Archive for the ‘Business’ Category

• Figures of Speech Served Fresh
  

• State and Local Government Search Engine
  

• 101 Best Websites for 2011 for discovering and sharing your family history
  

• Digital Journalist’s Legal Guide
  

• U S Commodity Futures Trading Commission – Reparations Sanctions in Effect 1984 – Present
  

• US Commodity Futures Trading Commission – Administrative Sanctions in Effect 1975 – Present
  

• SEC Trading Suspensions
  

• Search Historical SEC EDGAR Archives
  

• Securities and Exchange Commission Forms List
  

• SEC Investment Company Act Notices and Orders
  

• Municipal Securities Disclosures

• NASAA – North American Securities Administration Association
  

• SEC Investment Adviser Search

• Compliance Reporter

• Securities Investor Protection Corporation

The rest of my favorite links are here.

An article by CFO.com reports that a recent Ernst & Young survey of more than 300 corporate-development officers and other finance professionals found that many companies use forensic techniques, including hiring private investigators, to learn more about local market dynamics and the people involved in a potential deal.

This is a great opportunity for investigators to locally market their investigative skills and international contacts to conduct international investigations.

Many private investigators who belong to international PI associations such as WAD – World Association of Detectives, WAPI – World Association of Professional Investigators, CII – Council of International Investigators, WIN – World Investigators Network, and many more. Their members already know the financial benefits of international networking.

Our world has gotten much smaller with the Internet and ease of international travel and trade regulations.

You can learn more about international investigative marketing from Jimmie Mesis at PI Magazine.

The Los Angeles County Superior Court has ruled that church personnel files of priests accused of molesting children may be released to the public, whether or not there was a criminal prosecution. The decision affects a small number of clergy but tips the balance in favor of the public right to know over privacy, which could affect many other cases.

Santa Clara County, California is continuing to fight a Superior Court determination that its GIS mapping should be easily available to the public at low cost. Meanwhile, Greenwich, Connecticut has assented to that state’s Supreme Court ruling and will post aerial photographs of the town on its Web site. Both government agencies used the specious defense that freely available geographic information systems maps were a security risk.

Folks in North Carolina may want to comment at the blog of a county Register who removed vital records from the Internet, then wrote about it.

The state police can demand lists of email activity conducted by a business if they deem it relevant to an investigation, according to an opinion by the Nebraska Attorney General. This includes “non content” records retained by providers of electronic communication services, such as ISP records of email headers, but not the email message.

Search the New York local civil court records by index number, party name, attorney/firm or judge. Some courts are online now and others will be added through the year.

Appeals filed with the Minnesota Supreme Court and the Minnesota Court of Appeals are now searchable online. More extensive information is available for cases filed after March 2003.

A complaint about Social Security numbers exposed on a federal government contract and grants awards online database has lead to their removal from the Census database and from FedSpending.org, OMB Watch, which operates the database of financial awards, has removed the ID number field, which listed some Social Security numbers.

At the request of the government, OMB Watch is willing to temporarily redact the Federal Award ID data field for the entire FAADS database if the government agrees to provide a plan for updating the unique identifier without personally identifiable information within 30 days.

As reported:

Federal Database Exposes Social Security Numbers, New York Times.

Agencies expose 100,000 Social Security numbers on Web, Government Executive.

The Sunlight Foundation background on the OMB Watch, New York Times and federal agencies exchanges is well worth a read.

There are many commercial services that offer a free FEIN (Federal Employer Identification Number) search by company name across multiple states simultaneously. All return different results and amount of detail. Below are screenshots of a company name search in 3 different FEIN services. You can also view the results at this page.

The free portion of the service FEINSearch returns a list of companies with the corresponding city and state. The results list of companies on KnowX also only shows city and state but the list is longer than the FEINSearch, possibly because of redundancy. A search by name on freeERISA provides the FEIN, company address and phone number, whether the address is current and the NAICS (North American Industry Classification System) code number. Registration entitles you to 3 free searches. The freeERISA site elucidates the sources for the FEIN material, which is helpful for understanding the limitations of the database and why all FEINs aren’t listed.

Which is your favorite FEIN finder source?

The National Association of Social Workers members database lists social workers by the state in which they are licensed to practice. Member listings provide some educational background and employment.

The National Directory of Online Counselors lists members by state. These are licensed mental health workers who provide therapy over the Internet.

The American Board of Examiners in Clinical Social Work issues a credential, Board Certified Diplomate in Clinical Social Work, to psychotherapists who have an advanced degree and are certified by this not-for-profit.

This commercial registry includes professional profiles. Find a school with a social work program or search for one by keyword.

The state licensing boards list all licensees but many of the online sites provide limited information.