":42,"caption":"Corporate Eye"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.corporate-eye.com\/main\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/"},"sameAs":["https:\/\/x.com\/lucynixon"]},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/www.corporate-eye.com\/main\/#\/schema\/person\/d273bf7421dc8f5fec96785876b760e2","name":"Lucy Nixon","image":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/www.corporate-eye.com\/main\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/","url":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/538dc739f95aa5a2fd75d054808b18b2afa37a9282a7a8f87001a77dc128d759?s=96&d=identicon&r=g","contentUrl":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/538dc739f95aa5a2fd75d054808b18b2afa37a9282a7a8f87001a77dc128d759?s=96&d=identicon&r=g","caption":"Lucy Nixon"},"description":"Lucy is Editor at Corporate Eye","sameAs":["http:\/\/www.corporate-eye.com","https:\/\/x.com\/lucynixon"],"url":"https:\/\/www.corporate-eye.com\/main\/author\/lucy\/"}]}},"modified_by":"Lucy Nixon","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.corporate-eye.com\/main\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/873","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.corporate-eye.com\/main\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.corporate-eye.com\/main\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.corporate-eye.com\/main\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.corporate-eye.com\/main\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=873"}],"version-history":[{"count":7,"href":"https:\/\/www.corporate-eye.com\/main\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/873\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":52061,"href":"https:\/\/www.corporate-eye.com\/main\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/873\/revisions\/52061"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.corporate-eye.com\/main\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=873"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.corporate-eye.com\/main\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=873"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.corporate-eye.com\/main\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=873"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}