SEC Search Tools

The Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) offers public-facing search tools^[1].

Relationship to consumer issues[edit | edit source]

These tools could be used to identify information related to potential consumer violations, such as:

The official name and information of an entity, its parent or subsidiaries
- Companies may have similar-sounding names or different sub-entities which are actually responsible for a portion of specific consumer interactions under the larger organization
- Entities may simultaneously operate in different jurisdictions having distinct consumer protection rules
- An actionable consumer complaint can require precise legal information regarding any involved parties such as companies providing a service to consumers
Some ownership and control information can be relevant to consumer protection
- For example, change in company control could portend changes in consumer interactions (e.g., when a company has an established pattern of increasing control over other companies and changing service quality or terms post-facto)
- Benchmarking and comparing the incidence of consumer issues by commonalities such as ownership/control, industry, jurisdiction, etc.
Potential relationships between entities
- For example, an entity may require a customer to interact with an affiliated entity which might result in putting the customer at a disadvantage (such as overestimating the degree of data privacy that may be afforded by interacting with the first entity)