Dirt Diggers Digest No. 45
November 26, 2003
Editor: Philip Mattera
1. Institutions seek disclosure of climate change risks
2. Citizen Works calls on FBI to publish corporate crime data
3. Database compiles biographical info on middle managers
4. New search engine scans company websites
5. Zimmerman's legal/business research guide on free web
6. Federal agencies create combined website on product recalls
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1. Institutions seek disclosure of climate change risks
Representatives of leading institutional investors are calling on
the corporate world to disclose the financial risks associated
with policies that exacerbate global warming. In a summit held
at the United Nations, investor-community leaders such as
California Treasurer Phil Angelides and New York State Comptroller
Alan Hevesi said they would petition the SEC for tougher
enforcement of environmental risk disclosure requirements and
urged support for shareholder resolutions on this issue. They also
announced the formation of an Investor Network on Climate Risk.
For details, see www.incr.com.
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2. Citizen Works calls on FBI to publish corporate crime data
The advocacy group Citizen Works recently issued a public
statement calling on the FBI to include statistics on corporate
wrongdoing in its annual "Crime in the United States" report.
Citizen Works founder Ralph Nader and communications director
Lee Drutman sent a letter to Attorney General John Ashcroft
urging the move, noting that estimates of the cost of corporate
crime far exceed those relating to the kinds of crime (murder,
robbery, motor vehicle theft, arson, etc.) highlighted in the
FBI's publication <www.citizenworks.org/corp/ashcroft-letter.php>.
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3. Database compiles biographical info on middle managers
Eliyon Technologies recently made available on the web a database
of biographical information on millions of middle managers. The service,
Eliyon Networking <http://networking5.eliyon.com/Networking/default.asp>
is a limited version of an expensive subscription service sold by Eliyon
for tracking former employees of companies. Searches can be done
only by company name, and the results consist of data on former
employees identified through an automatic compilation of information
from websites, press releases, SEC filings and online trade publications.
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4. New search engine scans company websites
A new search engine called The Scannery <www.thescannery.com>,
launched by the South African company TimBukOne, provides a convenient
way to search the websites of more than 10,000 publicly traded companies
around the world. The Scannery, which permits the use of "fuzzy logic" and
phonetic searches, allows the user to limit searches to companies in
specific countries, stock market groupings (e.g., the S&P 500) and industries.
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5. Zimmerman's legal/business research guide on free web
Zimmerman's Research Guide, an electronic encyclopedia of basic
information and online resources on hundreds of legal and business
topics, has been put on the free portion of the LexisOne website
<http://www.lexisone.com/zimmermanguide>. Arranged alphabetically
by topic, the guide covers the full range of source types (websites,
commercial databases, print, etc.).
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6. Federal agencies create combined website on product recalls
Six federal agencies have joined forces to create a website
<www.recalls.gov> that combines information on a wide range of
product recalls. The agencies are the Consumer Products Safety
Commission, the Food and Drug Administration, the National Highway
Traffic Safety Administration, the Environmental Protection Agency, the
Coast Guard and the Agriculture Department. In an unusual move for
a government service, the site has about two dozen corporate sponsors
(among them Wal-Mart and Toys R Us) that have agreed to publicize
the project.
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Philip Mattera
Director of the Corporate Research Project
Good Jobs First