Sometimes You Just Want to Unplug From The World

So yesterday was a bit weird.   I received a letter from Capital One, thanking me for "applying for a credit account from the above merchant," and informing me that they were "unable to approve" my application "at this time."  I examined "the above" and found "Best Buy Company."   Here's the problem: I hadn't applied for a credit card from Best Buy.

I was a little alarmed and called the number in the letter that had been provided for obtaining "specific reasons or to review" my application.   I think I reached someone who was in the U.S., but it quickly became clear that it was someone who was working only with scripts and had little or no idea what Capital One did or why.  I explained that I had not applied for a Best Buy credit card and she stumbled through changing scripts to the "fraud" script.  After a lengthy pause, she asked me for name, address, date of birth, and the "reference number" in the letter.  After several more pauses she told me that someone applied online using my name and that it was OK, because Capital One required "additional verification" so the application had been denied.   I asked if that meant someone had used my correct name, address, and date of birth.   I'm not certain what her answer was, because she stumbled through that part of the script also, repeating Capital One's requirement for "verification." 

She told me the "least she could do" (I swear that's what she said a couple of times) was put a notation on the application file that it had not come from me and she would also enter it into Capital One's "fraud database."   I asked if that meant that should I actually apply for credit from a business that uses Capital One, I would be subject to providing additional "verification" information.  Her response: "That's a good point."  I wanted to ask what was the "most she could do" but by that time, it was clear it was the same as the "least."  That was apparently all her scripts told her.

The letter also included information about the credit bureau Capital One had used, Trans Union, who I could ask for the information used from their records, since "our credit decision was based, in whole or in part, on information provided..." by Trans Union.  There was an 800 number to call, so I called it.  As might be no surprise, Trans Union has designed its phone system to shield their employees from any contact with the public, and all the options were for automated systems to buy one of their "products," or obtain a copy of my credit report.   There was no one to ask if my credit report, going forward, will show I was denied credit from Best Buy.

Just a couple weeks ago, we had to close a credit card account because the bank (not Capital One) had identified a questionable online charge, which in fact, was not made by us.  So they issued new cards.  I don't know if it's coincidence, or if I should be very worried about what's going on.   I know Capital One has had a number of humorous TV ads over the years, but my encounter with them makes me wonder whether they are a real bank or that they know what they're doing.  They are clearly not invested in customer service.

The credit bureau report I looked over yesterday showed nothing unusual, so for the moment, everything's OK.  I can't wait to see what's in the mail today.

How Will We Remember Ohio?

I'm not sure what I want to accomplish in this post, but I think it's pretty modest.   I think I just want to make people aware of something, read a couple of articles about it, and think about it.  That's not so much to ask, I think.

In August 2012, in Steubenville, OH, a night of teen partying went horribly wrong.   If party after party of under-aged drinking wasn't bad enough, more than one of those parties apparently were the sites of repeated gang-rapes of a 16 year old girl.   Since that night, as the local law enforcement and civic leadership essentially decided to protect the student athletes rather than the female victim, the Internet has stepped in.   Publicity of the incidents, exposure of the students' web posts and tweets boasting of the repeated assaults, videos and photos of the attacks (including one showing the unconscious teen being carried from one party to another for more raping), and assorted other efforts to expose what Steubenville was apparently trying to ignore, have all occurred online.  

Two students have been arrested and are scheduled to stand trial in juvenile court in February, 2013.   None of the party-goers who witnessed the assaults, posted photos and videos of the assaults, and who failed to stop the attacks or report them to law enforcement have been charged.  The online hacktivist group "Anonymous" has gotten involved and leaked some of the evidence and Roseanne Barr has also gotten involved in applying pressure to political leaders in Ohio to ramp up the investigation.   Even porn actress Traci Lords has spoken about how she was raped as a ten year old when she lived in Steubenville, and speculated that the attack and "culture" in Steubenville must have had something to do with her embarking on a porn career.

The undercurrent to the entire sordid episode is that Steubenville has long revered their vaunted football team and is not likely to actively prosecute those students who participated in the rapes, observed the rapes, or failed to stop the rapes.  

Read about it:
New York Times article, one of the first mainstream news stories about the rapes
Boston Globe opinion column on "stigma shift" from victim to accused
The Nation blog on media explosion
New York Magazine story on threats against NYTimes reporter
New York Magazine story about Roseanne Barr involvement
Buzzfeed interview of Roseanne Barr


So, the question is, will Ohio be known as a place that celebrates gang rape, or a place where it is aggressively prosecuted?  I can't image what it must be like to be a female of any age in this town.