Path: bloom-picayune.mit.edu!snorkelwacker.mit.edu!news.media.mit.edu!americast.com!americast.com!usa-post Newsgroups: usa-today.law From: usa-post@AmeriCast.Com Organization: American Cybercasting Approved: usa-post@AmeriCast.com Subject: law Thu, May 14 1992 Date: Thu, 14 May 92 05:42:12 EDT Message-ID: 05-14 0000 DECISIONLINE: Business Law USA TODAY Update May 14, 1992 Source: USA TODAY:Gannett National Information Network ABRAMS ANNOUNCES AMEX AGREEMENT: New York's Attorney General, Robert Abrams, Wednesday announced a privacy rights agreement with the American Express Co. Under the agreement, American Express must tell its card holders nationwide that it uses information about their buying habits for marketing purposes. The company ranks its card holders and offers information on them to merchants who accept the card. (For more, see special AmEx package below.) ROBERTSON TO TAKE OVER UPI: Pat Robertson will pay $10,000 a day to operate United Press International until he decides if he wants to buy the whole operation under a deal worked out Wednesday. Judge Francis Conrad approved the deal that allows Robertson to have until June 15 to make a decision. Robertson offered $6 million for the bankrupt news agency Tuesday, but said he wanted to examine UPI's books first. AT&T FIGHTS FRAUD: In an effort to fight telephone fraud, AT&T Wednesday unveiled a program it says will protect businesses from people who try to steal their long-distance phone service. AT&T says NetPROTECT gives customers the products, services and education needed to fight phone fraud. AT&T says it has started monitoring its toll-free 800 service for fraud at no charge. COMPROMISE GARBAGE BILL PASSES: A compromise bill that allows governors to ban imports of garbage into their states was passed Wednesday by the Senate Environment and Public Works Committee. The measure would protect existing contracts between communities that ship their waste to out-of-state landfills. Also, the committee rejected a plan that would have imposed a 10-cent deposit on beverage containers nationwide. LEGISLATION IS NEEDED: Revisions to the Resource Conservation and Recovery Act are being made due to the controversy over laws that allow cities to ship their garbage to other states. Some lawmakers say federal legislation is needed because several states have tried passing laws banning waste imports only to have them struck down by courts on the grounds that they interfere with interstate commerce. CUOMO OPTIMISTIC ABOUT APPROVAL: New York Gov. Mario Cuomo Wednesday expressed optimism that state legislators will approve the $800 million Jobs for the New, a loan program he wants to put before voters in November. The program, proposed by Cuomo in January, would creates jobs by financing highway and other site improvements needed by a business to expand or move into New York. FINAL DECISION, ORDER RELEASED: The Office of the Comptroller of the Currency announced Wednesday that it has issued its final decision and order concerning a cease and desist action brought against Lakeside National Bank of Lake Charles, La. The order addresses all aspects of the bank's operations including both unsafe or unsound practices and violations of law, rule or regulation. `GOD SQAUD' TO RULE: The Cabinet level "God Squad" is to decide Thursday whether to permit logging on 4,570 acres of federal land in Oregon - habitat for the Northern Spotted Owl. The ruling also affects owl habitat in Washington and northern California, where owl-protection lawsuits have halted most logging. Environmentalists believe they'll lose. Labor and timber interests say it'll be close. FIRM FINED $150,000: National Beef Packing Co. was fined $150,000 after pleading guilty in U.S. District Court in Wichita, Kan., to criminally violating occupational safety laws. Three workers were overcome by lack of oxygen in a beef blood holding tank June 9. The fine is the largest occupation safety criminal fine in state history, officials say. BILL ON LYRICS IN LOUISIANA: Retailers in Louisiana who sell minors any records with lyrics deemed harmful to young people would be fined and jailed under a bill approved by a House panel Wednesday and sent to the full House. The plan would force retailers to bar minors from stores rather than risk arrest, foes say. SPECIAL PACKAGE ON AMEX: CARD HOLDERS MUST BE INFORMED: American Express Co. must tell its card holders that it gives merchants information about them, under an agreement announced Wednesday by New York Attorney General Robert Abrams. The company ranks its card holders according to their lifestyle and spending patterns, and describes them to merchants by such terms as "Rodeo Drive Chic," which would be the biggest spenders. REFUSAL IS AN OPTION: As part of an agreement with New York Attorney General Robert Abrams, American Express must also inform its card holders that they can refuse to be included in rankings and targeted marketing promotions. "A consumer who pays with a credit card is entitled to as much privacy as one who pays by cash or check," Abrams said in a prepared statement. AMEX MUST DETAIL INFO USE: Beginning in August, under the agreement American Express must explicitly state in a mailing to its card holders that information obtained through their credit card use may be used for marketing. American Express spokeswoman Gail Wasserman said the company had no problem agreeing to Robert Abrams' requests. The agreement is the first of is kind with a credit card issuer. (End of package) Business Law Editor: Jason P. Smith. (919-855-3491) Making copies of USA TODAY Update (Copyright, 1992) for further distribution violates federal law. This article is copyright 1992 Gannett News Service. Redistribution to other sites is not permitted except by arrangement with American Cybercasting Corporation. For more information, send-email to usa@AmeriCast.COM