DDD45

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

pmattera@goodjobsfirst.org

www.corp-research.org