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The CA is not saying anything about the products they provide.

Agreed.

Further, in practice, all you need is a DUNs number, which you get just by applying to them. The CA then checks that number matches your name.

Apparently getting a D-U-N-S number requires your business to be organized as a corporation or LLC, not a doing-business-as or other passthrough. Thus there's also the cost to incorporate or form an LLC with your jurisdiction's business regulator, keep that corporation or LLC renewed, and file its income tax return. Or should every developer of free software and every hobbyist developer of proprietary freeware be expected to have already done this?

So no check at all really.

And that your credit card is valid.

From http://www.dnb.com/utility-pag...

"Data Security: Dun & Bradstreet applies appropriate technical, physical, and administrative Data security measures to protect Data against unauthorized access and disclosure."

Except when they don't....

Also, (farther down the page): "Dun & Bradstreet does not respond to Do Not Track Signals."

As a small share holder you have zero to no say in what the company you invest in does, it would be unfair to punish them more than the value of their shares.

Face it for public companies a lot of people are just investing in some unit trust and don't even invest directly in the company. I don't mind being held accountable for my actions or even loosing up to some predetermined amount of money if a company fails. But the possibly of loosing everything based on some stupid decision some CEO made in a company I am not watching that closely (I simply don't have the time or the information to do so), and have no say in anyway, that sounds ridiculous.

On the other hand Directors, CEOs and people who control large amounts of shares should be held more personally accountable for their actions. They get paid a lot of money for their positions, I have been told because of the responsibility that comes with the position, but more often than not, even if they screw up, they leave having earnt more money in a few years, than most people would have made in a life time.

Limited liability has its place to in small private companies as well. It allows people to start up a business without risking everything you have built up, including there spouses assets. Starting up company is risky (30% fail straight way http://business.dnb.com/small-business-information/real-statistics-show-that-70-percent-of-small-businesses-succeed-at-first/) an not something I would be willing to bet my house on. If everyone involved is aware of the fact you are a limited liability company it seems fine, as long as you are not conducting unethical activities, in that case I believe limited liability should not apply. Companies don't commit crimes people do, and the people responsible for the crime should be punished. Limited liability should provide no protection there.

Dun & Bradstreet got their start as a collections agency. (This is where the term "dun" and "dunning letter", for debt collector and collections notice, came from. They were persistent.)

They still do that as part of their everyday business.

Corporations live and die based on their Dun & Bradstreet rating. If there is ONE collections agency a large US/multinational corporation is NOT going to ignore, it is Dun & Bradstreet.

Give them a call.

See https://creditreports.dnb.com/webapp/wcs/stores/servlet/SmbSubCategoryDisplay?storeId=11151&catalogId=71151&categoryId=40020

You might want to consider sending a "final warning" letter, CC: to both US and EU branches, advising them that you will place the debt for collection if they don't pay up within 30 calendar days, before you actually sic the Duns on them.

State of Pennsylvania Business Search:

DESIGNERWARE
Fictitious Names - Domestic
Entity Number: 2808492
Status: Active
Entity Creation Date: 3/30/1998
State of Business.: PA
Principal Place of Business: 108 HUTCHINSON
NORTH EAST (a real place, a borough of Erie County 5 miles northeast of the city of Erie) PA 16428-1710

Owners Name: TIMOTHY S KELLY

Google Maps shows that as a 2-story frame house in reasonably good condition with two cars in the driveway..

Dun and Bradstreet reports

DESIGNERWARE
Single Location: 108 HUTCHINSON DR, NORTH EAST, PA

You can buy a D&B credit report on them.

Checking Erie County property records:

Address 108 | HUTCHINSON | DR
Acreage 0.2870
Topo LEVEL
Utility ALL PUBLIC
Zoning SINGLE FAMILY RESIDENTIAL
Land Value / Taxable 18,000 / 18,000.00
Building Value / Taxable 120,560 / 120,560.00
Total Value / Taxable 138,560 / 138,560.00
Clean & Green: Inactive
Homestead Status: Active
Style CONVENTIONAL
Basement FULL
Year Built 1973
Exterior Wall ALUMINUM/VINYL
Total Living Area 3156
Full Baths 2, Half Baths 1
Heating GAS, CENTRAL, FORCED AIR
Stories 2.0, Total Bedrooms 3, Total Family Rooms 0, Total Rooms 7, Fireplaces 1
REINFORCED CONCRETE POOL 1992
FRAME UTILITY SHED 1990
Sales History: 1/26/1990

As a business, the only way to have a verifiable identity is to incorporate.

Not true. Sole proprietorships usually (if not always) require registration with the city/town where located. Small business, DBE and MBE programs can also be used to verify identities - DBE/MBE programs in particular are probably more reliable than incorporation in terms of verification since these programs require site visits by the applicable state agency.

Finally, let's not forget federally-sanctioned groups like Dun & Bradstreet who provide business verification services for all types of businesses.

"Key was not added since you have reached the maximum number of keys for this type and class.", which appears to be zero, since there's no keys listed under my account

I'd bet there's no D-U-N-S number listed under your account either.

I still think Sourceforge could set it up as a service. If you're referring to the D&B rating, it's not that hard to get: Sourceforge is owned by the Open Source Technology Group, which is owned by VA Software.

Both already have D&B ratings: http://smallbusiness.dnb.com/company-information.a sp?prodid=&catalog=&GUID=7F577E4E-B03B-4123-B0BE-B 805583CC740&cm_mmc=Proprietary*DNB.com*Home%20Page *Search%20Box

Obtain a PIC and use it to create a signed .cat file. PICs are issued by Microsoft and can be used to sign kernel-mode modules that are intended for Windows Vista. The PIC verifies the integrity and origin of a driver. To be signed with a PIC, drivers are not required to pass WHQL testing.

To obtain a PIC, a publisher must first obtain a VeriSign Class 3 Commercial Software Publisher Certificate. Registration with Verisign results in establishing a credential that can be used to establish a Microsoft Windows Quality Online Services (Winqual) account. The publisher can then use that certificate to authenticate itself to Microsoft. If the certificate is valid, Microsoft issues a PIC.

A publisher typically completes the authentication process once a year through the Winqual Web site. The process is completed over a channel that is protected by the secure sockets layer (SSL). Figure 1 illustrates the process of obtaining a PIC. For more information about Winqual, see "Resources" at the end of this paper.

What are the criteria for obtaining a commercial software publisher certificate?

To issue a commercial software publisher certificate, VeriSign must be able to authenticate the identity of the person and organization applying for the certificate. The most convenient method for a software publisher to establish organizational identity is to submit a D-U-N-S number from Dun & Bradstreet during the enrollment process.

If a software publisher does not have a D-U-N-S number, they can obtain one from a local D&B service center quickly and at low cost. For more information about D&B and getting a D-U-N-S number, please see http://www.dnb.com.

To ensure the commercial viability of a software publisher, Microsoft has arranged for VeriSign to check a company's D&B Financial Stress Rating as part of its authentication process. If a company's financial stress rating is 1, 2, or 3 (on a 5-point scale with 1 representing the lowest level of risk), the VeriSign Commercial Software Publisher (Class 3) Digital ID will indicate that the company has met Microsoft's criteria for identification as a commercial software publisher. If the company's rating is 4 or 5, VeriSign will undertake additional checking to determine whether the company meets commercial software publisher criteria. If no financial stress rating exists for a company, the Commercial Software Publisher (Class 3) Digital ID will indicate that.

In the event that a softwarepublisher cannot get a D-U-N-S number, they can submit articles of incorporation to VeriSign (translated into English).

For example, let's search Google for "london hotels", a common search phrase. The first return is LondonNights.com. "Whois" returns "Worldview Ltd, 16 Marine Road West, Morecambe, LA3 1BS, Lancs, GREAT BRITAIN (UK)."

That's a UK company, so we look it up at Companies House., where we find "WORLDVIEW LIMITED, 16 MARINE ROAD WEST, MORECAMBE, LANCASHIRE LA3 1BS, Company No. 04588973". So we have a match on a registered company.

We check further with Dun and Bradstreet, which has a worldwide database of companies. We find "WORLDVIEW LTD 16 MARINE RD WEST MORECAMBE , UK Type of Location: single"

So they pass company validation, and we can get financial information about them.

Now let's try a domain that just appeared in a spam: "fleagroups.com". "Whois" gives us "Flea Market Groups. 126 73rd Ave N., Coral Springs, Florida 34992. US" So we go to Sunbiz, the Florida State Division of Corporations, and search. No "Flea Market Groups" under fictitions names. No match on address under anything beginning with "Flea". No "Flea Market Groups" under corporations, and no "Flea Market *" address matches.

Looking in Dun and Bradstreet, there are "Flea Market *" hits, but no exact match and no address match.

So they fail company validation. Add to probable spammer list, drop search engine ranking.

This is a reasonable test for any site that appears to be selling something.

Perhaps what we need is the equivalent of a DUNS number for software products. If I were to implement the scheme, I'd probably do what Perforce does and identify releases by the year and release-number within the year. E.g. Perforce 2001.2 is the second release of Perforce in the year 2001.

Perhaps you should ask for the credit history of the COO and CEO. After all, you are putting your financial future into their hands, and it should be within your rights to monitor their financial abilities.

I received one of these "you are a criminal" letters at the ISP I work for, so I called up the BSA at (888) NO-PIRACY and had them remove us from their mailing lists. I asked where they got our name and address, and they said they purchased the list from Dun & Bradstreet. I gave DNB a ring at (800) 234-3867 and had them remove us from their lists. I asked the operator if there was a space to note the reason for the remove request and she said yes, so I made sure she noted that I had been offended by a mailing the BSA did using their lists.

Even if your creditor goes bankrupt, you'll probably collect something. And you may be able to force them into bankruptcy before they totally run out of cash, so it's better to start sooner rather than later.

As a rule of thumb, never let a commercial creditor get more than 60 days behind. The probability of payment declines rapidly after that point.

• Mailed from a Hotmail account.
• No contact information, phone, or address for the lawyer.
• There is no such thing as "civil prosecution". There's criminal prosecution and civil litigation.

I just ran a Dun and Bradstreet report on LinuxOne. I highly recommend this to investors.
As of January 10, 2000, LinuxOne has 10 employees, including the three officers, and 2500 square feet of rented office space. This is way too early for a full-scale IPO. Usually, at this stage, you go for venture capital funding. Or you make some profits and reinvest. They don't claim to have any unique intellectual property that makes them valuable; they're a me-too company. This is not good.

I've received threats twice in the past when I exposed various scams. My usual response is "I am represented by (name of attorney). Send them the paperwork." Nobody ever did, although one bozo made a big deal of calling me up to ask for my attorney's name and address.

Advice to people who expose scams: follow the Associated Press Libel Manual, buy a liability umbrella policy, and don't worry too much. The last thing most scammers want is a real libel suit, because you get to do discovery on them, examine their records, and question their people, creating a public record of the inner details of the scam.