Source

[Quote:]

October foreclosure sales increased by 40 percent from September with a total of 12,336 properties – with a loan value of $5 billion — sold at auction statewide, according to figures compiled by ForeclosureRadar.

The Discovery Bay-based company operates a Web site that it says tracks every California foreclosure on a daily basis.

The October figure is a 568 percent increase over the same period in 2006.

There were 8,818 properties sold in September in foreclosure auctions with a value of $3.6 Billion dollars, according to ForeclosureRadar.

“We see no sign of a foreclosure peak at this point, and we don’t expect to see one until the third or fourth quarter of 2008 at the earliest,” says Sean O’Toole, founder of ForeclosureRadar.

“The sales we are seeing now are from missed payments in March. So current auction sales really have not yet been impacted by either August’s liquidity crunch or the ARM reset peaks this month and again in March 2008,” he says.

[Quote:]

Dear Mr Kuik

Being vociferous exponents of the fight against copyright infringement, your organization is expected to uphold the highest possible standards where the misuse of other people’s intellectual property is concerned.

It has been brought to my attention that your organization has reproduced text from an article published by this website concerning the website SumoTorrent, without prior written consent¹ and without complying with the copyright terms applicable to this publication, TorrentFreak².

Specifically, your organization has selectively and misleadingly quoted from our publication without properly attributing the source, in contravention of the Creative Commons license³ under which this text was published. This is a contemptible infringement of our own intellectual property rights, illustrative of a gross lack of professionalism on your part.

Furthermore, you have mischievously and inaccurately attributed the source of the material stolen from ourselves as being “a pirate weblog”. This amounts to actionable libel, inasmuch that neither the owners nor the staff of this publication – a well respected and widely read source of filesharing news – have ever been accused, suspected or prosecuted, for any so-called act of piracy. We are neither sailors nor thieves of other people’s intellectual property, unlike yourselves.

Your “news release” is peppered with inaccurate information, calculated to mislead and intimidate the millions of legitimate users of the many peer-to-peer filesharing services that are in common use throughout the world. Much of the material that is shared by sites targeted by yourselves such as SumoTorrent is open source, copyright has never been asserted or it is in the public domain. To presume otherwise is to add arrogance to the ignorance your organization has already exhibited.

There is, and there can never be, any legitimacy attached to your harassment⁵ of those who merely assist in finding the location of such copyright free material. The indiscriminate prevention of people’s enjoyment of their own property, in this case their own computers, is in direct contravention of the European Convention on Human Rights⁴.

Having learned that you have falsely claimed that a District Court judgment in June 2007 against a specific defendant amounted to some sort of precedent, justifying your demand that others breach data protection principles⁵ & ⁶, my expectations of your professionalism are not high.

Whilst I harbor no illusions that you will have the grace to apologize for your unwarranted breach of my own rights in these matters, this letter will serve to educate others and make public your abuse of process, your contempt for the rights of others and your outright hypocrisy.

Sincerely

TorrentFreak Counsel
legal@torrentfreak.com

—

References:

1: http://www.anti-piracy.nl/nieuws/bericht.asp?nieuwsberichtid=98
2: http://torrentfreak.com/brein-pirates-torrentfreak-071119/
3: http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/2.0/
4: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/European_Convention_on_Human_Rights
Article 1: Obligation to respect Human Rights
Article 7: No punishment without law

Protocol 1: Rights to enjoyment of property
5: Letter from LeaseWeb describing illegal pressure from BREIN
6: EC Directive 95/46

End

[Quote:]

Warner Music, EMI, Vivendi Universal and Sony BMG’s RIAA targeted several Ivy League universities in its latest “initiative,” as their RIAA calls it as it continues to wreak havoc in universities up and down up and down America.

InformationWeek notes that among them are Columbia University, Duke University, Dartmouth College, University of Pennsylvania, Yale, Princeton, and Brown University.

But what it doesn’t note is the fact that missing, significantly, is Harvard.

Or as Ray Beckerman puts it on Recording Industry vs The People, this latest anti-college round, “targets 7 out of 8 Ivy League schools, but continues to give Harvard University a wide berth”

Harvard was the only one to tell them to go take a hike. RIAA knows they’re on shaky grounds, and can’t handle serious opposition. Harvard lawyers would expose them as the liars they are: Here they were caught in a lie to the Judge; here the Judge figured out that they were lying about an “emergency” need to file their cases WITHOUT NOTICE to the other side; here we discuss the fact that even though their expert witness has admitted that their investigator did not “detect” an individual, the RIAA’s lawyers continue to sign false court papers stating to the Court that their investigator “detected an individual”; here‘s a recent pack of those lies which they submitted, in an undefended case, where the Judge realized that their first presentation of evidence didn’t point to an infringement by the defendant; here‘s that Judge, and here ‘s the State Attorney General of Oregon, catching them in those lies; and here‘s the junk science put forth by their ‘expert’, whose real ‘expertise’ is getting LAN operators to fork over $76,000 at a time in protection money in order to make the RIAA and him go away.

[Quote:]

I received a very pleasant mail today. My inbox is usually full of stupid cease & desist messages from various antipiracy organizations, but it’s mails like this one which make you happy. It’s good to see that some people realize that internet piracy isn’t just evil…

[Quote:]

Men, planning to leave the safe confines of your home, and you don’t want to want to be pegged as a terrorist? Be sure to slap on your mandatory flag pin. Here are some handy tips to help you blend in with the rest of the patriotic public.
About the flag pin:

Wearing your flag pin:

[Quote:]

All the U.S. tanks, planes and ships guzzle 340,000 barrels of oil a day, making the American military the single-largest purchaser and consumer of oil in the world.

If the Defense Department were a country, it would rank about 38th in the world for oil consumption, right behind the Philippines.

Here’s what he did best:

[Quote:]

Lurking off Mexico’s eastern shore in the Sea of Cortez, these flap-jack-like creatures burst out of the water with graceful precision.

Soaring as high as two metres above the plankton-rich green water, mobula rays are a sight to behold.

Here in the Sea of Cortez four species of mobulas (tarapacana, thurstoni, munkiana, and japanica) occupy the waters along with the giant manta ray.

(click for more pictures)

[Quote:]

Firefighters in major cities are being trained to take on a new role as lookouts for terrorism, raising concerns of eroding their standing as American icons and infringing on people’s privacy.

Unlike police, firefighters and emergency medical personnel don’t need warrants to access hundreds of thousands of homes and buildings each year, putting them in a position to spot behavior that could indicate terrorist activity or planning.

[Quote:]

Betalen voor het bekijken van een tv-serie of eerst verplicht een commercial uitzitten. Die keuze biedt de website van RTL bezoekers voortaan.

“RTL komt als eerste in Nederland met deze nieuwe manier van adverteren”, aldus een woordvoerder van het tv-bedrijf vrijdag.

“Consumenten kunnen op rtl.nl gratis kijken naar series of films waar normaal gesproken voor moet worden betaald”, legt de zegsman uit. “In plaats van het verrichten van een betalingshandeling, krijgen ze voorafgaand aan de start van het programma een verplichte interactieve commercial te zien.

[..]

Het eerste voorbeeld van deze zogenaamde ‘adfunded content’ is ‘Gooische Vrouwen’. De gebruiker kan ervoor kiezen de gebruikelijke 1,30 euro te betalen of een commercial te bekijken.”

Betalen of advertentie bekijken? Volgens mij vergeet RTL om de derde optie te noemen, eentje die ik in het geval van Gooische Vrouwen al heel lang gebruik:

niet kijken.

[Quote:]

Tennessee Senator Bob Corker raised some eyebrows at a luncheon at the Chattanoogan hotel Tuesday with remarks about President Bush.
Speaking to a crowd of about 500 supporters, led by Hamilton County Mayor Claude Ramsey, Corker spoke about a range of issues, including energy, healthcare, and his experiences during his first year as a Senator.
But his remarks about his experiences with the White House during meetings on the war in Iraq left some in the crowd befuddled.
“I was in the White House a number of times to talk about the issue, and I may rankle some in the room saying this, but I was very underwhelmed with what discussions took place at the White House,” Corker said.
A few minutes later during a question and answer session a man in the audience asked him to clarify his statement.
“I was concerned about your statement that you were underwhelmed with what was going on in the White House. Did you mean with him or with his staff?”
In response, Corker said, “Let me say this. George Bush is a very compassionate person. He’s a very good person. And a lot of people don’t see that in him, and there’s many people in this room who might disagree with that…. I just felt a little bit underwhelmed by our discussions, the complexity of them, the depth of them.

Ouch.

[Quote:]

HDNet CEO and Dallas Mavericks owner Mark Cuban cries out for attention with an open letter to Comcast and other ISPs urging them to block all p2p traffic:

As a consumer, I want my internet experience to be as fast as possible. The last thing I want slowing my internet service down are P2P freeloaders. Thats right, P2P content distributors are nothing more than freeloaders. The only person/organization that benefits from P2P usage are those that are trying to distribute content and want to distribute it on someone else’s bandwidth dime.

Well, Mark, I don’t know where you bought your bandwidth, but I’m pretty surer *I* am not using it right now, since I paid for all the bandwidth I use. And what’s this about p2p? Are you telling me your tcp/ip packets are more worthy than the tcp/ip packets from others? What if we were all blabbering for hours on VoiP? Would you be calling for a block on that as well?

Let me guess, you just want people to pay for your HD channel and fuck the rest, right?

[Quote:]

The US dollar continued to slide against all major currencies this week. The Euro is the highest it has been since it was created. The Swiss Mark – where everyone parks their dough during hard times – is at historic highs. The price of Gold is excellent – another place to park money when the US goes down the shitter. The Canadian dollar? Highest against the US buck since I was born.

[..]

That got me to thinking. If the US dollar is worth shit. That means that stuff made in America is going to be dirt cheap to buy. So I immediately started thinking about all the stuff that is made in America that I would put on my Christmas list – so I can get it dirt cheap. Here’s the list:

A Chevy, a Ford or a Chrysler – but I don’t need or want one.

An I-Pod – but they don’t make those in the US.

Nike shoes – but they don’t make those in the US. A Chinese product I believe.

Levi Jeans – or any clothing product – see above.

A Harley Davidson Motorcycle – my wife would kill me

Evangelical Christian Videos – I’m sure they are well made but – no thanks

Management Consulting Services – zzzzzzzzzzzz

Porno – Does anyone actually pay for porn?

Corn – okay I could use some corn – I’m getting excited! Keep it on the cob ’till Christmas

Guns, planes, tanks, missiles etc.. – not practical for my lifestyle – no room in the garage

Treasury Bills – US debt? Is that all that America has to offer these days? C’man!

Aircraft – sorry no budget and I can’t afford the gas

Fruit and Vegetables – Okay now you’re talkin’. I can use those things. Oh, but you want to close the border so that Mexicans won’t steal those choice, high paid, benefit yielding, picking jobs from Americans? Oh dear.

Okay – so the way to take advantage of a low American dollar is to buy fruit, veg and corn. Until they close the border with that fence thingy – and put snipers at every tower.

Maybe Pet Rocks are still made in America – and I’ll bet I can get one for cheap! Maybe you’ll do me the favour and buy me that American made product for Christmas.

Then I can devote more of my international investment strategy to buying more USA fruit and veg – and Disney stuff.

[Quote:]

Passengers at Liverpool’s Lime Street station face airport-style searches and bag-screening, under swingeing new anti-terror measures unveiled yesterday.

And security barriers, vehicle exclusion zones and blast-resistant buildings will be introduced at airports, ports and up to 250 of the busiest train stations, Gordon Brown announced.

The Prime Minister immediately acknowledged that passengers would endure “some inconvenience” from stepping up security.

And the terrorists will have endure “some inconvenience” by getting on the train at a small station and travel TO the Lime Street station to get inside the security cordon. Sadly, this kind of nonsense seems more designed to make people get used to intrusive searches, and to give politicians the “we did something about rail security” excuse.

dank je, Neal

[Quote:]

Judge Christopher A. Boyko of Federal District Court in Cleveland dismissed 14 foreclosure cases brought on behalf of mortgage investors, ruling that they had failed to prove that they owned the properties they were trying to seize.

The pooling of home loans into securities has been practiced for decades and helped propel real estate prices in recent years as investors sought the higher yields that such mortgage trusts could provide. Some $6.5 trillion of securitized mortgage debt was outstanding at the end of 2006.

But as foreclosures have surged, the complex structure and disparate ownership of mortgage securities have made it harder for borrowers to work out troubled loans, in part because they cannot identify who holds the mortgage notes, consumer advocates say.

[..]

On Oct. 10, Judge Boyko, 53, ordered the lenders’ representative to file copies of loan assignments showing that the lender was indeed the owner of the note and mortgage on each property when the foreclosure was filed. But lawyers for Deutsche Bank supplied documents showing only an intent to convey the rights in the mortgages rather than proof of ownership as of the foreclosure date.

Saying that Deutsche Bank’s arguments of legal standing fell woefully short, the judge wrote: “The institutions seem to adopt the attitude that since they have been doing this for so long, unchallenged, this practice equates with legal compliance. Finally put to the test, their weak legal arguments compel the court to stop them at the gate.”

[..]

“This is the miracle of not having securities mapped to the underlying loans,” said Josh Rosner, a specialist in mortgage securities at Graham-Fisher, an independent research firm in New York. “There is no industry repository for mortgage loans. I have heard of instances where the same loan is in two or three pools.”

I received an email wishing me a happy thanksgiving. That’s a day not celebrated here in Europe, so I had to do some research to see what it’s all about. Here’s what I found…

[Quote:]

One of our most important holidays is Thanksgiving Day, known in France as le Jour de Merci Donnant. Le Jour de Merci Donnant was first started by a group of Pilgrims ( Pelerins) who fled from l’Angleterre before the McCarran Act to found a colony in the New World ( le Nouveau Monde) where they could shoot Indians ( les Peaux-Rouges) and eat turkey ( dinde) to their hearts’ content.

They landed at a place called Plymouth (later a famous voiture Americaine) in a wooden sailing ship called the Mayflower (or Fleur de Mai) in 1620. But while the Pelerins were killing the dindes, the Peaux-Rouges were killing the Pelerins, and there were several hard winters ahead for both of them. The only way the Peaux-Rouges helped the Pelerins was when they taught them to grow corn ( mais). The reason they did this was because they liked corn with their Pelerins.

In 1623, after another harsh year, the Pelerins’ crops were so good that they decided to have a celebration and give thanks because more mais was raised by the Pelerins than Pelerins were killed by Peaux-Rouges.

Every year on the Jour de Merci Donnant, parents tell their children an amusing story about the first celebration.

It concerns a brave capitaine named Miles Standish (known in France as Kilometres Deboutish) and a young, shy lieutenant named Jean Alden. Both of them were in love with a flower of Plymouth called Priscilla Mullens (no translation). The vieux capitaine said to the jeune lieutenant:

“Go to the damsel Priscilla ( allez tres vite chez Priscilla), the loveliest maiden of Plymouth ( la plus jolie demoiselle de Plymouth). Say that a blunt old captain, a man not of words but of action ( un vieux Fanfan la Tulipe), offers his hand and his heart, the hand and heart of a soldier. Not in these words, you know, but this, in short, is my meaning.

“I am a maker of war ( je suis un fabricant de la guerre) and not a maker of phrases. You, bred as a scholar ( vous, qui êtes pain comme un étudiant), can say it in elegant language, such as you read in your books of the pleadings and wooings of lovers, such as you think best adapted to win the heart of the maiden.”

Although Jean was fit to be tied ( convenable á être emballe), friendship prevailed over love and he went to his duty. But instead of using elegant language, he blurted out his mission. Priscilla was muted with amazement and sorrow ( rendue muette par l’étonnement et las tristesse).

At length she exclaimed, interrupting the ominous silence: “If the great captain of Plymouth is so very eager to wed me, why does he not come himself and take the trouble to woo me?” ( Ou est-il, le vieux Kilometres? Pourquoi ne vient-il pas aupres de moi pour tenter sa chance?)

Jean said that Kilometres Deboutish was very busy and didn’t have time for those things. He staggered on, telling what a wonderful husband Kilometres would make. Finally Priscilla arched her eyebrows and said in a tremulous voice, “Why don’t you speak for yourself, Jean?” ( Chacun a son gout.)

And so, on the fourth Thursday in November, American families sit down at a large table brimming with tasty dishes and, for the only time during the year, eat better than the French do.

No one can deny that le Jour de Merci Donnant is a grande fete and no matter how well fed American families are, they never forget to give thanks to Kilometres Deboutish, who made this great day possible.

[Quote:]

Customer: “What does it mean when it says seven gallon tank?”

Employee: “Uh, it means it can hold seven gallons of gas.”

Customer: “Gas? Why would it need gas?”

Employee: “It’s a generator. How else would it produce electricity?”

Customer: “I thought you just plugged it in.”

[Quote:]

Detroit rock band The Romantics have filed a federal lawsuit against Guitar Hero publisher Activision, claiming that the game’s cover version of 1980 hit “What I Like About You” infringes on the group’s rights.

According to an Associated Press report the lawsuit was filed on Tuesday at the U.S. District Court in Detroit, seeking unspecified damages.

The lawsuit admits that Activision did obtain the proper permissions for using the song in the game – but claims that the cover version was too close to the original recording, thereby infringing on the group’s rights to its own likeness.

A washed-up 80′s band with two hits to its name sues because a cover band was able to duplicate their syrupy bubble-gum pop sound. The mind boggles. And for those playing at home, the other “hit” was Talking In Your Sleep in 1983. I’d hum a bar for you, but it can’t have been too memorable.

And you know what the really sad thing is? If you look at the band’s history with payments for their songs, I’m not surprised they feel they have to sue to get any.

[Quote:]

The giveaway is the use of a 3G telephony network, rather than Wi-Fi or similar, providing a network connection which is active whenever the device feels like activating it, without the user being aware. That makes for a very different experience than deliberately connecting when the user wants to, one which Amazon calls Whispernet – as Jeff Bezos, Amazon CEO, puts it: “This isn’t a device, it’s a service.”

[..]

One plan is to reduce the cost of books though advertising: while in-book advertising is generally limited to “other books by this author”, and the occasional free chapter to bulk out the page count, books in Kindle can contain adverts which are updated daily. Every time you open a book a different advert can appear amongst its pages (just like this article). But it’s not just the bits between the text which Amazon can reach out and alter: even the prose itself will no longer be inviolate.

Oh fuck, as if you needed a reason to avoid the Kindle: it’s actually just an advertising delivery device.

[Quote:]

These are just two of the most prominent examples of the interrogations of detainees after 9/11. Two examples cannot prove a point. They do illustrate an opinion that is held by many if not most interrogators: torture and other extreme techniques are useful in getting people to talk, but not necessarily to tell the truth.

Go and read the whole thing.