Here’s a site that let’s you know how a particular company scored on human rights and environmental concerns in the U.S as well as globally You can also compare them with their competitors, and make certain that your dollars are going to support the kinds of things that are important to you and your community. Also...they list known subsidieries and allied companies, to help you untangle the maze:
http://www.responsibleshopper.org
It's hard to be a politically concious shopper...this will help make it easier.
What I like about this site, is there is a quick-an-dirty composite score, for if you just want an over-all impression. Beyond that, there are detailed summaries of each complaint against the company, as well as listing any positive information available about the company….so if you want to decide for yourself what human and environmental issues are important, and which one’s aren’t…you can.
Here’s one I used a lot during the election, and I hope that it stays around for a long time:
http://www.factcheck.org/
I learned a lot of stuff I was glad to find out…and heard some stuff that was inconvenient for my worldview as well…always the mark of a good resource.
While you’re at it, before you forward on that outrageous e-mail that just seems to kooky, or politically astute, or gaggingly inspirational…go here…and find out if it’s real.
http://www.snopes.com/
Here’s a place you can go to download software to remove spyware and data miners from you computer:
http://www.lavasoftusa.com/software/adaware/
Do it. You might be surprised. In addition to violating your right to privacy by having your own computer spy on your web-surfing habits, these spyware programs submit you to predatory advertising, and slow your computer down to a crawl. You might not need to buy a new computer…you might just need to run adaware.
This one is also good, and catches most stuff that adaware doesn’t. Run them both. You’ll be glad you did.
http://www.safer-networking.org/en/index.html