Another Congressional Sell Out

March 1, 2006 – ACCESS regularly makes note of proposed laws that subvert state regulatory authority. To date, most of these types of laws have had to do with matters of privacy and have specifically impacted the banking industry. For instance, FACTA makes it illegal for any state to place regulations on banks that prevent them from sharing your personal information with their affiliates. In passing FACTA, Congress sold out American voters in order to protect their campaign contributions. Well, Congress is about to sell us all down the river again and this time it has nothing to do with credit or privacy. But it has everything to do with the safety of the food you eat and it should make your VERY, VERY ANGRY!

 

Tomorrow, the House of Representatives is set to vote on the National Uniformity for Food Act (NUFA). While the bill has never been debated on the floor of the house, it has 216 co-sponsors. It will easily pass.

 

The bill was sponsored by Representatives Mike Rogers (R-MI) and Edolpus Towns (D-NY). Rogers refused calls for public hearings on the bill because, according to him, there “has already been a considerable amount of discussion and vetting in committee." The truth is that he wants the bill to be slipped into law below anybody’s radar screen.

 

Quite simply, NUFA makes it illegal for any state to regulate the information that is placed on food warning labels. The bill will render food labeling restrictions across the country invalid, in favor of much weaker federal standards.

 

NUFA has been lobbied for by a coalition of food companies and producer trade associations, ever since California voters passed proposition 65 in 1986. Prop 65 forced companies to clearly label products that contained cancer causing, or bird defect causing substances in them. The law has been a target of food producers ever since.

 

But NUFA goes much further than overruling just Prop 65. It will supersede a wide variety of state laws that regulate things like the amount of arsenic that can be present in bottled water, and the amount of lead that can be present in food or the dishes that that food is served on. The bill will outlaw certain food inspection standards that are used by states for dairy and farm products as well as food processing plants.

 

In short, the bill endangers the public to protect campaign contributions from food industry lobbying groups.

 

Roughly 80% of all food inspections conducted in the United States are at the state level. The bill is opposed by most states. The National Association of State Departments of Agriculture and the Association of Food and Drug Officials both consider NUFA to be a danger to public health. Both groups are bi-partisan.

 

Perhaps the California Attorney General, Bill Lockyer summed it up best when he said, “This is a total disgrace." He went on to accuse supporters of the bill of being a "rubber stamp for big business who, while claiming they need uniformity, are trying to invalidate consumer environmental and public health laws."

 

If you think it is odd that ACCESS is opposed to a law having to do with food regulation, we’re not. The issue is much bigger than that.

 

Since implementing the Fair and Accurate Credit Transactions Act (FACTA), Congress has become very brazen in their attempts to circumvent and suppress state regulations on a variety of industries. FACTA usurped California’s privacy law that required banks to allow consumers to opt out of all sharing of their personal information; even with the banks affiliate companies.

 

And Congress is currently debating a wide variety of legislation on the regulation of data brokers and the banking and credit industries. Many of these bills would specifically outlaw state regulation of these industries. In most cases, federal regulations set a very “low bar” while the state laws that are usurped are significantly stronger.

 

The only reason that Congress makes these types of laws is because of campaign donations. In any other line of work, voting a certain way in return for monetary gain is called a bribe. But in Washington, it’s called “business as usual” and it needs to be stopped.

 

Technorati Tags : Congress, campaign+finance+reform, Congressional, states+rights

New Phishing Scam Targets Social Security Numbers – An ACCESS Fraud Alert

March 1, 2006 – A warning was issued this week by Jo Anne Barnhart, Commissioner of Social Security. Consumers need to be on the lookout for a new e-mail phishing scam with the aim of separating you from both your Social Security Number and your banking information. The message appears to originate from the Social Security Administration.

Targets of the scam receive an e-mail message with the introductory line, "Dear Social Security Number And Card owner". The message uses a template that makes it appear to be sent by the SSA. It goes on to inform the recipient that "someone illegally is using your Social Security number and assuming your identity". It then provides a link to what appears to the Social Security Administration website and asks the recipient to click on the link and to verify certain information. The website is phony.

Once on the website, consumers are asked to verify their Social Security Number by typing it into a form. They are then asked to provide bank credit card numbers, security codes, PIN numbers and expiration dates. The Social Security Administration has no need for this information and Barnhart said, "Whether on our online website or by phone, Social Security will never ask you for your credit card information or your PIN number."

Consumers who receive any e-mail messages similar to the one described here should contact the Office of Inspector General for the Social Security Administration. They can be reached by phone at 800-269-0271 or via the internet at www.socialsecurity.gov/oig.

Technorati Tags : fraud, phishing, scam, Social+Security, identity+theft

How Much is Your House Worth?

If you have ever wondered what your home is worth, you are not alone. At some point, it’s something that virtually every home owner wants to know. Likewise for new home buyers. Now, there is a new way for you to find that information for free through Zillow.com. But users need to be careful when using their system as not all of the data used by the service is accurate. And virtually everyone should be concerned about some of the privacy ramifications associated with it.

Zillow is currently in public Beta. This means that anyone can use it but they are still working out the kinks. Users can simply go to their website, enter an address, and within seconds they get an estimate of the property value.

Zillow is compiling its information from a variety of sources. These include both public record information and from information sold to them by data collectors. Both types of data are riddled with inaccuracies. For example, in California where property tax increases are severely limited by law, it is not uncommon for tax records regarding the size of a house to be inaccurate after a room addition. Since tax increases can only be based on the amount spent on remodeling, county assessors take their time in updating other information on property records.

Because of this, it is important that you really know your home when using Zillow. After entering your address and getting the estimated value, you can update the information on your house and get a new estimate. You can include the value of upgrades, remodeling, room additions, etc… This information will only be available to you, and can not be saved to Zillow, but it will allow you to get a better idea of the value of your home.

So far, Zillow is receiving mixed reviews. Values in some areas of the country seem to be more accurate than in others. Even so, one of the more useful features associated with the website is the ability of users to view the sale amounts for comparable homes in their area.

The downside of Zillow is that it creates some real privacy concerns. It not only allows you to get an estimated value on your home, but anyone who knows your address can get the same estimate. Some people might say that your home’s value is nobody else’s business.

The service also provides satellite photos of properties. While these are relatively low quality, they allow anyone to get a general idea of the layout of your home. This is not necessarily something that you want to give the person that is casing your home for a burglary.

Zillow has collected data on about 60 million homes, and has enough data to offer estimates on about 40 million homes. Estimates are probably best viewed as a starting point for a conversation with a professional estimator. They should not be relied upon as an accurate estimate of a homes value. In areas where the company’s coverage is spotty, there is a significant possibility that estimated values will be off by 20% or more.

Even so, for a free service, homeowners may find Zillow useful when considering selling, purchasing or refinancing.

Technorati Tags : home+loan, home+equity, home+equity+loan, equity, investing, real+estate, realestate, privacy, privacy+law