the tv news pioneer don hewitt dead at the age of 86. we thank you for being with us tonight. please join us here tomorrow. we thank you for watching. good night from new york. next, campbell brown. tonight hear the questions we want answered. will the civil war in the democratic party doom health care reform? >> the democrats are imploding. >> the president tries to get on message while his own party tries to get past the in-fighting. will democracy prevail in afghanistan? the polls open in less than three hours and voting could be deadly. >> armed men going house to house. >> in iraq, six coordinated bombings kill nearly 100 people in baghdad. do we pull back too soon? what really happened when the mayor of milwaukee was beaten

with a metal pipe? >> things got very, very ugly very, very quickly. >> for the first time, hear from a politician being called here go this is really bad. this is really bad. >> also, the supermodel who fought back against a cyber bully. she sued google and won. find out how her case helped detect you online. and hurricane bill now a category 4. we are going to tell you where it is headed. . >> this is your only source for news. cnn prime time begins now. here is campbell brown. >> hi, everybody. those are the big questions tonight. we are going to start as we always do with the matchup. our look at the stories making an impact right now the moment you may have missed today. we are watching it all so you don't have to. we are now less than three hours away from the start of voting in afghanistan. the taliban tonight on a mission to sabotage the election. in afghanistan taliban

insurgents are doing all they can to turn a high-stakes election into a bloody chaos. polls there open in just a few hours. and the u.s. marines are hunting down the taliban hoping to clear the way for voters. this is what life is like. fighting where way from taliban strongholds. their mission right now is to help some of the 615,000 registered voters get to the polls. in spite of taliban's threats. >> candidates travel by helicopter to avoid roadside bombs. remote areas ballots are delivered by donkey. >> election workers say that in some parts of the province, they heard of armed men going house to house, warning people not to vote. >> the afghan began government ordered a ban on media coverage of violence on election day. and asking journalists essentially sensor yourself. if there is violence in afghanistan do not report it. journalists said no way.

>> the white house tonight saying it has conveyed displeasure and concern to the afghan government for cracking down on journalists. tonight word the only person convicted in the 1988 bombing of pan am flight 103 over lockerbie scotland will soon be released. >> we are told the obama administration has been notified informally the localer by bomber will be released on humanitarian grounds. he was sentenced for life for the bombing that killed 270 people, including 180 americans. sentenced to a minimum of 27 years, will be released on compassionate grounds. because he has advanced prostate cancer. the families are outraged. >> what this compassion, compassion for him? my heart is broken. my daughter's birthday is soon. she would have been 41.

it is living in hell. >> he is near death suffering from prostate cancer. north korea saying the u.s. owes them direct talks after the release of imprisoned journalist euna lee and lee. that from bill richardson meeting with two top diplomats in his home state. richardson reveals details of the meetings on cnn's "situation room" sounding optimistic of u.s. and north korea's relations. governor, what can you tell bus your talks? what do the north koreans want? >> well, first, the north koreans are sending good signals that they are ready to talk directly to the united states. they felt that president clinton visit was good and that it helped thaw relations, make them easier. and so i detected for the first time -- i have been leading with minister kim who is the top u.n. diplomat, a -- lessening of

tension. some positive vibrations. and the fact they are ready to have a dialogue again. >> maybe but tonight the white house making it pretty clear they don't owe north korea anything giving the idea of dreg talks a big fat no. at home the health care war still raging and signs tonight that democrats are looking to ice republicans out of the whole thing. bye-bye bipartisanship. >> the obama administration is considering pushing a health care reform bill through congress without republican backing. >> basically muscle thing through the senate with democratic only votes. >> go eight loan approach. >> the president said late today he still hopes that there is a bipartisan bill. privately they had been recognizing it. that the chances of getting bipartisan bill are very, very low. >> the final straw may have been a comment by a top republican senator, john kyle of arizona. there is no way republicans are going to support a trillion dollar bill. >> it is not necessarily their first option what they have been

left with. >> they can go it alone. >> go it alone. >> go it alone. >> the public doesn't like, you know the whole go it alone mentality. >> robert gibbs will go to great lengths to say look, the democrats are not going to go this alone. >> the go-it-alone talks come day after a particularly feisty town hall meeting in massachusetts. congressman barney frank giving back as good as he got if not better. >> my question to you is why do you continue to support the policy as obama has expressly supported this policy, why are you supporting it? >> when you ask me that question i am going to revert to my ethnic heritage and answer your question with a question. on what planet do you spend most of your time? it is a tribute to the first amendment that this kind of contemptible nonsense is so freely propagated.

ma'am, trying to have a conversation with you would be like trying to argue with a dining room table. i have no interest in doing it. >> that town meeting targeted by supporters of perennial fringe presidential candidate lyndon derush. we turn now to milwaukee and mayor tom barrett who whose good samaritan act landed him in the hospital. barrett describing the ordeal this morning in a news conference outside of his house. >> we are walking down the street and my two daughters and -- molly at that point said someone is yelling call 911. there was a woman holding a baby. and our immediate thought was there was something wrong with the baby. we started calling 911. within seconds, we relevantized the problem was not with the lady but the man. he came up and was very, very

agitated. and events took off from there very, very quickly. because of the criminal nature of this, i'm not going to go into that any further. as you can see, i got -- hit in the face. i have some cuts on the back of my head and top of my head. i will be back to the doctor on friday for that. my hand is fractured. i just wanted to let you know that i'm still standing. >> a whole lot more about mayor barrett's gripping story coming up later tonight. the soul survivor of a high seas tragedy that claimed the lives of three nfl stars now breaking his silence. in an exclusive interview with "real sports," nick schuyler talks about the february boating tragedy that killed his friends and almost killed him. >> we were 15, 10, 15 feet away from the boat. and the -- current is going

every which way. we are fighting just to each other close. touching. you know. we all thought -- i was thinking about it the whole time that there is a good chance we may not make it through the night. >> does the -- hope start to obviously run out? or is everybody getting quiet at this point? >> it is very quiet. only conversations was -- this is -- i think this is after we all realized that there is a good chance we are not going to get out of this was things we would change our life, that's what i immediately thought anyways. i kept thinking about my mother. >> your mother? >> i thought about -- there is no way i'm going to let my mom go to my funeral. >> schuyler clung to the wreckage for 48 hours until he was rescued. and some video to show you tonight that mothers everywhere are going to find terrifying. check it out. you are looking at 8-year-old tiger brewer of england who now holds the world record as the

youngest wing walker. you see him there strapped to the top of his grandfather's plane. why, tiger? why? >> tiger, up on that plane, did the ground look like to you? >> the ground looked like much smaller than it is now. things got minimized. >> 8 years old, feet barely riched the wing. your grandfather and your pilot. >> safety was the issue. i have to say as tiger has been asking to do this since he was 3 years old. >> rereally was amazing up there. >> yes. >> he was the tallest man in the field. >> you wonder what kind of parent would let a kid do that. a father who legally changed his name to happy birthday, seriously. that's what tiger's father did. that brings us to the punch line courtesy of, drum roll, please, britney spears on letterman last

nature. in a teeny-weeny bikini with her top ten list of ways the country would be different if she were president. here are our favorites. >> number ten. >> i think the first president to wear eye shadow since nixon. >> number nine. >> we would only invade fun places. every presidential news conference would feature costume changes. >> sure. number one way the country would be different if britney spears were president. >> finally, the media would pay attention to me. >> britney spears, everybody. two years ago, hedge-shaving drug-taking mess. now back in shape with one of the top tours of the year. way to make a comeback, lady. and that is tonight's "matchup." hundreds of car dealers now furious over cash for clunkers. they say they are not getting paid and they are pulling out of

the program. plus, voters versus terrorists in afghanistan tonight. the polls open in just a few hours there. the taliban out in full force. does democracy stand a chance? >> insurgency in afghanistan didn't just happen overnight. we won't defeat it overnight. this will not be quick. nor easy. but we must never forget. this is not a war of choice. this is a war of necessity. those who attacked america on 9/11 are plotting to do so again. gecko vo: you see, it's not just telling people geico

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>> in just over two hours the people of afghanistan will begin risking their lives doing what we take for granted -- voting for president. they paid a high price of

taliban attacks and bombings, taken the lives of seven afghan election workers and six u.s. troops. the carnage isn't confined to afghanistan today. a series of six explosions in baghdad left 95 people dead and at least 500 wounded. it is the deadliest day in iraq since u.s. troops pulled out of cities and towns there and our michael ware could haved both countries extensively. it is good to have you here. as we said, voting in afghanistan in just a matter of hours. taliban doing everything possible imaginable to try to keep people from voting. what do you think is going to happen? ultimately, what effect does it have, what bearing does it have? >> look, it is my belief that there is going to be an election and it is not going to be pretty. it will be a little bit messy. there may be some violence here and there. some people who should have voted won't be able to vote because of the taliban intimidation. simply because they can't open

polling booths. there will probably be some election irregularities and it is -- no hope of that. but will it be enough to give it the legitimacy the afghan people want is the real question. it is not going to be simple. it is going to be a little bit messy but i think it is going to take place. now, in terms of the american investments in the u.s. mission, there is a lot riding on this election. for some degree it does not matter to america whether car day day is elected or abdullah abdullah. it is whatever it can be pulled off. a measure of the taliban's new strength. the last election didn't have the ability to disrupt the election. this time -- the ability is much more enhanced but it is only going to be in certain areas. so honestly, america has a lot to lose in this election and i think relatively little to gain. >> so realistically, though,

bigger picture. what will it take to bring stability to afghanistan? does it mean anything really in terms of the big picture? >> in a sense, no. it is still going to be a hodgepodge of warlords or corrupt officials. you are still not going to have delivery of government services to the remote regions. i mean, look at karzai. he had to pull together two of the most notorious warlords in afghanistan's recent history, including -- from the north who is currently under investigation by the obama administration for killing 2,000 prisoners. so whoever wins, again, it is probably not going to be a functioning administration. but that's -- not really going to be the point. if you want to end the war, this government is only going to be one piece of that. and the way up end the war is by the afghan government, particularly america cutting a deal with the taliban. >> yeah, we will see if that happens. let me turn to iraq here.

so much talk in the sort of post-surge area, things calming down and things improving today, massive bombings. the deadliest day of the year. what is your takeaway? >> well, this is -- this is iraq. i mean, yes, the deadliest day. 59 people, i believe, is the current toll. a few weeks ago, 80 people were killed in one day. so -- what you need to be aware of is that -- yes, this is what the military would call spectacular. spectacular attacks. they -- they garner high publicity focused -- but this is part of a broader long-running bombing that was underway during the u.s. command of the war and has been underway since the iraqis took over. it is primarily being conducted by al qaeda and allies who hoped to bomb iraq back into the bloodshed of the sectarian civil war. but the bottom line is that this

has been going on. now media attention like the obama administration's attention shifted to afghanistan. in all that time, the killings continued in the media vacuum. so these killings have been going on. today is a terrible day. it is an awful tragedy but it is just one of many. yes, things have been in -- better than they were two years ago but a lot of people are still -- >> do you see any scenario where the u.s. could declare success in either iraq or afghanistan, frankly, under the obama administration? well the obama administration in iraq on my hypothesis is basically applied to certain calculations. they are prepared to accept iraq essentially becoming -- under the influence and auspices of iran. in return to stability which will then allow american withdrawal. the bombings by al qaeda and

islamists has nothing to do with iran. that calculation allows the this administration to focus on afghanistan. again, there, the -- the way out of the political solution like iraq. the bush administration said we don't deal with terrorists. within three, four years, they ended up putting 103,000 sunni insurgents on the u.s. government payroll. but those are insurgents that never wanted to fight america in the first place. and i think that we are going to see something very similar. not american creating militias in afghanistan like they did in iraq. but what we are seeing already is america positioning itself to deal, pakistani intelligence agency who holds the keys to this taliban preparing itself to deal. and certainly karzai's government has been open and ready to deal as well. so the way out of afghanistan's political solution, way out of

iraq had been conceding ground to iran. >> michael ware, good to have you here. >> thanks, campbell. >> tonight's big question-when we come back, how did the governor informant steal 130 credit card numbers and get away with it for so ave asked their doctors about cialis. ask your doctor if a cialis option is right for you because in addition to 36-hour cialis, there's another dosing option: cialis for daily use, a low-dose tablet you take every day so you can be ready anytime the moment is right. man: tell your doctor about your medical condition and all medications and ask if you're healthy enough for sexual activity. don't take cialis if you take nitrates for chest pain, as this may cause an unsafe drop in blood pressure. don't drink alcohol in excess with cialis. side effects may include headache, upset stomach, delayed back ache or muscle ache. to avoid long term injury, seek immediate medical help

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tonight hurricane bill, we are trying to find out if it is going to make landfall or not. right now a category 4. chad myers tracking the storm for us with the latest. do you know? >> 135 miles per hour right now, category 4. it is going to get stronger. lit go to 145 before it finally starts to taper off. there it is. well east of the leeward

islands. very small eye. temperatures in the way up here. 80 degrees below zero. which means it is a very intense storm. lots of things going up into the upper atmosphere. the thing that changed today is the track. and how does that matter? well, the cone has changed. talk about this cone. don't follow the line. follow the cone. the cone now includes parts of cape cod, back up even to parts of maine and also into the bay of fundi. far enough to the west we have this cone. people in charley thought it was going to tampa. charley didn't go to tampa. interest went to punta gorda. this is much more of a serious storm. we will watch it all weekend long. >> thanks for the update and we will stay with you as well. we are going to take a look now at the other must-see stories of the day.

mike galanos. >> we begin with another development in the michael jackson case. today the los angeles county coroner's -- chief investigator went back to the office of jackson's dermatologist, dr. arnold klein. more than a week ago the coroner's office said the report into jackson's death was finished although not yet released. investigators say that they were seeking additional information today and got it. but they won't say what that information is. a reality tv contestant is target of an international manhunt. brian jenkins. california cops want to talk to him about his ex-wife, jasmine. she a former swimsuit model found strangled, stuffed in a suitcase thrown in a trash bin. jenkins disappeared after reporting her missing and today's vh1 canceled future airings of that show. you can now tweet god. israeli college student set this

up. you can tweet your prayers and print and place them for your on jerusalem's western wall at the holy site where it is custom airy to leave written prayers. high technology has limits. your prayers need to be 140 characters or less. >> of course they do. >> get you a couple of short paragraphs there. you have to be brief. >> i guess i bet are start twittering now. finally. put me over the top. mike galanos for us. thanks. tonight's big question when we come back, is cash for clunkers a boom or bust? find out why hundreds of car dealers are furious and pulling out of the program. plus, the supermodel who took on google and won. the case that might end up protecting you against cyber bullies.

the cash forkers program seems to be a victim of its own success. it is a pretty classic good news/bad news situation. the cash for clunkers program has given the auto industry a much-needed boost.

>> gm says it is increasing production by 60,000 vehicles this year and reinstating more than 1300 jobs thanks in large measure to the cash for clunkers program. ford raised its sales forecast by a half million vehicles. >> it is not all roses. dealers are increasingly annoyed that the government has been slow to reimburse them for the $3500 to $4500 markdowns they have given buyers. >> i have taken phone calls from car dealers. they will get their money. we have the money to provide to them. >> today, in fact, hundreds of new york area auto dealers did withdraw from the program altogether rather than deal with promises instead of payment from the federal government. to talk about what's going on here, we are joined by mark who represents the new york dealers who opted out. and amman javers who has been following the story for us as

well. mark, let me start with you here. they are really dropping out of this thing? what's going on? >> they have been so frustrated with the program and administration that they can't continue to exist with it. this has been a program that's actually probably the best incentive funds, stimulus funds the federal government could come up with which generated tremendous amount of traffic. the problems are in the details. the details of this program as an administration and program that's just too hard to sort of control. their deal is out hundreds of thousands of dollars, millions of dollars, waiting for some indication when they will be paid for the cars they already sold. >> but here's my question. the program has only been around a matter of weeks. the federal government is pretty inefficient about everything that it does. weren't they being a little naive if they thought they would get their cash right away? >> well, it -- >> did they not get in over their heads and now they are, you know, starting to panic because they, you know, expected more than, i think, you have a right to expect from the government. >> well, what happened was this

definitely was an influx that nobody expected as far as the people coming in to dealerships to take a look at new vehicles. >> the dealerships could have put limits on it. they could have limited themselves. >> they are saying we have so much money that's out there, we can't get even an idea from the federal government whether they are going to approve these deals. we are going to st wait to see if the federal government can get their act together and started a minimum straight transactions that are already there. this is 400,000 vehicle transactions that happened. only 2% of them have been approved for reimbursement. that's very poor track record at this point. >> you are telling me -- just to bottom line it, that if i walk in the door, one of your dealerships and i have my junk deal car and i want to get a new one, they are going to tell me month. >> you will have a number of retail say i want to sell you the car and put you into it but we have to wait to see what's happening. >> let me go to amman on this. we heard the transportation secretary a moment ago admit

that he is getting an earful himself from a lot of the angry dealers and what happened in the program? were they just not ready for the success of it. >> yeah. that's exactly what happened. this thing has been a huge staggering wild success. the reason it had been such a huge success is that because it is free money. everybody likes free money. you get $4500 to buy a new car. who wouldn't take advantage of that? unfortunately, the government didn't have enough people in place to actually process all of that paperwork and get the money out to the dealers fast enough. now they are saying that they are actually going to have that thing stacked up by the end of this week. but this could be a very short-term program. they are not going to ask for more money for this program at the white house. the $3 billion on the table is all that's left. when that runs out, it is not likely there will be any more money coming behind it. the dealers are opting out and may not be opting out of all that much more of the cash for clunkers program at this point. >> putting it in perspective. tonight's news maker when we

come back. the supermodel who sued google and won. all over cyber bullying. how the case could impact you online. what's with the democrats? could the biggest threat to president obama's health care reform plan come within his own ranks? why big name democrats are warning the president don't give away the store. >> mr. president, don't give them a comma without a vote. don't give them a paragraph without a vote. sfx: coin drop, can shaking hear that?

that's the sound of people saving. saving money, saving time, and saving for the future. regions makes it simple - starting with lifegreen checking and savings - featuring free convenient e-services, up to a $250 annual savings account bonus and a free personal savings review. so make the switch today - and get into the rhythm of saving. regions - it's time to expect more. in this make or break month for health care, president obama can barely keep his own party together as tensions heat up right mao. democrat versus democrat. l the president try to keep everyone at the table including

republicans and accept a watered down version of his overhaul or will he listen to those who on the left -- who on the left who say it is all or nothing and keep the public option or bust. >> progresses disstress by what they see as mixed messages from the president on commitment as a public government run health care program to compete with privateins studded insurance and drive up cost. >> you don't give up your best negotiating chip before you get to the negotiating table. that's what secretary sebelius did, might be willing to give up the public plan. the left wing of the democratic party went up in flames. >> democrats that control congress and democrats can pass this bill. if they have the votes. the problems are coming from within their party and from the american people who aren't buying what he is selling. >> with me to talk about all of this right now, former labor secretary, robert reich.

democratic strategist paul begala joining us and cnn political analyst roland martin. let me get one thing out of the way. both secretary reich and paul begala support a public option. so we are not debating whether the democrats think that's a good idea but whether that's essential. secretary reich, are you or a lot of democrats out there ready to risk anything for -- any sort of reform for this one principle? >> look, i -- i think that the health care -- the principle here is moving the ball forward. the public option is critically important. i mean, i started out in favor of a single payer and convinced that was a political non-starter and public option was a kind of way of at least keeping the private insurers on their toes and cutting their costs and controlling long-term costs. if you give up the public option you are giving up almost everything, campbell. but i think it is critically important that the

administration understands both economic and policy terms but also in policy and political terms why that public option has got to be highlighted and there has got to be a commitment from the president. >> all right. so, paul, is -- in your view, the president not making the sale here? >> yes. i think -- you know, i think the president came to office believing in a myth. the myth of the reasonable republican and it is like the unicorn. people want to believe. perhaps it gave them comfort. look, i didn't support him in the primaries. one of the things president obama got wrong in the primaries he seemed to blame hill hill and her husband for the bit are divisive fights in the 'zmints suggested we had a new and different leader than -- won't have all the ammunition, all the baggage. well, no. they didn't use all the old lies like whitewater they would have used against hillary but invented completely new lies. i think that the -- the president underestimated the capacity of the republican party to simply obstruct and lie.

>> roland, let me bring you in here. there are democrats that said the president isn't giving democrats anything to rally around. >> if you listen to what they are saying neither one wants to be hard and fast. what they are trying to say give yourself negotiating room. that's what the p didn't do by taking off of the table. nobody wants to be hard and fast. you have this fight going on among these democrats but the house and senate. the president seems to be appealing to the senators and by saying i got the house in the bag, deal with the senators. shouse saying wait a minute, these guys scored everything up and but want us to go ahead and go along with you. no, we are not going on do it. he has a house and senate problem as opposed to just a senate problem. >> secretary reich, do you agree with that assessment? >> to some extent i do. i think the president decided along the way to make max baucus and senate finance committee the pivotal players in the entire debate.

i think that was a mistake because of -- by giving them the authority and indirectly saying to max baucus you have to find a bipartisan solution, the way -- given away too much. >> very true. >> to that point, front page of the "new york times," forget bipartisanship, democrats will go it alone. >> i would say let's let senator baucus finish his work and then judge by the work product. the process is always a mess. i'm willing to give senator baucus the time he says he needs and think think he needs accepted 15th, not very far away. let's judge then what the clients -- i'm not ready to write them off yet. i am, however, getting close to writing off the republicans. i did see that "new york times" article and i think it may be the only strategy. you know the president, democrats, including the house democrats, roland mentioned, they have sucked it up on health care and accepted over 100 republican amendments in exchange for which they hadn't gotten a single republican vote. well, that's ridiculous. my view, if i are were advising them and know they watch your

show every night, mr. president, don't give them a comma without a vote. don't give them a paragraph without a vote. >> we have to -- >> they are taking the playbook and taking the playbook from 1994. newt gingrich saw that bill clinton's health care plan was going to be -- the way of the leverage points where if they could defeat it they could gain house seats and senate seats and the entire administration. democrats can't lose. >> secretary reich, roam apd martin, paul begala, thanks. appreciate it. tonight's big question, how does the government inform an get away with stealing 130 million credit card numbers? plus, tonight's news maker. the mayor turned hero. he ended up in the hospital after saving a grandmother and baby. >> as you can see, i got hit in the face. i have some cuts on the back of my head and top of my head. and i will be back to the doctor on friday. there's no way to hide it.

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my daughter was with me. i took a bayer aspirin out of my purse and chewed it. my doctor said the bayer aspirin saved my life. please talk to your doctor about aspirin and your heart. i'm going to be grandma for a long time.

one of tonight's biggest news makers can't be here with us. he is under sxlok key, detention center in new york probably without a computer and cell. albert gonzalez is awaiting

trial. he and his accomplices are accused of acquiring 130 million credit card and debit card numbers from five large companies. having no access to mr. gonzalez we opted to send to a reformed computer hacker. now a computer security consultant. joining us now. also the author of "the art of deception controlling the human element of security." kevin, welcome to you. walk us through, if you will, the scheme. how it works, first, i guess. how did he get the credit card numbers? you say they can be stolen even as a customer is using them. >> that's correct. there are a few ways. one was breachinging the wireless networks of these retailers. and another where the hackers found security vulnerabilities within web applications that were facing the internet and once they were able to exploit these web applications, they got their foot in the door. from that point, then they go

and find the computers where the credit card transactions are taking place and in places like computer wiretap. a sniffer. capture the information. they also get access to the database where the card numbers are stored and a lot of retailers keep the encryption key on the same server. so it doesn't take much work for a bad guy to get the information. >> so i guess -- how then did he turn it into cash? >> well, back in 2003, actually, when albert was an inform an for the seek remember service he ran this group called shadow crew and what they would do is sell stolen credit card numbers on this underground network. and probably albert is not the kingpin in this case. i think the kingpin is really in russia. and albert is just kind of a selling, hacking cell. what they do is distribute these numbers to the contacts in

russia and make counterfeit cards and send mules back -- or the -- they use mules in the united states to purchase merchandise and then the money is western unioned back to russia. the other method is using it over the internet. card transactions and committing fraud that way, stealing, you know, obtaining services and products. >> he was targeting big companies. 7-eleven, t.j. maxx. don't these companies have security in place? >> unfortunately a lot of these big brands have to follow certain security protocols and as required by the card association. unfortunately, you know, web applications and assistance have vulnerabilities. personally, my at&t wireless account was recently compromised and posted my password on the internet. when i approached at&t bit, they said it is not our fault. please leave our network. so you have companies that don't

take responsibility. some undergo security assessments. they hire third party companies to test their security using hacker techniques and one company tested heartland systems shortly before they were compromised. so it goes to the skill of the companies with the security. their skill isn't up to par with the hackers, well, there will be a problem. >> okay. so now that we are all totally freaked out about this, how do we protect ourselves? >> well, if -- when you go to 7-eleven and use your credit card you can't protect yourself. fortunately when you use your credit card over, you know, when you use a credit card and if there's fraud, if you report it, within 90 days, usually the bank -- they won't even charge thank you $50. they will reverse the transaction. if you use a debit card the laws don't favor the consumer. so you have to detect the fraud within a shorter period of time. then the banks will usually go

ahead and credit your account. but then there's the issue of identity theft. somebody creating new lines of credit in your name. you can sign up for a service. set up fraud alerts on your account to go ahead and detect when anyone tries to open a new line of credit in your name. >> wow. a lot to think about. a lot to stew over there. kevin, computer hacker, reformed computer hacker. >> reformed. exactly. >> thanks for your time tonight. appreciate your insight. when we come back, it doesn't matter what people say about you as long as they spell your name right. right? that's not what a judge decided in the case involving google. a supermodel and foul-mouthed blogger and maybe your privacy when you are online. 20 minutes later, she'll bring one into the world in seattle. later today, she'll help an accident victim in kansas. how can one nurse be in all these places? through the nurses she taught in this place. johnson & johnson knows,

behind every nurse who touches a life... there's a nurse educator... who first touched them. ♪ you're a nurse ♪ you make a difference

the internet offers anonymity. but does animity mean unity?

a case against google is no. the judge said a woman who was anonymously denamed on a google controlled website has the right to know who was saying this awful thing about her. we are joined now by the woman who won the case. supermodel liskula cohen. along with her lawyer, steven wagner. nick thompson and cnn legal analyst jeffrey toobin joining us to help sort all this out. liskula, let me start with you. to give people a little more of the back story, there was someone saying some awful things about you. anonymously. on a blog. and i guess my question is snarky language bordering on a cruelty? a lot of people would argue the language of blogs and the internet many ways. what made you decide to go after them and take legal action? >> i was grossly offended that i couldn't -- i couldn't do nothing. i wanted it gone and i didn't

want it to be there the rest of may life. and i knew the only way to -- for it to be gone was to call my lawyer. >> and you actually had a conversation with the mother. a lot of people remember this story. young woman who committed suicide. >> yes. >> and she was very encouraging to you. >> absolutely. she dash. >> what did she say? >> a fight worth fighting. i believed that before. i still believe it. and i think that, you know, of course, her story is extreme. and my heart goes out to her. and, i mean, it is awful. but, you know, nothing really happened to the woman that did that, to that little girl. you know. >> she said it is important to take some sort of action. and take a stand. >> yes. >> jeff, put this in context for us. what does it mean legally? >> like so often in the law, they are competing values. on the one hand have you the interest in privacy. which -- and the free speech which the internet has been in a

powerful force. you have -- robust debate on a million different subjects. every day. on the internet. but on the other hand, is that a license to damage people's reputation with no -- >> precedent set here? >> what's inning is that this has come up a lot. there have been a lot of cases about trying to get behind the anonymity of the internet. people sue a pseudonym and they ask the court to unveil the pseudonym. basically what the courts are doing is they are saying you have to show for good reason -- you can't just privilege us willy ask for it. the owner after dunkin' donuts was called dirty, said your done kin don't suggests is dirty. they said that's not important enough. we are not going to give thank you name. they are trying to strike a balan

balance. >> inonlyimity is part of the culture of the internet. we see more cases like liskula. do you think it is already having an impact on the internet that people are -- you know, aren't going to see it as a free-for-all and can't say anything they feel like saying? >> more people that know about the case, there is a case involving twitter. more people learn about it the more they realize laws apply online. one thing we have to be careful about is in this case, everybody is cheering for her. it is a clear example where somebody said something horrible and violated the law and isn't that bad? it is also true that in a lot of cases, anonymity is good. you want people exposing things. there are a lot of people that can't say their names public exposing fraud. we have to remember a lot of anonymity is good even though in some cases are bad. >> this is a loss of for first amendment rights. how do you argue that? >> first of all, defamation is not protected under the first amendment.

second of all, she argued in court that there should be a lower standard. that basically this is trash talk and that it should be allowed because the overall context of the internet -- >> trash talk? >> trash talk. and the judge clearly rejected that. and mid a very strong statement that basically the -- internet is not going to be a safe harbor for defamatory language. >> jeff, google likely to appeal this, i would assume. >> they might. they might hope to settle it and make the whole thing go away. but i would differ somewhat on that. because i really do think there are first amendment values at stake here because you say defamation is not protected. that's true. but what is defamation is often a very hard question. opinion is always protected by the first amendment. if you say on the internet barack obama is a terrible president, that is protected. if you say barack obama is a child molester, that's not

protected. if you know that to be false. so -- those distinctions are obvious to some lawyers. they are not obvious to everyone and we want to encourage people to talk. >> do you think, nick -- you have been tracking a lot of the stuff that the laws need to catch up, i guess, to technology, does congress need to -- to pass more laws relating to this kind of stuff, relating to the internet? >> they can't. congress cannot move fast enough. laws cannot move fast enough. >> on to keep up what has to change are citizens norms and corporate norms. corporations are going to be the new law centers of the future. congress can say let's have a law that gives free speech in twitter. by the time they pass it wait toer will completely have clanged or rendered obsolete. >> a fascinating area to explore. many thanks to you. jeff, as always. liskula. thank you to your attorney as well. steven wagner. appreciate your time, everybody. up next the most powerful women in the world find out who topped hill hi, michelle obama and oprah.

the most powerful woman in the world. want to know who it is? german chancellor angela merkel. for the fourth year in a row, according to "forbes" magazine. she beat out the big american name from the list by far. hillary clinton at number 36. a few notch essay head of first lady michelle obama, number 40. her first time on the list. opr at number