Category: Consumer

  • PROTECT YOURSELF!

    Help Wanted The largest contractor associations and building-trade recruiters, merit shop (see www.abc.org) and Union (see www.helmetstohardhats.org) recruit & train temporary labor pools. The free on-the-job training for indentured apprenticeships are registered at State levels, under the same colonial “Indentured property” laws used during the colonial-slave trade. Lexis-Nexis legal searches describe the joint apprenticeship legal structure used…

  • Activity on trade forums blogs

    Published-forum dialog occurs between tradepersons, inspectors, engineers, licensed builders, suppliers, building officials, union organizers, and other building-industry members. The extraordinary and common trade practices described on these forums are not necessarily advised properly, much less moderated, unless sufficient complaints come to the attention of the publisher. The forum links below show entire discussions where the…

  • Illegal License Numbers

    Some contractors are illegally using a license number registered to someone else. This common practice is difficult to check. When caught they can claim to be an agent or foremen of the license holder, and the only way to check is by tracking down the actual contact for the license holder on record, and ask if…

  • NBC Undercover: Homewreckers

    NBC Undercover: Homewreckers

    “You open your home and wallet to contractors. But do you really know who they are? NBC Undercover investigates this underground economy and finds homeowners who are misled and ripped off.” The original newsreel is no longer available anywhere. Since 2011 the link below has been re-directed to a follow-up story…..CLICK HERE This episode of…

  • Credential Theft

    BEWARE OF CREDENTIAL THEFT This page describes how employers of illegal labor harvest credentials from the Resumes of job-seeking citizens. Please see a list of my credentials here. In 2006 Consumer Reports magazine investigated the practice of professional pre-textors, which it described as aggressive, deceptive, completely unregulated, for hire by anyone, for any purpose, including documented…

  • CR Quick Take

    Consumer Reports October 2006 CR INVESTIGATES: Your privacy for sale.; CR Quick Take SECTION: Pg. 41 Vol. 71 No. 10 LENGTH: 121 words Large data brokers have your numbers – Social Security, phone, and credit cards. They might also know about the drugs you take, what you buy, your political party, and your sexual orientation. When we investigated…

  • Your Privacy for Sale

    Consumer Reports October 2006 CR INVESTIGATES: Your privacy for sale. SECTION: Pg. 41 Vol. 71 No. 10 LENGTH: 3060 words Until Valentine’s Day weekend 2005, Elizabeth Rosen had never heard of ChoicePoint. But ChoicePoint, it turns out, knew plenty about her. That’s when Rosen, a nurse, received a letter and found out that the Alpharetta, Ga., company had…

  • What you can do; CR Quick Take

    Consumer Reports October 2006 CR INVESTIGATES: Your privacy for sale.; WHAT YOU CAN DO SECTION: Pg. 41 Vol. 71 No. 10 LENGTH: 341 words While you have no control over much of the data collection and sharing that occurs, you can limit the amount of information circulating about you. Also, checking the accuracy of those records that you’re entitled…