Dirt Diggers Network: Digest No. 26
December 17, 2002
Editor: Philip Mattera
1. SEC proposes more frequent portfolio disclosure by mutual funds
2. Dun & Bradstreet announces plan to acquire Hoover's
3. DoD using contractors to develop the "Total Information Awareness System"
4. United Airlines bankruptcy page
5. Newsweek goes ga-ga over Google
6. New research clearinghouse on contingent labor
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1. SEC proposes more frequent portfolio disclosure by mutual funds
The commissioners of the SEC voted recently to require mutual
funds and other registered investment companies to disclose the
content of their portfolios on a quarterly basis, rather than semi-annually
as currently required. A press release announcing the move (see
http://www.sec.gov/news/press/2002-176.htm) said that the quarterly
disclosures would be made available through the EDGAR system.
A 45-day comment period on the proposal is now in effect.
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2. Dun & Bradstreet announces plan to acquire Hoover's
Dun & Bradstree, the credit rating service and premier provider of
information on privately held companies, has announced plans to
acquire Hoover's, a leading provider of basic company profiles and
other business information.
The $117 million deal is not expected to result in major changes to
Hoover's products, including the website www.hoovers.com, but it
appears that D&B will try to expand the subscription portion of the
service.
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3. DoD using contractors to develop the "Total Information Awareness System"
The Center for Public Integrity <http://www.public-i.org> has issued a
report revealing that the Defense Department has begun hiring private
companies to help develop the Total Information Awareness System,
the controversial plan to gather and analyze a vast array of data on
Americans from private as well as public sources.
The Center points out that the idea for the system was put forth by
an employee of military contractor Syntek. That employee was
John Poindexter, who headed the National Security Council during the
Reagan administration and was at the center of the Iran-Contra scandal.
Poindexter is a "public servant" again, working as head of the Information
Awareness Office of the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency
and serving as the primary proponent of the domestic spying program.
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4. United Airlines bankruptcy page
United Airlines and its lawyers have created a website with a variety
of information concerning the carrier's Chapter 11 filing. The site
<http://www.pd-ual.com/> includes links to court documents, debtor
lists and financial statements.
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5. Newsweek goes ga-ga over Google
A feature article in the December 17 issue of Newsweek about the
supposed magical powers of Google will be amusing to all serious
researchers who have suffered through the limitations of this and other search
engines. The article (available at http://www.msnbc.com/news/844175.asp )
gushes: "Google has become a high-tech version of the Oracle of Delphi,
positioning everyone a mouseclick away from the answers to the most arcane
questions--and delivering simple answers so efficiently that the process
becomes addictive."
A more level-headed assessment of Google can be found in the new issue
of Wired magazine at http://www.wired.com/wired/archive/11.01/google_pr.html.
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6. New research clearinghouse on contingent labor
The Center for Urban Economic Development at the University of Illinois at
Chicago has created a website called the Contingent Work Research
Clearinghouse <http://www.uic.edu/cuppa/uicued/tempwork>. This site
includes news, data and full-text academic research papers (along with
non-technical summaries) on the staffing industry as well as on contingent
labor in general.
In the data section one can view and download County Business Patterns
data on temp work (employment, payroll, and establishments) by
metropolitan statistical area or county for the years 1983 to 1999--as well
as growth rates, penetration rates, and location quotients for temp work.
The site also includes the Center's monthly newsletters, which analyze
trends, strategies, and developments in the staffing industry.
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Philip Mattera
Director of the Corporate Research Project
Good Jobs First