On the Road: A Website Offers Help Finding a Hotel Where You Can Light Up

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Bits Blog: AT&T Offers Customers Credit for Leaving T-Mobile

A Data Broker Offers a Peek Behind the Curtain

The Acxiom Corporation, a marketing technology company that has amassed details on the household makeup, financial means, shopping preferences and leisure pursuits of a majority of adults in the United States, knows that Mr. Howe is 45, married with children, the owner of a house in the 2,500-square-foot range, and is interested, among other things, in tennis, domestic travel, cooking, crafts, sweepstakes and contests. Those intimate details, Mr. Howe says, are entirely accurate.

“I am crazy about that stuff,” he says of the sweepstakes and contests.

Mr. Howe is one of the first Americans to get a detailed glimpse of his own marketing profile because he happens to be the chief executive of Acxiom. But most consumers never learn the specific pieces of information that have been compiled about them by marketers.

That is about to change. Acxiom, one of the most secretive and prolific collectors of consumer information, is embarking on a novel public relations strategy: openness. On Wednesday, it plans to unveil a free Web site where United States consumers can view some of the information the company has collected about them, just as Mr. Howe did.

The data on the site, called AbouttheData.com, includes biographical facts, like education level, marital status and number of children in a household; homeownership status, including mortgage amount and property size; vehicle details, like the make, model and year; and economic data, like whether a household member is an active investor with a portfolio greater than $150,000. Also available will be the consumer’s recent purchase categories, like plus-size clothing or sports products; and household interests like golf, dogs, text-messaging, cholesterol-related products or charities.

Each entry comes with an icon that visitors can click to learn about the sources behind the data — whether self-reported consumer surveys, warranty registrations or public records like voter files. The program also lets people correct or suppress individual data elements, or to opt out entirely of having Acxiom collect and store marketing data about them.

With about $1.1 billion in revenue in its 2013 fiscal year, Acxiom is a leading player in an industry called data brokerage. The company collects, stores, analyzes and sells consumer data with the aim of helping its clients — including well-known banks, credit card issuers, insurance companies, department stores and carmakers — tailor marketing to their most valuable current customers or identify new customers.

A credit card issuer, for instance, could ask Acxiom to help aim a campaign for elite-level cards with concierge services at people above a certain income who live in certain suburbs or drive luxury cars. To do that, Acxiom, like many of its competitors, often uses its own proprietary classification system to segment consumers into socioeconomic marketing categories, like “Frugal Families” or “McMansions and Minivans.”

Some federal regulators and privacy advocates warn that this kind of data-mining could be used to aim at consumers vulnerable to predatory lending practices, for instance, or to favor certain high-value consumers with instant, attentive customer service while relegating other people to interminable wait time.

Mr. Howe says he wants to counter such fears by making industry practices more transparent. A former Microsoft executive, he came to Acxiom as C.E.O. in 2011, bringing the online industry’s enthusiasm for data sharing to what had been a hermetic company.

“We are not going to get anywhere by hiding,” he said in a recent interview at Acxiom’s headquarters in Little Rock, Ark. “You have to make things visible.”

But AbouttheData.com is as much ruthlessly pragmatic as idealistic. Mr. Howe recognizes that regulation of his industry may be coming and that it’s better for Acxiom to be seen as a part of the solution than a part of the problem.

ONE afternoon in late August, Mr. Howe sat in an executive conference room at Acxiom’s headquarters overlooking the Arkansas River, demonstrating a version of AbouttheData.com that was still a work in progress. Having filled out an identity verification form that asked for his name, birth date, address and the last four digits of his Social Security number, he landed on a page that gave him a choice of six data categories to examine.

Visitors who log in may be surprised at the volume of information that may be available and the detailed picture it can give of their personal lives. The household interest section, for instance, listed Mr. Howe as interested in health and medical issues (he subscribes to health industry trade journals and founded a site called Health123.com); crafts (he periodically works with stained glass); woodworking (he paid for his undergraduate education at Princeton in part by working as an apprentice carpenter); tennis (he was on his high school team); gardening (his wife subscribes to Fine Gardening magazine); and “religious/inspirational.”

“I don’t know how inspirational I am,” Mr. Howe said. “I am Methodist. My uncle is a Methodist preacher. I go to church very regularly.”

But consumers, he said, should not expect all information to be current or correct. For instance, the site listed Mr. Howe as the father of two; in fact, he is the father of three. It had also pegged him as Italian, but he is actually of Norwegian descent. (The system predicts likely ethnicity based on surname and is clearly imperfect.)

The home section, meanwhile, which listed such details as the year his house was built and its estimated market value, had incorrect information about his mortgage. “I don’t have a loan on my house anymore. It’s drawing on old data,” Mr. Howe explained. “That’s one I would absolutely go in and change.”

Superior Court Offers Refresher Course on Appeals Procedures

The recent Pennsylvania Superior Court matter of J.J. DeLuca v. Toll Naval Associates, 2012 Pa.Super. 222, involved a large construction contract, alleged breaches of that contract and allegations of fraud over the life of the relationship of the parties in this case. Although the underlying case is interesting, the focus of this article is what amounted to the primer the court gave in its opinion regarding appellate practice.

DealBook: Hiring of Fired Trader Offers a Glimpse Into SAC’s Practices

Under Scrutiny, Goldman Offers to Speed Metal Delivery

Under scrutiny for the long waits that have cost manufacturers — and ultimately consumers — many millions of dollars, Goldman said on Wednesday that its warehouse unit, Metro International Trade Services, would give customers who store aluminum at the warehouses immediate access to their metal.

Through Metro International, Goldman stores vast amounts of aluminum in and around Detroit. An investigation by The New York Times found that Metro routinely shuffled tons of the metal from one warehouse to another, a tactic that profited Goldman but pushed up the price of aluminum across much of the nation.

Goldman also said on Wednesday it would suggest ways to improve the metal storage system, whose rules are dictated by the London Metal Exchange.

Regulators at the Commodity Futures Trading Commission are examining practices at warehouse operations controlled by financial firms and trading houses such as Glencore Xstrata, the Noble Group and Goldman. These operations store aluminum for companies like Coca-Cola and MillerCoors, as well as for speculators.

Congress has taken an interest in the issue as well. Earlier this month, the Senate Banking Committee convened hearings on Wall Street’s push into the physical commodities markets and whether its involvement had raised prices. The Senate Permanent Subcommittee on Investigations, led by Carl Levin, a Michigan Democrat, has also been privately questioning big banks like Goldman, JPMorgan Chase and Morgan Stanley on their commodities businesses.

In Congressional testimony on Tuesday, Mary Jo White, the chairwoman of the Securities and Exchange Commission, said she had asked the agency’s staff to examine the issue.

Goldman said its offer to speed up delivery of metal was open only to industrial customers of its Metro warehouses. If a customer wants immediate delivery of its metal, Goldman said it would go into the open market and buy the amount requested, then swap it to the customer. Goldman said it would pay the difference between the market cost and the higher price that includes the storage premium. Goldman said none of its customers had taken up its offer yet.

Goldman also said that it supported recent efforts at the London exchange to increase the amount of metal allotted for delivery from its large warehouses, like those owned by Metro.

Last week, in the face of rising regulatory concerns about the big banks’ commodities operations, JPMorgan said it was looking to sell its physical commodities businesses, which include sprawling storage and transportation facilities. But Goldman does not appear to be following suit.

In a television interview on Wednesday, Gary D. Cohn, Goldman’s president, said the bank had no immediate plans to sell Metro International. Under the terms of the regulatory exemption provided to Goldman when it bought Metro, the bank has until 2020 to sell it.

European Union Offers Berlin Compromise on Bank Proposal

Speaking in London, Michel Barnier, the European Union’s commissioner overseeing financial services, said there was “room for maneuver in the negotiation,” and tried to head off criticism from Germany that the European Commission, the executive arm of the 28-nation bloc, was using the proposal to make a power grab.

“I don’t have any ideology in the issue,” Mr. Barnier said. “It’s not that the Commission wants to have a big role in the resolution process — if someone would find and suggest to us a better solution we would be happy to look at it.”

The resolution fund is one pillar of the proposed banking union that policy makers see as an important part of the response to the financial crisis that has gripped the euro zone.

One question, Mr. Barnier said, was, “Should we be treating banks that are purely regional and have no cross-border activities in exactly the same way as big international banks?”

“That’s something that we can maybe look at further in the course of negotiations,” he added. Germany, whose approval will be needed for the resolution mechanism, has more than 400 local savings banks, which are economically and politically important.

Under Mr. Barnier’s plans, outlined Wednesday, the European Central Bank would signal when a lender in the euro zone, or in a country participating in the banking union, was in severe financial difficulties. With representatives of national authorities, the E.C.B. and the Commission, a board would undertake preparatory work before the Commission would then decide whether and when to place a bank into resolution.

That idea provoked immediate opposition from Berlin, and more evidence of discord in Germany surfaced Friday in a letter to Mr. Barnier from Finance Minister Wolfgang Schäuble. “The proposal published by the Commission regrettably envisages too high a degree of centralization with regard to the boundaries” of the existing E.U. law, the letter said, according to Reuters.

“The proposal does not match the current legal, political and economic realities and would create major risks,” Mr. Schäuble wrote, adding that the transfer of powers to the Commission was not backed by E.U. treaties.

Mr. Barnier disputed that, arguing that his proposal was the best solution available without changing E.U. treaties. He said that if the treaties were amended, the European Stability Mechanism, the euro zone’s permanent bailout fund, might take over the power to decide when to wind down banks.

One E.U. official, speaking on condition of anonymity owing to the sensitivity of the issue, said that agreement with national governments on the resolution fund was possible by the end of the year — but conceded that changes would likely be made. Most officials expect the role of the Commission to be pared back, but for legal reasons there are few alternative bodies that could make the decision to wind down a bank, they say.

In his speech in London on Friday, Mr. Barnier also warned against any effort by Britain to win special exemptions from E.U. single market rules for its financial services sector, the City of London.

“By definition,” he said, “there can’t be two single markets: one for financial services and one for the rest of the economy. One for the City, and one for the rest of the E.U.

“Repatriating full policy responsibility for financial services would mean leaving the single market as a whole and de facto the E.U.,” Mr. Barnier said, adding: “I believe the U.K. would lose out on many of its own interests if it chose that path.”

Prime Minister David Cameron has promised to renegotiate British ties with the European Union and some lawmakers from his Conservative party have called for new powers that would prevent Britain being outvoted on any new legislation on financial services.

But Mr. Barnier rejected that idea.

“It would not work,” he said. “If you give a veto to one country you have to give it to others and then we no longer have an internal market,” he said. “Our interest is in having a coherent single market with intelligent rules that apply everywhere.”

Law School Offers A Second Chance to Rejected Students

One law school is giving applicants who don't make the initial admissions cut a second chance to prove they have what it takes. And it's doing it for free.

Conference Board Offers Sign of Growth for Future

WASHINGTON — A measure of the economy’s future health rose solidly in April, buoyed by a sharp rise in applications to build homes and a better job market.

The Conference Board said on Friday that its index of leading indicators increased 0.6 percent last month to a reading of 95. The index declined 0.2 percent in March.

The index is intended to signal economic conditions three to six months out.

Kenneth Goldstein, an economist at the Conference Board, said the index was 3.5 percent higher at an annual rate than it was six months ago, suggesting expansion for the economy.

Mr. Goldstein said steady job gains and a recovering housing market were driving the economy and helping offset deep federal spending cuts that threaten growth.

The index is composed of 10 forward-pointing indicators. Strength in April came from the surge in building permits, a drop in applications for unemployment benefits and a rising stock market.

Holding the index back in April were weaker consumer confidence and a decline in the average hours worked at American factories.

A separate report on Friday showed that consumer confidence rose to almost a six-year high in early May. The University of Michigan’s consumer sentiment index rose to 83.7, from 76.4 in April.

Economists attributed the gain to high stock prices, cheaper gas and solid employment gains.

“Changes in confidence don’t always filter through into changes in spending, but the omens are good,” said Amna Asaf, an economist at Capital Economics.

The job market has also improved over the last six months. The economy has added an average of 208,000 jobs a month since November, compared with only 138,000 a month in the previous six months.

Unemployment has fallen to a four-year low of 7.5 percent.

A rebound in housing, along with a limited supply of homes for sale, has lifted the construction industry.

Construction cooled in April, as builders broke ground on fewer homes after topping the one million mark in March for the first time since 2008. But most of the decline was in apartment construction, which tends to vary sharply from month to month.

The most encouraging sign for the industry last month was that applications for new construction reached a five-year peak. That suggests that the housing revival will be sustained.

Marvin Windows and Doors Offers Workers Profit-Sharing Checks

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New Atlanta Firm Offers Divorce a la Carte

From left, Michael Manely, his wife Shelia, and Luis Velez stand in the dress shop they are transforming into the Justice Cafe at Peachtree and MLK Drive in Atlanta.
Rebecca Breyer

Many middle-income people seeking a divorce can't afford to hire a lawyer but aren't poor enough to qualify for legal aid. Michael and Shelia Manely hope to fill this gap with a new kind of family law firm, the Justice Café.

Located a block from the Fulton County, Ga., Superior Courthouse, the Justice Café will charge $75 an hour for a la carte help in divorces and other family law matters, with no retainer up front, unlike most family law firms.

The storefront space at the corner of Martin Luther King Jr. Drive and Peachtree Street will take walk-in clients who want to handle their divorce themselves but need some guidance from a lawyer. Clients can pay for either general advice or specific tasks, such as drafting an answer to a complaint or representation at a 30-day hearing.

The typical client will engage a Justice Café lawyer for 10 or fewer hours, said Michael Manely.

"If they need more than 10 hours of help, then they probably need a full-service approach," said Manely, whose Marietta, Ga.-based practice, The Manely Firm, has specialized in full-service family law for about a decade.

Firms offering walk-in, a la carte family law services have sprung up in other parts of the country, but Manely said this is a first for Georgia.

The lawyers staffing the Justice Café will work on contract and collect half the $75 hourly fee. The other half will cover overhead. At $37.50 an hour, a lawyer billing 30 hours per week can earn an annual gross salary of about $55,000.

The Manelys think this arrangement will attract both new law school graduates seeking work and experienced lawyers who don't want the hassle of running their own shops.

"It's a way to serve people on Main Street," said Michael Manely. "There is no reason a working man or woman should not have access to legal services."

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