Path: utzoo!utgpu!news-server.csri.toronto.edu!cs.utexas.edu!uwm.edu!bionet!apple!decwrl!world!eff!mkapor
From: mkapor@eff.org (Mitch Kapor)
Newsgroups: comp.org.eff.talk
Subject: Re: NOVA: we know where you live
Message-ID: <1990Dec2.201133.16224@eff.org>
Date: 2 Dec 90 20:11:33 GMT
References: <19308@know.pws.bull.com>
Organization: The Electronic Frontier Foundation
Lines: 17


 A word of warning about the TRW Credentials service.  In my opinion it's
really a device for TRW to get you to voluntarily enahnce the quality of
their database.  It works like this.  You sign for about $35 a year and you get
to see what they have on you and who's asking for it.  Leaving aside the
propriety of making you pay to see information about yourself, what happens
after you sign up is that they want you to fill out an incredibly detailed
questionnaire about yourself, your expenditures, income, and lifestyle.  They
promise you that if you complete the questionnaire you'll recieve many other
valuable benefits.  But what happens is that they stick all this information
right into the database so everybody else can see it.

When I found out what the deal was I wrote a really angry letter to the CEO
and demanded my money back and an apology.  I got the money but no
satisfaction.

Credit bureaus are a scummy business, if you ask me.