How come a single American mom in a wheelchair goes to jail, pays a fine, and gets a criminal

[Zorra]

record for stealing $14.99 worth of beans, rice, and baby food from a grocery store, and a wealthy multinational corporation that finances republican candidates and defrauds $14.99 apiece from thousands of individuals gets a federal contract worth $78 million dollars to verify the identities of people who are applying to a federal insurance program?

Is this unfair, bizarre, and criminal in and of itself, or do I just have an unusual sense of justice and equality? And isn't this kind of risky business?

2005

In August 2005, Experian accepted a settlement with the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) over charges that Experian had violated a previous settlement with the FTC. The FTC's allegations concerned customers who signed up for the "free credit report" at Experian's Consumerinfo.com site. The FTC alleged that ads for the "free credit report" did not adequately disclose that Experian would automatically enroll customers in Experian's $79.95 credit-monitoring program.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Experian

2011

Lawsuit: Credit score sites mislead consumers
Bob Sullivan, Columnist, NBC Newas

Confused about your credit score and where to get it? That's intentional, according to a new lawsuit filed in a California federal court.

Many consumers who think they are buying a peek at their credit scores are being defrauded, according to a lawsuit against credit bureau giant Experian. The case, which seeks class action status, claims that Experian is intentionally confusing customers, engaging in false advertising and not giving consumers what they pay for when they sign up for services at the firm's popular FreeCreditReport.com and FreeCreditScore.com Web sites.

"It's a classic consumer fraud case," said David Woodward, one of the lawyers who filed the case. "The law is designed to prohibit exactly this kind of egregious advertising practice. ... The defendant is profiting from deception."

Software, Design Defects Cripple Health-Care Website

Among the technical problems thwarting consumers, according to some of those people, is the system to confirm the identities of enrollees. Troubles in the system are causing crashes as users try to create accounts, the first step before they can apply for coverage.

Experian EXPN.LN +0.86% PLC, an information-services firm, holds a federal subcontract to support that system. The company declined to comment.

How can this make rational sense to anyone? How can this corporation be trusted? What is Experian going to do with our personal information?

Are they going to sell our personal information to any company that wants to buy it from them?

[rhett o rick]

1. k&r thanks for posting. nm

[Heather MC]

2. Wealthy People pay Congressmen to Change laws when they break them

and
"Poor people have shitty lobbyist" John Stewart

that's why

[kelliekat44]

3. American Capitalism at its best. nt

[blkmusclmachine]

4. DC: By, and for, the 1% ONLY

[Uncle Joe]

5. Kicked and recommended.

Thanks for the thread, Zorra.

[sabrina 1]

6. Good question. I've thought all along that the real scandal of the NSA leaks

is that they are not spying on the people because of 'terror', but for Big Corps and the info is valuable, very valuable and probably being sold, for many purposes. If the public were to learn that this is the real reason for all the spying, while receiving Billions in Tax Dollars on the pretext that it is for our 'security'.

That is just another Corp most likely profiting from the 'collection of data'.

As for the poor woman in the wheelchair, what a sad statement, in every way, of about this country.

[kairos12]

7. Plutocracy and Mendacity-twin pillars of the One Percent

[Doctor_J]

8. Just a wild guess

Our government is the biggest crime syndicate in history

[NuclearDem]

9. Because the law only applies to the proles.

[gopiscrap]

10. No kidding

I went to jail for 7 months because of having medical bills (192,000.00) kept on filing bankruptcies to stop collections and keep treatment going. It was contempt of the US Bankruptcy Court becaue I was ordered not do it. I'd do it again in a flippin heart beat, it saved my life.