Dirt Diggers Network: Digest No. 22
November 5, 2002
Editor: Philip Mattera
1. Report from WorldCom Bankruptcy Examiner
2. SEC proposes disclosure rules mandated by Sarbanes-Oxley
3. Database of companies doing business in Burma
4. OMB Watch report on Bush secrecy policies; The Memory Hole
5. Job opening at the DataCenter [omitted from web archive]
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1. Report from WorldCom Bankruptcy Examiner
The legal website FindLaw has posted the first interim report
of WorldCom Bankruptcy Examiner Richard Thornburgh. The
122-page report, which can be found at http://news.findlaw.com/
(click on section titled Featured Documents), contains a detailed
account of the evolution of the telecommunications industry and the
rise (and fall) of WorldCom. It also discusses the company's
questionable relationship with analyst Jack Grubman, its lavish
executive compensation practices and other issues that make
WorldCom a stunning case study in corporate irresponsibility.
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2. SEC proposes disclosure rules mandated by Sarbanes-Oxley
Acting pursuant to the Sarbanes-Oxley bill passed by Congress over
the summer, the SEC last week announced proposed new disclosure
rules for company filings. (See the SEC press release at
http://www.sec.gov/news/press/2002-155.htm.) The rules would
bar companies from using pro-forma financial reporting techniques
in a way that could be deemed misleading to investors. The Commission
is also calling for clear descriptions of off-balance sheet transactions
and contingent liabilities in the Management's Discussion & Analysis
section of financial reports.
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3. Database of companies doing business in Burma
The International Confederation of Free Trade Unions has announced
a new database with information on some 325 foreign companies that
are doing business in Burma--activities that the ICFTU says "help to
sustain the brutal and repressive dictatorship in that country." The database
can be found on the web at http://www.global-unions.org/burma/default3.asp.
The site it resides on -- www.global-unions.org -- is a joint effort of a dozen
international trade secretariats to to publicize international union activity.
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4. OMB Watch report on Bush secrecy policies; The Memory Hole
OMB Watch <www.ombwatch.org> has recently published a report on the
secrecy policies of the Bush Administration. Among the topics discussed
are the removal of material (including environmental data) from government
websites, the tightening of freedom of information procedures and the increased
use of the "sensitive but unclassified" designation to limit disclosure.
The Bush Administration's removal of what it apparently considers controversial
health information (e.g., use of condoms) from federal websites was revealed recently by a
website called The Memory Hole (http://www.thememoryhole.org/health/healthsites-scrub.htm).
The Memory Hole <www.thememoryhole.org> says that its mission is "to preserve
and spread material that is in danger of being lost, is hard to find, or is not widely
known." This includes everything from government documents to news articles
to corporate memos.
Philip Mattera
pmattera@goodjobsfirst.org