SEC Shuts Down Online Terror List

Web tool designed to spotlight companies trading with terror sponsors
By Dustin Lushing,  Newser Staff
Posted Jul 22, 2007 10:42 AM CDT
SEC Shuts Down Online Terror List
Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) Chairman Christopher Cox, center, and his fellow commissioners, from left, Annette Nazareth, Paul Atkins, Roel Campos and Kathleen Casey, listen to opening remarks on Capitol Hill in Washington, Tuesday, June 26, 2007, during a hearing of the House Financial...   (Associated Press)

The SEC is taking down an online list used to expose companies that do business with countries affiliated with terrorism after critics charged that the Web tool made false accusations and wasn't up to date. "It was basically a word-search list," a US official tells the Wall Street Journal. "There was nothing the least bit sophisticated about it."

Users were able to click on the five "state sponsors of terrorism" and see a list of public companies engaging in business there, including information from their annual reports. Congressmen denounced the tool as more and more inaccurate information showed up on the list; for instance, Immtech Pharmaceuticals was listed for merely describing clinical trials in Sudan. (More counterterrorism stories.)

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