When you add up all the bottom-feeding spammers, questionable dating services, offshore gambling, dataminers, and top corporate evildoers, the internet seems to resemble Capone's Chicago more than the 21st Century global village we were expecting...

McAfee, Cnet resignations could be beginning of wave
Associated Press October 13, 2006

SAN FRANCISCO -- The resignations of the chief executives of McAfee Inc. and Cnet Networks Inc. could signal the beginning of a wave of corporate housecleaning, as other companies become entangled in stock options investigations.

McAfee's George Samenuk and Cnet's Shelby Bonnie both stepped aside Wednesday to atone for stock option shenanigans that will erase some of the companies' past profits. McAfee, a leading maker of computer antivirus software, also fired its president, Kevin Weiss.

Those actions, as well as last week's resignation of Apple Computer Inc. board member Fred Anderson amid similar stock options impropriety, might sway other corporate boards to take harsh steps to show they have zero tolerance for reckless accounting even if there is no evidence of intentional misconduct, said James Post, a Boston University professor who focuses on corporate governance.

"This kind of lifts the bars for all the other companies" with stock options problems, Post said Thursday. "The burden of proof is starting to shift. The executives involved in this may have to prove they are very clean if they want to keep their jobs."

The stock option practices of at least 135 companies are under government investigation or internal review. So far at least 27 senior executives or directors at 15 companies with stock option problems have resigned or been fired.
http://www.chicagotribune.com/business/chi-0610130199oct13,0,2814322.story?coll=chi-business-hed