Data and Society is a think/do tank in New York City, initially funded by Microsoft and supported today by prominent organizations such as The Ford Foundation, Omidyar Network, and the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation. The team and an impressive group of Fellows (some of them faculty on sabbatical from their universities) take on the [...]
Category: Calls to action
New data regulations; What could go wrong?
The Federal Trade Commission (FTC) has spoken. In a lengthy piece released a few months ago, the FTC took on the $150B data broker industry. Many of the companies focus on data collected for behavioral marketing/targeted advertising but credit bureaus comprise a significant segment of the industry. The title is descriptive--"Data Brokers: A Call for [...]
When good character has a (short-term) cost
I recently met a former colleague for coffee. Let's call him Andrew (not his real name). He was telling me about a family business he had joined in the past year. The company had grown over the years without taking investments but had a significant line of credit from a regional bank. What happened in [...]
Two sides of a coin
So to speak . . . I follow coverage about the role major banks are playing in supporting Internet-based payday lenders. Among my concerns are the insane interest rates and the ability of such lenders to automatically withdraw payback straight out of a bank account, sending the account into perpetual overdrafts. And then there's the [...]
The 5 C’s of Business Credit and Trust
My vision for the Descant platform is to help businesses create a powerful credit profile and share it on their own terms. By now, business owners and executives know how vital it is to tell prospective customers a powerful story about their company and its services or products. All too often, credit reviews--whether a customer’s [...]
Instinctive Drowning Response
Yesterday, Slate published an online piece to which numerous of my Facebook friends have linked. I initially read it wearing only my hat as a Mom and someday grandmother. The essence is that children who are drowning don't behave the way you'd expect given TV and movie depictions. They are mostly silent and not flailing [...]
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