Communications Major

Her announcement on Sunday afternoon seemed to stop a nation of tweeting political obsessives in their tracks.

There's much online chatter this week about Monica Lewinsky, who 16 years ago was identified as "that woman" who gave President Bill Clinton a blow job. (There, we've sad it.) Ms. Lewinsky, a former White House intern is now 40 years old, and she's written a piece for Vanity Fair (which will hit the interwebs next week). In said piece, Lewinsky identifies herself as perhaps the first victim of Internet (or cyber-) bullying. And she may be right. The scandal, which got pretty heavy nonstop circulation back in the Web 1.0 day, is ripe for reexamination in how it would play out in our current social media-frenzied Web 2.0 world. Here's a look at the stories that were making headlines in 1998.

What started out as a funny joke is now turning into a mudslinging war of words. After the topless photo of the comedienne was initially removed, Handler reposted it and wrote that if Instagram removed it again, "You're saying Vladimir Putin has more 1st amendment rights than me." Handler's pose mimics a much mocked (but never censored) shot of the Russian leader, topless, on horseback.