Path: utzoo!utgpu!news-server.csri.toronto.edu!rutgers!att!tut.cis.ohio-state.edu!ucbvax!agate!shelby!neon!Neon!jmc From: jmc@DEC-Lite.Stanford.EDU (John McCarthy) Newsgroups: comp.org.eff.talk Subject: TRW Credentials Service Message-ID: Date: 7 Jan 91 04:41:21 GMT Sender: news@Neon.Stanford.EDU (USENET News System) Distribution: comp.org.eff.talk Organization: /u/jmc/.organization Lines: 18 I just received a brochure inviting me to be a charter member of the above. If I pay them $39 per year, I will get 1. a copy of my credit report, updated whenever I request 2. notification when anyone asks for a copy 3. the opportunity to put my financial data into their computer, to be given only to people to whom I give a "passcode". I can quit at any time, e.g. after getting the initial credit report, which would then have cost me $3.25. The pitch is that it will help me shop for credit. This is what many consumerists have argued for, except that the consumerists would doubtless like it to be free. As the saying goes, now that the principle has been established we are reduced to haggling about the price.