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The Buzz

Internet-based loans trap consumers with high interest

By Times Staff Writer
Published December 6, 2004

The Internet is becoming a "debt trap" for consumers, with online lenders providing high-interest cash advances that often skirt state laws meant to protect the public, a consumer group charged last week.

"Internet payday loans are dangerous for cash-strapped consumers," said Jean Ann Fox, director of consumer protection for the Consumer Federation of America. "These loans combine the very high costs and collection risks of check-based payday lending with the security risks and the loss of control of your bank account that come with use of the electronic funds transfer system."

"Payday" lending offers a short-term cash advance to a consumer who gives the lender a post-dated check to be deposited at a later time, usually on the borrower's payday. The service has become a popular choice for people who need cash for emergencies, but its high interest and service charges have sparked warnings from members of Congress and consumer groups.

Fox said there are no solid figures on how many consumers use Web-based payday lending sources, though one marketer estimated that 70-million people used the service in 2003. The sites are marketed primarily through e-mails, online search engines, paid advertisements and referrals.

Engineers at Hewlett-Packard Co. are working on "virus-throttling" software that they say could slow the spread of Internet-borne viruses and worms.

Researchers for the Palo Alto, Calif., computer giant said the new software wouldn't destroy threats such as the "Blaster" worm, which crippled more than a million computers last summer.

But the software, tentatively named Virus Throttler, would blunt the sting of viruses by identifying and alerting technicians to suspicious behavior, HP says. If the patented software suspects that a computer has become infected with a so-called "self-propagating" worm, it severely limits some of the computer's functions.

"Any worm or virus that depends on its ability to spread itself will be hurt by this technology," HP chief technology officer Tony Redmond said.

HP plans to begin selling the software to corporate customers next year, but it hasn't released prices. It has not yet tested it on PCs. Redmond wouldn't speculate on when, if ever, the software would be sold to individuals.

Television networks are lending new meaning to time-shifting: TV shows don't necessarily start or end right on the hour or half-hour anymore, fouling up some viewers' video recordings.

More programs are running an extra minute or two longer to keep viewers from switching channels. Shows recently padded include CBS's Without a Trace, Fox's Renovate My Family, ABC's The Bachelor and NBC's ER, according to Nielsen Media Research.

The tactic has been used on and off for a few years but has grown more popular as competition in network television stiffens.

Because of the overruns, people who use VCRs and digital video recorders like TiVos end up clipping the beginning or ending of a show. For some, the time conflict could prevent a later show from being recorded.

TiVo Inc. officials say they have fielded a small number of complaints about the network time-shifting. This season, the company began advising its 2-million subscribers to watch out for such time conflicts and to adjust their recording settings manually.

Computer Mentors, a nonprofit group that works with inner-city youth, hopes to give away at least 100 computers for the holidays to low-income families.

The group, which is working with the Tampa Bay Lightning Foundation, is accepting donations of cash and used equipment. Each $100 donation will provide one computer. Donated equipment must be working, and the minimum requirements are: a Pentium II processor at 300Mhz or faster; 15-inch monitors; 4-gigabyte hard drives; mice and keyboards; and inkjet or laser printers.

A drawing will be held Dec. 13 to choose the families, with the giveaway scheduled for Dec. 18. Eligible families must demonstrate need, documenting that they are on public assistance or that children are on the Hillsborough schools' free or reduced-price lunch program.

For information, call (813) 236-1191 or visit the Computer Mentors office at 2802 E Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Blvd., Suite F, Tampa. Check donations can be mailed to Computer Mentors Group, P.O. Box 82494, Tampa, FL 33682-2494.

Microsoft is jumping into the burgeoning world of Weblogs, launching a service that lets people create online personal journals that can include photos, music lists and other content.

Dubbed MSN Spaces, the free service is Microsoft's attempt to appeal to the wide swath of nontechnical people who may have not yet discovered blogs and want a personal space on the Web to share content with friends, family or the rest of the world.

With its new service, the world's largest softwaremaker becomes the latest in a line of companies that are attempting to extend blogging to the masses.

America Online entered the blogging world in late 2003 with a service called AOL Journals, an easy-to-set-up service. Google's Blogger service received a facelift this year. And Six Apart, which created one of the original blogging tools called Movable Type, now offers a consumer-friendly service called TypePad.

"Blog" is now the most popular search word in the online version of the Merriam-Webster dictionary.

Its frequent lookup paralleled its growth on the political scene this year as keepers of Web logs aggressively chronicled campaign developments they thought were undercovered or ignored by traditional media.

Politics dominated Merriam-Webster's top-10 list, with "incumbent," "electoral," "insurgent," "partisan," "sovereignty" and "defenestration" among the top searches. Rounding out the list were "hurricane," "cicada" and "peloton," the main body of riders in a bicycle race.

Last year was the first that the company kept a list of the top words looked up online. As with this year, the most popular words were frequently in the news.

Last year's winner was "democracy."

As for a blog, Merriam-Webster defines the noun as "a Web site that contains an online personal journal with reflections, comments and often hyperlinks provided by the writer."

[Last modified December 3, 2004, 09:45:10]