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OK. We know what Colin Powell and Admiral Mullen have to say. Is John McCain a hypocrite or in Republican terms, caught in a Flip-Flop?
Do it for economic survival? Don’t do it because you see it as a moral issue? Do it to get back at the bailed out bankers who profited at the public’s expense? Don’t do it because you love your house more than the money you’ll never get back on it?
No Help in Sight, More Homeowners Walk Away
In 2006, Benjamin Koellmann bought a condominium in Miami Beach. By his calculation, it will be about the year 2025 before he can sell his modest home for what he paid. Or maybe 2040.
“People like me are beginning to feel like suckers,” Mr. Koellmann said. “Why not let it go in default and rent a better place for less?”
After three years of plunging real estate values, after the bailouts of the bankers and the revival of their million-dollar bonuses, after the Obama administration’s loan modification plan raised the expectations of many but satisfied only a few, a large group of distressed homeowners is wondering the same thing.
New research suggests that when a home’s value falls below 75 percent of the amount owed on the mortgage, the owner starts to think hard about walking away, even if he or she has the money to keep paying.
[…]
The number of Americans who owed more than their homes were worth was virtually nil when the real estate collapse began in mid-2006, but by the third quarter of 2009, an estimated 4.5 million homeowners had reached the critical threshold, with their home’s value dropping below 75 percent of the mortgage balance.
CNet News
The U.S. House of Representatives overwhelmingly approved a cybersecurity bill that calls for beefing up training, research, and coordination so the government can be better prepared to deal with cyberattacks.
The Cyber Security Research and Development Act of 2009, which passed by a vote of 422 to 5, authorizes the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) to develop a cybersecurity education program that can help consumers, businesses, and government workers keep their computers secure.
It also creates cybersecurity scholarship programs for college students and research centers, and asks NIST to boost development of identity management systems used to control access to buildings, computer networks, and data.
GIZMODO
Still think that widespread iMac problems don’t exist? After we reported Apple giving UK customers 15% refund bonuses with 27-inch iMac returns, we’ve heard from quite a few readers that Apple is doing the same thing in the US.
15%. Cash. So on a $2000 machine, we’re talking about a $300 apology straight from Apple customer support. From the handful of reader anecdotes we’ve received thus far, it sounds like you need to be a repeat iMac returner who’s dealt with multiple 27-inch iMacs that have been busted in some way (but they may accommodate first time buyers as well, we don’t know). One reader had multiple yellow screens, then received another new model with broken Bluetooth. He took the 15% and just returned it.
Wow! A $300 apology is significant!
Credit card numbers are so passe. Today’s hackers know the real powerhouse data to steal is emission certificates.
That’s exactly what hackers went after last week when they obtained unauthorized access to online accounts where companies maintain their carbon credits, according to the German newspaper Der Spiegel.
The hackers launched a targeted phishing attack against employees of numerous companies in Europe, New Zealand and Japan, which appeared to come from the German Emissions Trading Authority. The workers were told that their companies needed to re-register their accounts with the Authority, where carbon credits and transactions are recorded.
When workers entered their credentials into a bogus web page linked in the e-mail, the hackers were able to hi-jack the credentials to access the companies’ Trading Authority accounts and transfer their carbon credits to two other accounts controlled by the hackers.
[…]
According to the BBC, it’s estimated the hackers stole 250,000 carbon credit permits from six companies worth more than $4 million. At least seven out of 2,000 German firms that were targeted in the phishing scam fell for it. One of these unidentified firms reportedly lost $2.1 million in credits in the fraud.
Daylife/Getty Images used by permission
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Colin Powell, the former chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff and former secretary of state, has come out in favor of eventually repealing the military’s “don’t ask, don’t tell” policy on gay and lesbian service members.
“In the almost seventeen years since the ‘don’t ask, don’t tell’ legislation was passed, attitudes and circumstances have changed,” Powell said in a statement released by his office Wednesday. “I fully support the new approach presented to the Senate Armed Services Committee this week by Secretary of Defense Gates and Admiral Mullen, Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff. I will be closely following future hearings, the views of the Service Chiefs and the implementation work being done by the Department of Defense,” Powell said…
Human Rights Campaign President Joe Solomonese said…“His powerful voice for ending ‘don’t ask, don’t tell’ is a tipping point in favor of the brave men and women who are serving our nation in silence. The support of respected present and former military leaders brings us closer to repeal, signaling that we’re moving forward and will get there soon.”
“The truth is that there are no more excuses, the death knell for ‘don’t ask, don’t tell’ has been rung and now is the moment to send this law into the history books where it belongs.”
I forget there used to be conservatives with a conscience. There are so few left.
- 4/5ths of young adults use wireless Internet rather than the old-fashioned ways.
- HTML 5.0 getting into the news.
- Nexus One gets the edge over other Droid phones.
- Amazon getting more and more into tech.
- Bit-Torrent passwords hacked?
- The Devour phone arrives.
- iPad to be used for textbooks?
- Video games sales sliding.
- Fake update installing Trojans.
- Sprint to do Wi-Max phone.
- Bans on cellphones in schools fail.
- Italy to screw web vids.
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The giants of the film industry have lost their case against ISP iiNet in a landmark judgement handed down in the Federal Court today.
The decision had the potential to impact internet users and the internet industry profoundly as it sets a legal precedent surrounding how much ISPs are required to do to prevent customers from downloading movies and other content illegally.
But after an on-and-off eight-week trial that examined whether iiNet authorised customers to download pirated movies, Justice Dennis Cowdroy found that the ISP was not liable for the downloading habits of its customers.
In a summary of his 200-page judgement read out in court this morning, Justice Cowdroy said the evidence established that iiNet had done no more than to provide an internet service to its users.
He found that, while iiNet had knowledge of infringements occurring and did not act to stop them, such findings did not necessitate a finding of authorisation.
He said an ISP such as iiNet provided a legitimate communication facility, which was neither intended nor designed to infringe copyright.
He said it was only by means of the application of the BitTorrent system that copyright infringements were enabled, but iiNet had no control over this system.
“iiNet is not responsible if an iiNet user uses that system to bring about copyright infringement … the law recognises no positive obligation on any person to protect the copyright of another,” Justice Cowdroy said.
Common sense prevails. Whoda thunk it!
UPDATE : Some interesting elements extracted from the judgement can be found here.
A 37-year-old man allegedly took a woman from her Hemet home, handcuffed her and put her on a plane to the Philippines while posing as a federal officer, Hemet police said today.
Gregory Raymond Denny allegedly took the woman into “custody” on Jan. 15, when he went to a home in the 1200 block of Stepstone Court and handcuffed her, telling the other residents in the home he was deporting her, according to Hemet police Lt. Duane Wisehart.
Denny wore clothing with what appeared to be a federal logo on it, a badge around his neck and a gun belt and holstered pistol, Wisehart said…
At the airport, the suspect escorted the victim to a gate, took the handcuffs off and sent her on her way to board the plane, which she did, Wisehart said…
Denny claimed to be a federal officer…but an inquiry into his would-be status with the U.S. Marshals Service determined he has never been employed with the agency, or any other law enforcement organization.
Denny was booked into the Southwest Justice Center on suspicion of impersonating an officer, kidnapping, false imprisonment and residential burglary…
It was unclear how Denny could travel through an airport with a woman in handcuffs and his credentials not verified.
Denny had a phony badge and that was sufficient for the TSA to leave him wandering around the San Diego Airport with a gun and a woman in handcuffs.
Cripes!
CNet News
A difference of opinion among developers has become a high-profile debate over the future of the Web: should programmers continue using Adobe Systems’ Flash or embrace newer Web technology instead?
The debate has gone on for years, but last week’s debut of Apple’s iPad–which like the iPhone doesn’t support Flash–turned up the heat. Before that, Adobe had been saying with some restraint that it’s happy to bring Flash to the iPhone when Apple gives the go-ahead.
But Chief Technology Officer Kevin Lynch took the gloves off Tuesday with a blog post that said Apple’s reluctance to include Flash on its “magical device” means iPad buyers will effectively see a crippled Web.
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