Once upon a time, youthful indiscretions committed during college years stayed locked up in the memories of school buddies or, at worst, on a police report tucked away  in a small-town police station file.

Social media and the Internet have changed that. Now, a single moment of bad judgment -- an unflattering photo, an inappropriate comment or something more serious -- can live forever in friends' Facebook posts or tweets.  Worse yet, the information is easily searchable by future employers.  A decade later, one black mark could doom a job application in the time it takes to type "Bob Sullivan" into a search engine.

Everyone knows this, and nearly everyone ignores this.  Behavioral experts like Carnegie Mellon Professor Alessandro Aquisti have conducted research showing that users continue to treat public social networks as if they are private conversations, often with disastrous results. 

To be sure, companies are using Google and Facebook to check up on job applicants.  A study released by Microsoft in 2010 found that 70 percent of company recruiters said they'd rejected applicants based on information they found online.

That same study showed that job applicants are incredibly naive about this: Only 15 percent said they thought information found online would impact their ability to get a job.

What students need, says privacy expert Daniel Solove of George Washington University, is a "very cynical dose of how the real world works."

 "A lot of them think that employers will be fair, that they won't be hypocritical, that they will think, 'Oh, I did that when I was in school, so I won't hold this against (an applicant).’ Well that's not how it works," Solove said. "Life's not fair. Companies aren't fair. They will hold it against you."

"It" could be as innocent as a photo of a job applicant drinking at college party, or as damning as a racial epithet placed on a blog. 

"It's not very time-consuming to do this. It only takes a few seconds," said Solove, who is also author of the book The Future of Reputation. 

As part of NBC's Education Nation week, today we're taking a look at the importance of online reputation, and how decisions that students make about their digital lives today could have serious consequences tomorrow.

Firms are aggressively pursuing digital background strategies, evidenced by the appearance of companies like Social Intelligence, which will compile exhaustive online dossiers on job applicants for employers. The Federal Trade Commission opened -- and later closed -- an investigation into the company after its practices were reported by journalists at Gizmodo.  Just this month, Sens. Richard Blumenthal, D-Conn., and Al Franken, D-Minn., sent a letter to Social Intelligence asking it to clarify its policies.

"The internet is the first, second and third stop for employers today when considering you for a job," said Michael Fertik, CEO of Reputation .com.  "People are not even getting to first base, not even getting to the interview because of content that's out there about them on the Web."  (Click to watch Fertik in the video on this story).

The extent of the searches, and their impact on job applicants, might surprise many people. In Microsoft's survey, four out of 10 hiring managers said they'd rejected an applicant because of inappropriate comments written by colleagues, friends or relatives.

That means job applications can be doomed not just by your online actions, but by what people say about you.

Today's students might be surprised at what qualifies as a transgression, and might disqualify them for a job someday. 

"Photos of drinking might be the least of their worries," Solove said.  "A lot of things can show you in a bad light.  Say you are a person who does a lot of gossiping -- that's something a company might not want. Or if you are critical or mocking of your teachers, making fun of them, the person doing the hiring might say, ‘Will I be next?’ and decide to move on."

In fact, four out of 10 employers in Microsoft's survey said critical comments about previous employers factored into their decision.

Even bad grammar can hurt. "Poor communication skills" were cited by one out of four hiring managers as a reason for rejection.

The rampant online background searches are troubling, Solove says, because virtually no companies have standardized their digital backgrounding process, or created any kind of guidelines.

"It's a free for all," he said.  "A lot of employers haven't really thought the issue through. ...There are no guidelines on what should count positively or negatively against the applicant. They don't have a process for verifying the information they find is really about the applicant."

And they rarely give applicants a chance to respond to the negative information, he said.  With many jobs openings attracting hundreds of applicants, even a slight online transgression will give an overwhelmed hiring manager an excuse to move a candidate to the rejected pile.

"Colleges create an artificial environment of fairness," Solove said.  "Teachers rarely require students to answer questions on tests that they haven't been warned about, for example, and students feel free to question fairness. But that's not how it works when you're trying to get a job. Employers are busy. They have no incentive to get to the bottom of things. They are just going to move on."

Not all nations treat social media as fair game for employee background checks. In fact, Germany recently passed a law making social media research by employers illegal.

Solove has argued that companies that reject applicants because of digital research be required to inform them about the decision, akin to "adverse action" notices sent to prospective employees who are rejected because of negative information in their credit reports. 

But for now, "life's not fair," should be the mantra for all college students when posting information online.

RED TAPE WRESTLING TIPS

1) Be conservative when cameras are around.  No matter what anyone says about you, it's always worse when there are pictures.  I have an important friend who will quietly go around a party at the end of the night and delete pictures taken of her off of everyone's cameras and cell phones. Not a bad policy.

2) Pay attention to privacy policies.  You probably think your images, tweets and updates can only be viewed by a limited set of people, but study after study shows you are probably wrong. Dial up the social network privacy settings as high as they can go; periodically check for changes that might let data slip out into the public eye; and ask friends to look up your account to check for leaks right before you send out that first job application.

3) Be proactive. You can have a good online reputation, too.  Post on blogs in your field; show you are a member of organizations that prove you are interesting and engaged; write thoughtful notes and comments in good English. (On a side note, don't leave comments like, "That woman you wrote about is an idiot," on blogs like this one, which happens frighteningly often. It'll cause trouble for you now and later.)  In the Microsoft study, almost nine in 10 hiring pros said a positive online reputation could boost an applicant's chances.

4) Use all available tools. Use services such as Google alerts or TweetBeep, to keep up with everything that is said about you online.

5) Consider creating two identities. By establishing dual online personas   -- one personal, one professional -- you can keep the party pics fully separate from the professional associations.  This isn't a perfect solution, as the two identities can often be blended. But it can be easier than keeping on top of privacy settings.

 Follow Bob Sullivan on Facebook or Twitter.   

Soon, it's going to cost more money to spend money. 

Bank of America will begin charging debit card customers a $5 monthly fee for using their plastic to make purchases starting next year, according to spokeswoman Anne Pace. The move follows tests by other major banks, including Wells Fargo and J.P. Morgan Chase, to tack monthly fees onto debit cards.

The changes will only add to confusion for consumers who try to get the best deal -- or at least, pay the lowest fees -- when pulling plastic out of their wallets at checkout counters. 

 Banks are making the change because revenue from lucrative interchange fees paid by merchants -- so-called swipe fees -- is drying up. The Federal Reserve Board issued rules in June that essentially cut swipe fees in half, from an average of 44 cents to 24 cents per transaction. The new rule takes effect Oct. 1, and Bank of America has said it will lose $2 billion annually because of the change. 

So banks are trying to shift their costs onto consumers now.

"The economics of offering a debit card have changed with recent regulations, and we've decided to introduce a monthly fee for customers who use their debit cards for purchases," said Pace. "The price of a debit card was previously determined by the amount and type of transactions. We were able to pass some of these costs along to merchants, but because of regulatory changes, we are adjusting our pricing to reflect today’s economics."

The fees will allow Bank of America to continue to offer "fraud protection, overdraft prevention, record-keeping, fraud monitoring, and savings programs," Pace said. Customers will still be able to get cash at ATMs and use online bill-paying for free, she said, and consumers who don't make a debit purchase during any given month will not be assessed a fee.  

The move was reported earlier by Bloomberg News.

The new monthly fee will not apply to high-value banking customers who maintain large balances or other "premium" account holders.  But it will impact many consumers who have shunned credit cards in favor of debit cards in an attempt to avoid accumulating expensive credit card debt.

"Banks have lost a great deal of revenue in the past few years with (financial reform). The banks have to make up for this loss of revenue with either new fees or increased rates, and it is always the customer that ends up paying for it," said Bill Hardekopf, who operates credit card ratings site LowCards.com. "Charging fees on debit card use and checking accounts are two ways that banks can make a significant amount of revenue very quickly. And that is what we are starting to see."

For years, personal finance advocates have instructed consumers to choose debit over credit as a superior way to manage their finances. That advice might change now that debit cards will be more costly to use.

Merchants prefer use of debit cards because they are less prone to fraud -- consumers must enter PIN codes when making purchases - and their associated fees can be a fraction of credit card fees. 

Until now, fees for debit card use have been rare, but they have always existed.  U.S. Bank, for example, in the past charged 25-cent per-transaction fees in some markets when consumers entered PIN codes while buying with a debit card, rather than signing their names to credit receipts. 

 Follow Bob Sullivan on Facebook or Twitter.   

Craigslist bargain hunters around the country are being thrust into the middle of an elaborate scheme involving some of the Internet's darkest corners:  Penny auctions, spam, and affiliate marketing.  And many are finding their bank accounts are $89 lighter for their troubles.

Shoppers who respond to “for sale” ads on the site are being sent "Sorry, but..." emails that appear to come from real sellers. They follow a consistent pattern.

"Sorry it took a while to respond, someone already picked it up, but I’ve been telling people where I got it. I just picked up four for under 80$ at THIS SITE and I’ve been re-selling them on Craigslist or eBay for some extra cash," read one email received by msnbc.com after a response to an ad selling an Amazon Kindle. "Since that site is fairly new there’s almost nobody online, nobody is bidding, it's like an early Christmas."

More like an early April Fool's Day. 

Such links typically take recipients to relatively new entrant in the troubled world of penny auctions, BouncyBids.com, where visitors are confronted with flashing ads offering iPads for under $10 and $50 gift cards for pennies. After creating a user name and password, users this week were presented an even longer page full of blinking icons and expiring auctions, with the words, "finish registration below." Tucked at the bottom of the page was a form that requested a shipping address for winnings. A message reading "Hurry and receive special offers" appeared, as did countdown clocks running towards 0:00.

Amid the visual noise, users were also asked for a credit card number. 

Apparently, many missed the small, light grey print to the left indicating they would be charged $89 immediately for a "bid pack" of 165 bids.  A lightly trafficked Facebook page operated by the company was littered with complaints about the charges this week.

"I thought I would check this site out and signed up for the trial, 30 minutes later they took $89 from my bank account and I did not authorize it," wrote one. "I have tried several ways to contact them and (received) no response to resolve this issue."

Said another, more bluntly, "What’s up with the 89 dollar charge. … You guys ripped me off!!"

In penny auctions, users bid the price of items up one penny at a time.  Each bid costs money, however, and the sites have been dogged by controversy because their aggressive “Win an iPad for $2.04” ads do not reflect the true costs for bidders, which can far exceed the value of the item. There are perhaps 100 or more penny auction sites, and many have been accused of much worse than a confusing business model. On Thursday, the Federal Trade Commission obtained a court order shutting down online operations run by Canadian Jesse Willms. The agency accuses him of bilking $450 million from U.S. consumers by signing them up for $79 “negative option” services, such as teeth whitener, that were advertised as free. Willms took some of that money running deceptive penny auction sites named SwipeBids.com and SwipeAuctions.com, the agency alleges.

Angry users who visit a site devoted to consumer complaints called HissingKitty.com began logging complaints about BouncyBids.com in June, soon after it appeared.

"They post fake listings on Craigslist. … They get people to email inquiries for that item, then they respond to the emails," wrote one. 

Chris Risenhoover, CEO of BouncyBids, acknowledged there have been some complaints about his new site, but blamed the Craigslist spam on a rogue affiliate marketing company, and the unauthorized $89 charges on a design issue with his website. The design of the page was changed within minutes of a reporter's phone call and now includes prominent disclosure of the $89 charge just a few pixels away from the shipping address form. 

"If you look at our Facebook page, you'll see there is a balance of people happy using the site, and people confused about it," he said, before the change was made. "We're trying to make it as clear as possible."

Several users who complained on the site's Facebook page indicated they'd been contacted by the firm's customer support team and promised a refund. 

But how did they get caught in the first place? 

Murky world
Because a lot of money is at stake.  Fake Craigslist posters can earn $44 for each consumer they trick into signing up at BouncyBids. The story of how that money is split among various unseemly characters online offers a rare glimpse into the murky world of affiliate marketing.

It begins with the fake ads, which currently can be found across the country. Ads placed in Seattle offer electronics for sale, posted by a person claiming to be Tom Robinson.  A user with that name has posted similar ads for electronics in Milwaukee, Columbia., S.C., and Houston. 

Once potential victims respond to the posts, would-be spammers have two valuable things -- live email addresses, and Web users they know are actively shopping for electronics.  The spamming comes next.

"(We) have seen variants of this," said Craig Newmark, founder of Craigslist. He said his firm would investigate.

The spam received by Craigslist users appears uniform, and in the messages examined by msnbc.com, the embedded email links were routed through a domain name server called PennyWinz.info. That domain was listed for sale in January on an industry site called PennyAuctionWatch.com. The registration information for the site is anonymized, and there is no contact information on the Web site, preventing contact with its current owner.

But sitting on that server are dozens of links allegedly offering pirated copies of the popular p90X exercise program.  The links did not work this week.

Affiliate pay-for-clicks arrangements have been around as long as the Web itself, and they often lead to unsavory tactics.  Affiliate networks have been tarnished by links to porn sites, computer hacking, identity theft and plenty of other below-the-belt tactics designed to split $5 or $10 commissions.  A $44-bounty per lead -- half the cost for consumers who sign up with BouncyBid -- is bound to bring out the worst in affiliate tactics. 

“Advertisers often look the other way because they want the traffic," said E.J. Hilbert, a former FBI cybercrime investigator who now runs Online Intelligence, an Internet advertising consulting business. "And you have networks that are going to push the envelope on everything they do."

'Huge amount of fraud'
Pace Lattin, executive director of the Executive Council of Performance Marketing LLC, said he knows of affiliate companies that hire small armies of programmers in China and Thailand to post fake ads on Craigslist, then spam users who respond.

"Some of them are paid $2 a day to sit in Internet cafes all day and do this," he said. "There is a huge amount of fraud."

It's unclear what affiliate network is behind the Craigslist spam that's tied to BouncyBids, but a firm named YeahCPA has placed an advertisement on Offervault.com promising $44 commissions to members who get new signups to BouncyBids.

Peter Zou, who is listed as a contact for YeahCPA, did not respond to emailed questions. It's common for websites to work with multiple affiliate partners, so the advertisement doesn't indicate YeahCPA is behind the fake Craigslist ads. 

Risenhoover said his firm has no direct relationship with YeahCPA, and suggested  that firm purchased the chance to acquire BouncyBids bounties from another network.

Amanda Lee, who runs PennyAuctionWatch.com, said she was not surprised to hear about the Craigslist spam and penny auction site affiliate commissions.

"I've seen at least three other sites involved in that," she said. She blamed the affiliates, not the auction firms. "They're just trying to make their commissions. It frustrates me, though, because in some cases (penny auction sites) are giving affiliates control over the (design of the landing page), and they have users put in their credit card number where you enter your address to ship your winnings.  They are designed to confuse people."

Risenhoover said affiliates who use the Craigslist spam tactics are violating their agreement with his firm, and maintained that his new website is sifting out less desirable affiliates.  Hilbert, however, said firms that hire affiliates could do more to screen out bad ones.

"My opinion (is) bad product affiliate marketers will push the envelope, but advertisers have a way to check quality," he said.

BouncyBids also has the ability to control what happens to consumers who are delivered to its website by affiliate marketers.  This week, those consumers were treated very differently than users who arrived via the site's front door.

Direct visits to BouncyBids.com generate a sign up form that promises "free" membership. Once the forms are filled out, users are presented with the chance to spend under $10 to start making bids on the site.

But users who find their way to BouncyBids via Craigslist spam are presented an entirely different, two-step registration process that includes only one option: the $89 "premium account," which gets members a "bid pack" of 165 bids to start using the site.

Shill bidding?
Penny auctions have exploded in popularity during the past 12 months, in part because of massive Internet marketing campaigns and even major airtime purchases at networks like ESPN.  They have been shrouded in controversy the entire time.  Dozens of sites have appeared and quickly disappeared with users' money, having never delivered products to winning bidders.  Because the firms make more money with every bid, there are rampant accusations of shill bidding by companies to drive up the prices. 

MSNBC.com’s Herb Weisbaum explored the dark side of penny auctions here.

But even without accusations of fraud, many observers say the sites involve illegal gambling -- users pay for a chance to win a near-free product, not unlike a raffle.   (Red Tape Chronicles explored this issue in depth earlier this year.)

Penny auction firms prefer the term "entertainment shopping," and say the concept sites are legitimate, and fun to use. Risenhooven acknowledges his industry has seen its share of scams, but said it's easy to distinguish between bad actors and legitimate ones.

"The biggest way you can tell a scam is if products are getting shipped," he said. "It's important to me that (scam sites) get called out. They don't do anything for our industry.”

Indeed, BouncyBids' Facebook page is crowded with winners who post pictures of themselves along with the product they've received as winning bidder. Many are quick to defend the site against its critics. 

One frequent winner claimed in a side conversation she'd been paid $100 by the company to post such pictures.

"Everyone else has the same opportunity," she wrote. She did not respond to an emailed request for confirmation.

Follow Bob Sullivan on Facebook or Twitter.   

If it seems easier lately for companies to add small fees on your bills and harder for you to get your money back, that's because it is.  

A Supreme Court decision that was denounced as a “crushing blow to consumers” when it was announced in April has become exactly that, according to lawyers who argue on behalf of alleged victims of corporate cheating. The decision, which upheld corporations’ right to enforce fine-print contact language that compels consumers to waive their right to file lawsuits, is being used to squelch legal cases across the country, they say.

“Defendants are trying to steamroll us out of court with this.  We're getting completely shut down,” said David DiSabato, who specializes in consumer law in New Jersey. “… The ruling opens the door for companies to pickpocket $10 at a time from millions of consumers.

As an example, DiSabato told the story of client John Considine of Rutherford, N.J., who found several phantom $10 charges on his Verizon cell phone bill from firms offering ring tones, horoscopes and other services he didn't want. In one case, he couldn't even find out the identity of the company levying the charge. Working with DiSabato, Considine learned that cramming is a common problem, and decided to file a class action lawsuit to get his money back and help others -- many who might not even realize they'd been victims.

But Considine ran right into a brick wall. Only days after the Supreme Court arbitration ruling, Verizon filed a motion to dismiss his case and to compel arbitration. If Verizon prevails, as expected, Considine will never have a day in court, will never be able to discover how many other consumers were hit by the same charges and may never even find out the name of the phantom company. He certainly won't be able to find legal representation for a fight to recover $10 fees, DiSabato said.

"(The Supreme Court decision) gave the telecom companies a license to commit petty theft without ever having to face the consequences," said DiSabato.  "The telecom companies get rich by committing theft against consumers on a massive scale, and (the decision) deprives consumers of any meaningful ability to fight back."

Considine's case is among countless others around the country affected by the ruling, known as AT&T Mobility vs. Concepcion.  In that case, the Supreme Court ruled that a California law prohibiting waiver of class action lawsuit rights was trumped by the Federal Arbitration Act. Open season was on.

The ruling is fostering decisions that a company's right to enforce arbitration clauses trumps almost every other interest -- and it's falling like a hammer on consumer cases around the country. 

That's illustrated by a case decided in June against Matthew Wolf, a captain in the Army Reserve who was deployed in 2007.  The Servicemembers Civil Relief Act gives deployed reservists a number of tools to ease their financial burden, including instant relief from car leases and pro-rated refunds of any prepaid leases.  Wolf had a dispute with Nissan over prepaid fees he believed should be refunded, but a New Jersey court found in June that it had to choice but to dismiss his case.

"New Jersey precedent notwithstanding, the court is bound by the controlling authority of the United States Supreme Court," the judge  wrote.

The ruling shows that court favored arbitration "even if it hindered the policy goals behind the (Servicemembers Relief Act)," lamented the Alliance for Justice, in a blog devoted to chronicling the aftermath of the AT&T decision.

http://afjjusticewatch.blogspot.com/2011/08/at-aftermath-servicemembers-denied.html

Krystle Bernal had a similar outcome after she sued a private fashion school in 2010, alleging misrepresentations about costs made during high-pressure sales pitches. Bernal's lawyer argued that a lawsuit and comprehensive discovery process, including depositions of employees, were necessary to flesh out accusations of fraud.  Colorado federal court judge William Martinez implied he agreed, but  concluded that his hands were legally tied and granted  the dismissal. The AT&T decision was “a serious blow to consumer class actions and likely foreclosed the possibility of any recovery for many wronged individuals,” he noted in his June ruling.

Hal Rosner has sued car dealers in California on behalf of consumers for decades, often winning compensation after consumers were allegedly misled during sales. He said his entire practice has changed as a result of the AT&T decision.

"Before the decision we had returned millions to consumers, and since very little,” he said. “Every week and most days my law firm finds ourselves dealing with another motion to compel arbitration by a car dealership. ... In a crowded court system with judges angry over budget cuts, Concepcion has become a way for Judges to get rid of cases. ... Without any doubt our world has changed beyond belief."

DiSabato said that as soon as the AT&T ruling was issued, he received motions to compel arbitration in about a dozen cases he was working on, including one where a settlement offer that was withdrawn.  The ruling has been particularly fortuitous for telecom companies, he said.

The filings all look the same, as if the corporations' lawyers were sharing blank forms, he said. 

"While New Jersey law had previously held arbitration provisions precluding class actions in certain consumer cases to be unconscionable, the United States Supreme Court recently held in the broadest terms that the FAA (Federal Arbitration Act) preempts any state attempt to impose class or representative proceedings on bilateral arbitration agreements and that arbitration provisions such as those at issue here must be enforced according to their terms," Verizon's lawyers wrote in their motion to compel arbitration in the Considine case." Accordingly, this court should stay this case and compel plaintiff to bring his claims on an individual basis in arbitration."

Considine's case revolves around third-party companies that are allowed to place charges on consumer phone bills, a sore subject that was the focus of a recent congressional investigation and hearing. In one of the three phantom charges, a company named “SendMe” claimed Considine signed up for its service while playing an intelligence "I.Q. quiz" online.  Considine denies this, but there will be no courtroom airing of the evidence because SendMe has also claimed it has an arbitration agreement in force with the consumer, according to DiSabato. If such agreements are allowed to stand, the door would be open for a new kind of fraud, he argued.

"Our client is a stranger to SendMe, how can he have an arbitration agreement with them?"  he said. 

In general, Considine argues that Verizon allows third-party firms to use "misleading, oblique or inadequate consent procedures," when they are signed up for $10-a-month services. 

The case neatly illustrated the need for class action cases, and the disaster of the Supreme Court ruling, DiSabato said. 

"We are being precluded from taking any discovery that would force (Verizon) to identify the third company," he said. "No one would ever file a case for $10 by themselves. And we don't know how many consumers are harmed." He did say that 480,000 Verizon customers in New Jersey are subject to third-party charges like those crammed on his client's bill

Verizon General Counsel Leigh Schachter declined to discuss specifics of Considine’s case while it’s in litigation, but said in general he believed Verizon’s arbitration procedure was the best way to address consumer issues.

“Our point of view is we think Supreme Court decision is the correct one, and we have an arbitration clause that we think is good for our customers,” Schachter said. “We have tried to design the clause in a way to make it as customer-friendly as we can.”

A message left with SendMe was not returned, but the New Jersey Law Journal reported that the firm said it had obtained authorization for the $9.99 charge on Considine’s bill.

Class-action lawsuits for small but common grievances are hardly a panacea. They are notorious for producing so-called coupon settlements, which see a tiny sum – even a $10 coupon – going to consumers while lawyers rack up million-dollar fees.  Tort reform advocates have long argued that arbitration is opposed by consumer lawyers only because they stand to lose out on hefty fees.

“In every single one of my cases, my clients would have been better off … with the AT&T Mobility arbitration provision than with what class-action attorneys negotiated for them,” wrote Ted Frank earlier this year. “The media is uniformly describing this case as one of consumers vs. businesses, when it's really one of consumers vs. lawyers trying to protect their monopoly on dispute resolution procedures.”

But arbitration has a spotty record as an alternative. While public information about the proceedings is generally unavailable, data that have emerged show corporations win an overwhelming percentage of cases.

Class action cases offer the added benefit of alerting victims who might not otherwise know they’ve been mistreated by a company – say, they never noticed a $10 monthly ring-tone charge – and compels firms to offer them refunds. Individual arbitration cases do no good for consumers who don’t file them.

Christine Hines, a lawyer for the advocacy group Public Citizen, said the AT&T decision has impacts beyond standard form consumer contracts and annoying fees and surcharges.  Binding arbitration agreements have also hit workers who try to sue their employers for unfair or even discriminatory practices. Employment arbitration clauses can be in effect even without a worker’s signature, as soon as an employee begins the terms of employment, she said.

"The Concepcion decision was ill-advised," she said. "I was initially startled by the effect on employment claims. Employment claims are typically based on federal laws. It’s alarming when employees cannot band together to address often company-wide discriminatory or other wrongful practices."

Ed Mierzwinski, head of U.S. Public Interest Research Group, said advocacy groups had warned that the AT&T decision would wreak havoc with consumer lawsuits and would immediately ripple through the legal system.

"This was simply the wrong decision, and as we said at the time, it has become a crushing blow to consumers," Mierzwinski said.  “You’re seeing it used everywhere now.”

For years, members of Congress have proposed legislation, such as the Fairness in Arbitration Act, designed to limit companies' ability to enforce fine-print lawsuit bans in consumer contracts. A form of such relief was passed as part of the omnibus Dodd-Frank financial reform bill. The new Bureau of Consumer Financial Protection is compelled to study the issue, and after reporting to Congress, will have the right to restrict arbitration uses by companies. That agency's fate, however -- let alone its ability to complete studies and enforce new rules – is up in the air.

Meanwhile, the legal strategy of divide and conquer – one consumer facing a $10 charge is easy to quiet, while 100,0000 is a massive headache – now appears to be the law of the land.

“In states where arbitration has become the rule, consumers can no longer even get attorneys to help them,” warned  Rosner, the auto consumer advocate. “And once (consumers) are sent to arbitration the system is biased against them.”

Follow Bob Sullivan on Facebook or Twitter.   

Bill Reiser

Billy Reiser and his dog Fergie will be hitting the road soon, looking for work.

During the depths of the Great Depression in the 1930s, Dust Bowl migrants from the Great Plains loaded all their belongings into their cars and jammed Route 66 in hope of finding a better life in California. 

Nearly 80 years later, Billy Reiser, an unemployed 50-year-old Pennsylvanian, plans to follow their path.

Reiser lost his job managing the engineering department at an eastern Pennsylvania medical device manufacturing company in 2009, and he's hit nothing but roadblocks since. With his unemployment running out and his retirement funds raided to pay his mortgage, he's decided to take a radical step: He's selling everything he owns, including the house, and plans to load his two dogs in a used RV and drive west looking for work. 

"I know there are jobs elsewhere as I look on Monster.com and CareerBuilder.com every day," he said.

Reiser's plight is nowhere near as bad as those of the starving farmers who were forced west by drought and economic calamity. Still, compared to his increasingly depressing situation at home, the chance to take up the spirit of a character in a John Steinbeck novel has obvious appeal.

"I have come to feel as though I'm just sitting around looking for things to do while waiting to die.  So change is a necessity," he said.

Last month, as part of our coverage of America’s economic malaise, we chronicled the story of a young father who took a job as a firefighter in Iraq after he couldn’t find work in Miami. Then we asked msnbc.com readers: What crazy things are you doing to make ends meet? This is the third of three reader stories we’ll share. Last week, we wrote about a man who has turned to dumpster diving to keep food on the table for his three children.  Earlier this week, we wrote about a 30-something unemployed lawyer who's now working as a stripper to make ends meet. Now, we tell Reiser's story.

Reiser has decades of experience in what was once the high-flying field of bioengineering.  Ten years ago, he even went back to school and earned an MBA so he could step forward in his field.  He switched firms in 2003 to take a management job, and was part of several successful product launches. But when sales slipped after the 2008 recession, his job was eliminated.

Now, his lengthy resume works against him.  Reiser says his age -- too young to retire, but too old for entry level jobs -- has played a big part in his persistent unemployment.

"I have come to the realization that I am unemployable," he said. "I would take a job that pays $60,000 less than I was making, but I get no response when I apply.  I think ageism has something to do with it. … There are many of us out there like me, unemployable for what we used to do. But when we try to get jobs at less than what we used to make, no one will take us because they figure we will bolt as soon as the economy turns around."

His prospects and bank account both dwindling, Reiser was forced to take a step that's devastating for investors in their 50s.

"I had to pull money out of my IRA to subsidize my mortgage. It was really gut wrenching, because you are taxed and penalized for that," he said.

That's when Reiser started to think more drastic steps were necessary.  He'd gotten divorced in 2006, but stayed in his home because of an emotional attachment.

"I felt tied to it due to all the work my dad, a retired carpenter, and I had put into it. (We) installed all new windows and doors, installed new kitchen and bath, built a second floor deck," he said.

But now, it was time to question that attachment, and all his attachments.  With nothing tying him to his home, he’s decided roam America, looking for a new beginning.

Reiser has already begun selling all his personal belongings -- he netted $510 in a garage sale last weekend -- and has put his home on the market.  In a way, it's as if he's presiding over his own post-mortem estate sale.

"It's harder than you think. It's easy to get very philosophical," he said.  "You realize that everything you have has a story." Like the wood carvings he purchased from poor kids at the end of a hike in Zimbabwe.  Or the signed painting he purchased from an artist in the Southwest for $250 several years ago. It went for $30.

"You realize many of the things you have aren't worth what you thought they were,' he said.  "But it is just stuff.  It has been a cathartic process.  It's a unique mental process. ... It has made me realize how shackled I have become to comfort of my home and belongings."

When the house is sold, he plans to buy a cheap RV and head south before winter. His first stop will be at a friend's place in Richmond, Va. Then he's on to North Carolina and Florida, and will turn west and head for Texas and the southwest by spring -- ending up perhaps in California, where Dust Bowl migrants looked for their Promised Land. He hopes to pick up odd jobs along the way, spending perhaps one or two months in each place.

"I know a lot of RV camps need help around the place, and I'm pretty handy," he said.  "Maybe when I head out west I'll work in a dude ranch or something."

The trip represents a huge mental shift for Reiser, who felt himself slipping deeper and deeper into depression with nothing to do during the day, and began to feel his advancing age.  Now, he sees his unemployment as an opportunity, and the timing as surprisingly good. 

"When in my life would I be able to just take off and do this and be young enough to handle the rigors of this kind of travel?” he said. “Many people say they are going to travel the country like this when they retire, but they never get there. Since this is happening it has given me the opportunity to do things I always wanted to do. ... In fact, many family members, when they hear my plan, say, 'Can I go with you?’ jokingly, I think. They plan to live vicariously through me."

Meanwhile, the trip won't impact his continuing job search, he figures. 

"I'm just sitting on the computer and looking for jobs all day. I can do that on road just as easily," he said. 

The plan does hinge on sale of his home, but he believes he has enough equity in it to fund at least the start of his trip.  Still, losing most of his possessions, his home and his community has risks.

"But I cannot just sit here in Pennsylvania and wallow in misery,” Reiser said. “So off I go, to wander the country in hopes that, through serendipity or maybe just the kindness of a stranger, I will find meaningful employment. At this point, it has the potential to be an epic journey with a joyful end, or a demoralizing trip with results that could suck the soul right out of me."

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Pat Shannahan for msnbc.com

Carla couldn't find work in the legal profession, so she's dancing in a topless bar now.

When Carla graduated 10 years ago, she thought her law degree would be a permanent ticket to a high-paying job.  But instead of selling her mind, Carla is selling her body. After student loans, debt, a layoff and unemployment battered her bank account, she now finds herself in an almost unbelievable position – dancing in a topless bar.

"Did I ever think I’d be taking my top off for rent money? No. I was in my mid-30s and had never danced before," said Carla, who asked that we use her stage name and withhold her identity and some personal details. "As a little girl, I never thought to myself, 'I just want to grow up and be a stripper,’ or, ‘All I ever wanted to do in life is climb in the lap of sweaty stranger and take my top off.'

"But, with our economy the way it is, especially in smaller cities ... you strip or you starve," she said.

Last month, as part of our coverage of America’s economic malaise, we chronicled the story of a young father who took a job as a firefighter in Iraq after he couldn’t find work in Miami. Then we asked msnbc.com readers: What crazy things are you doing to make ends meet? This is the second of three reader stories we’ll share. Last week, we wrote about a man who has turned to dumpster diving to keep food on the table for his three children.  Now, we tell Carla's story.

Carla grew up in the Midwest and moved to the West Coast in the late ‘90s to fulfill her dream of earning her law degree. After graduation, she worked for nine years putting her degree to use, but she had entered the crowded legal profession at the wrong time. When she was laid off in 2009, she couldn't find work. 

"At first, I worked as a waitress, and a cashier in gas station," she said.

'Act of desperation'
As her prospects grew dim, she went back to school to earn a master’s degree, hoping to bolster her credentials. But her financial aid came in lower than expected, her credit was battered and she struggled to find part-time work in her new town to keep her afloat.

"I went around to see if could get a job as cocktail waitress, but there was not a single retail or waitress job.  No one was hiring, except for the topless places," she said.  “It was an act of desperation.”

She started out serving drinks as a waitress, but moved quickly to dancing "because that's where the money is, and that's what I needed."

On an average day, she earns $20 an hour, but on a good weekend night, she might pull in $50 an hour –enough to get her finances back on track. She can set her own hours, which means she can squeeze in reading and writing papers around her work schedule.

"Sometimes it sucks, it’s degrading and I hate it, but it is necessary right now and I’m glad I have the option of doing it," Carla said.  "My parents and a few friends know and they were horrified at first. But now they are proud of me for sucking it up and doing what I have to do."

Carla has her limits, as does the topless bar she works in.  She stays away from private rooms even though women can make $500 to $1,000 a night there. 

Local rules allow lap dances – as long as the patrons don’t touch the dancers – and Carla sometimes performs them. The bar doesn't have a full nudity license, and that’s just as well with Carla; she'd need a personal license to work at a place like that and she wants no record of her temporary stint in the dancing business.

Pat Shannahan for msnbc.com

Carla hopes she'll be finished with dancing in about six months.

"While I am proud of making a living by any legal means available to me, I realize that some will think of me as just a glorified legal prostitute and I would very much like to move on with my life and career at the earliest available opportunity," she said. 

Ugly moments
Despite these precautions, Carla said she has had her share of ugly moments.  Not all men follow the rules; some have tried to overpower her and “grab her, bite her, kiss her, or get their hands under the bottoms (I) wear.” Bouncers come to her aid, but they can't be everywhere all the time.

"I've had men overcome me," she said. "Luckily help has arrived and nothing has happened. But I have been scared."

Carla agreed to talk about her experience in part because she said it has been profound –  in one sense, the job is less hostile than any law office she’s worked in, she said. Coming from the cutthroat legal profession, she has been stunned by the camaraderie among the women she works with.

"I thought the other women I worked with would be competitive and not supportive. We are 'fighting' over the same dollars," she said.  "But my female coworkers are the best coworkers I've ever had." 

Many are in the same situation she is, she said: forced by their economic situation to perform work they would have never considered in the past. 

"I work with war widows, a nurse, a med student, women who have had to go to work to save their home after their husbands have lost their jobs, and others who do this as a means to an end and who do not fit the profile of junkie/prostitute/dancer. … What we all have in common is being in a tight spot financially and living in an economy that provides limited options right now, " she said.  "I'd be willing to bet that there are women like me working in it all over the country, out of necessity and not because our goal in life was to appear topless in front of … creepy guys."

She's also been horrified by the way dancers are treated by some men she encounters.

'Some real creeps'
"I was shocked at how horribly some men treat us. I realized that I was much more naive than I thought I was," she said. On the other hand, the bar and its patrons sometimes surprise her. “While there are some real creeps that come in, there are also some very sweet guys who are regular customers and who I genuinely enjoy knowing . The stereotype that says that only dirty old men frequent nudie bars is incorrect." 

She gets asked out often, she said, in situations that would be amusing if they weren't so sad.

"Men aren't quite as sneaky as they think they are,” she said.  Even in a strip club, they try to convince her that they aren’t just hunting for sex.  “They think their motivations are transparent, when they aren't at all.”

Believe it or not, she said she feels lucky, because she has a male friend at school who's in a similar financial situation, "but there's no male equivalent to what I'm doing. At least I have the option,” she said.

She says she’s been humbled by the experience, too. 

"I am no better than the next dancer by virtue of my education or previous work experience.  The universe has a funny way of putting a person in their place,” she said. “I have learned that I still have a lot to learn about life but now I have some incredible female mentors who continually inspire me with their courage and work ethic."  

She's also learned to "never say never," about things you may do in life. She's almost finished with school, and hopes to stop dancing soon, but figures that "realistically, I'll probably have to keep dancing until I get offered a full-time job. Which means I'll be doing it for another six months, at least."

When she does take a new job, she's leaving the medium-sized city she's in, with no plans to return.

"I cannot wait to start my life over elsewhere doing something different but I will always be grateful for the lessons I've learned dancing and will never again look down on anyone who works in this industry," she said.  

NEXT: With no prospects at home in Eastern Pennsylvania, Bill is selling everything he owns to buy a cheap RV and will travel the country taking piece work wherever he can find it, following the trail of the dust bowl migration in the 1930s. 

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Supplied by Todd (Anonymous)

A typical haul from two nights’ worth of Dumpster diving by Todd: plenty of chips, crackers, and other boxed goods.

They say one man's trash is another man's treasure.  For Todd, trash is simply a way to keep bread on the table for his three kids. 

A programmer by day, Todd takes to the streets of North Carolina by night, digging through Dumpsters at drug stores and grocery stores all around his rural neighborhood.

"You would be simply amazed at what businesses throw out," he said. "I've only had to buy two loaves of bread all year. ... Last week I had a trunk full of cereal, cookies, chips and ramen noodles."

Todd slinks in and out of smelly places with low-light flashlights to evade rent-a-cops who will shoo him away.  Most nights, his 14-year-old son comes along.

"I don't like getting all the way into Dumpsters unless there's something really valuable in there, but my son doesn't mind as much. He'll jump right in," Todd said.  The two yearn for colder weather, when items spoil more slowly and the stench is far easier to bear.

Last month, as part of our coverage of America’s economic malaise, we chronicled the story of a young father who took a job as a firefighter in Iraq after he couldn’t find work in Miami. Then we asked msnbc.com readers: What crazy things are you doing to make ends meet? This is the first of three reader stories we’ll share.

Todd says trash bins are frequently jammed full of day-old fruit, cookies, crackers and boxed items that haven't lost any flavor from spending a day in a Dumpster. On a good day, he also finds non-perishable items that can be resold on eBay or Craigslist, such as women's makeup or coffee pods. 

"I've cleared about $2,400 that way this year, and that's after expenses like gas and shipping," he said.  He's also cut his grocery bill in half, he figures.

Todd and his family aren't homeless, or even on the verge of that.  They're opportunists, he says.  Todd, a certified program manager, keeps a detailed spreadsheet of treasures he's found and Dumpsters where the haul is good.  But make no mistake: He needs the money.

"I have three kids in school and a wife in nursing school, and things are tight," he said. "This helps a ton."

Todd asked for anonymity before agreeing to be interviewed, but not for the reason you’d expect: He's not embarrassed -- he recently gave his wife roses he found in a Dumpster, and she loved them. He's afraid of competition.

"I am running into more and more competition for first access to bins all the time," he said.  “I keep bumping into people when I’m out there.”

America, land of the dumpster divers.

It's unclear how many consumers are holding their noses and diving into trash bins around the nation, but judging from one online hangout -- DumpsterDiversParadise.com -- their ranks are swelling.  On the site, members swap tips on finding the best Dumpsters, tools for grabbing things out of deep bins and -- in an area called “Treasure Chest” -- brag about their findings, complete with pictures.  That forum is jammed with “like-new” discarded furniture, child’s play houses, and thousands of other finds.

To divers, Dumpsters are like a garage sale or antique shop where all the price tags say “free.”

Todd started his adventures in trash last year before Christmas when he was turned on to it by a neighbor.  Post-holiday diving is particularly fruitful: he found endless boxes of Godiva chocolates after Christmas and Valentine's Day, not to mention perfectly good (but outdated) greeting cards.  

"We saved those for next year," he said.

High-end women's cosmetics, such as anti-aging cream, make the best haul, he said.

“Women go crazy over this stuff. I found a whole box of it once.  I sold each 2 oz. bottle for $60 or $70 on eBay," he said.

He usually finds more food than his family can eat before it spoils -- so he shares his haul first with his neighbor, then takes the leftovers to a nearby urban ministry church.

"I don't know why the businesses don't just do that," he said. 

Dumpster diving raises interesting legal questions: Todd says he's checked with his local police, who told him it is legal in his town. But most trash bins are located on private property, and "treasure hunters" risk running afoul of trespassing rules.  There are often poorly enforced, however, if at all. Meanwhile, U.S. courts have held that taking trash is not theft, and those who discard items don't retain property or privacy rights.

Street rules are more in force, anyway, Todd said.  Laying low is the law of the land.

"Once in a while, a rent-a-cop will stop me and say, 'Hey, that's not allowed.’ So i just go away for a week or two,” he said.

Todd thinks he is more selective than many divers.  He never takes fish, and he almost never takes meat "unless it's for my dog," though he did donate 19 frozen turkeys he found on Thanksgiving night to the church.  Todd’s neighbor, who is unemployed, has lower standards. Todd thinks bad meat plucked from the trash caused his neighbor’s child to become seriously ill last year.

Damaged produce isn't off Todd’s table, however.

"The fruits and vegetables might be bruised, but we cut off the bad parts and make salsa," he said.

Todd said he takes safety seriously.

"I use gloves...I won't touch it if it's not sealed," he said.  "When I get things home, I bathe them in a Clorox and water bath. There's a big bucket I use for that. As soon as i get home, whatever time of night, usually 11 or 12, I clean the stuff off then I always jump right in the shower."

He freely admits Dumpster diving isn’t for everyone, and he doesn't openly tell friends and co-workers what he does. Encouraging your teen-ager to jump into trash bins probably isn't for everyone either, but Todd thinks his son is gaining valuable experience.

"He's learning the value of a dollar," Todd said. "I give him 25 percent of whatever money we make, and that really adds up. For that reason he likes to jump into bins and retrieve things."

He's also getting a lesson in waste.

“It’s just awful what companies throw out. It’s hard to understand. They are just making room for new inventory, I guess,” he said.  “But we are the master recyclers.”

Next: A laid-off 30-something lawyer gives lap-dances to make ends meet.

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