The Microsoft early bird special
Today's Real Time column in the Wall Street Journal covers, among other things, the accidental release of the Microsoft ruling earlier than the judge intended because some web surfer discovered it and then tipped off Slashdot.
The Internet democratized investing, for better or for worse, and every once in a while gives dogged surfers an opportunity to make a quick killing, with perfectly public information.
One such opportunity came up two Fridays ago. The Microsoft Corp. antitrust decision was supposed to be posted online at 4:30 p.m., after the close of regular trading, but inquisitive surfers found the documents posted on the court's Web site around 3 p.m., and the link was then posted on Slashdot (www.slashdot.org), the popular "News for Nerds" site, where 4,000 people viewed it before the regular market session closed at 4 p.m...