Wednesday, October 27, 2010

foreclosure listings



MOVIES

Nevada Smith: Steve McQueen plays novelist Harold Robbins' character at a younger age in this 1966 Western that sends the title character on a mission of vengeance after his father is murdered by three men in a dispute over gold — and nothing and no one will stand in his way. The strong supporting cast includes Karl Malden, Brian Keith and Suzanne Pleshette (2:30 p.m. TCM). 


The Lovely Bones: Director Peter Jackson's 2009 adaptation of Alice Sebold's bestseller stars Stanley Tucci as a neighbor of a murdered youngster (Saoirse Ronan). Her survivors, including her parents (Rachel Weisz, Mark Wahlberg), are seen through her eyes as her spirit witnesses the aftermath of the tragedy from above (8 p.m. HBO). 


SPORTS


College football: Boston College at Florida State (9 a.m. ESPN); Arkansas at Auburn (12:30 p.m. CBS); Texas at Nebraska (12:30 p.m. ABC); Iowa at Michigan (12:30 p.m. ESPN); California at USC (12:30 p.m. FS Prime); South Carolina at Kentucky (3 p.m. ESPN2); Ohio State at Wisconsin (4 p.m. ESPN); Iowa State at Oklahoma (4 p.m. FS Prime); Arizona at Washington State (4:30 p.m. VS); Mississippi at Alabama (6 p.m. ESPN2); Oregon State at Washington (7:15 p.m. ESPN).


Baseball: Playoffs: The New York Yankees visit the Texas Rangers (1 p.m. TBS); the San Francisco Giants visit the Philadelphia Phillies (4:30 p.m. Fox). 


Exhibition basketball: The Denver Nuggets visit the Lakers (7:30 p.m. FSN).


Photo: Justin Stephens / Cartoon Network



The Foreclosure Mess-a Follow-up

October 18, 2010

David Kotok


>


Wow, there were many, many emails in response to the recent piece entitled “Foreclosure Mess.” Here are some of those observations.


Some folks missed the opening disclaimer and attributed the piece to me; that was their error. I did not write it [BR: The original was from Gonzalo Lira's blog]. I only edited out the expletives. I do not believe that F this and F that add anything. MK wrote back: “The article’s issues needed the expletives. In this particular case they would have been in context and not extraneous. Next time leave them in. &%$)@%%$.” Readers who get to the end of today’s follow-up will be able to judge for themselves.


The piece had many technical and legal errors, although most professionals agreed with this overall theme. Barry Ritholtz summarized the legal side with a “lawyer’s hat” on: “The flaw in this piece is that courts have long been authorized to apply principles of equity, as opposed to law, to cases brought before it. This means that we do not want to create unjust enrichment for either wrongdoers or other bad outcomes. We have two bad actors here: The homeowner who is in default, and the banks/securitizes who failed to do the document creation and title management correctly. Most judges do not want to see, in civil cases, an absurd outcome. Rewarding the homeowner (free house!) or the lenders (No penalty for massive screw-ups!), a total victory would offend those principles. An example of a possible outcome in a full-blown litigation might be for the court to order the mortgage modified to the current equity value of the home, so that it punishes the lenders who failed to do their proper legal work on the documents, but does not give a home to a defaulted homeowner free. Courts of “equity” (meaning fairness, not ownership) apply these principles to avoid ridiculous outcomes.”


A senior bank executive with extensive mortgage experience also responded. WP wrote: “There are technical errors made by the writer, but much of it is accurate.”


JR replied: “David, how are you, my mother fwd this to me as I am in the business. Is it safe to assume that the bank foreclosures will be taken off the market, which would then decrease the amount of homes that are listed dramatically (over 70%) in some markets. The market has been saturated with foreclosure listings. Over the past 2 years, it has been very easy to get a foreclosure sale, where individuals were able to buy a home for 76 cents on the dollar, in essence bringing the values down on sales-cost comparisons (appraisals). What impact will we see to the market? I’m thinking that with the foreclosures no longer as easy to get as a McDonalds happy meal, the remaining properties that are listed will now sell at or above market value, because the “value foreclosure meal” will be no longer available to the buyer. What will this do to the short sale market, being that short sales were the bank alternative to foreclosure?”


Another lawyer weighed in. Mr. B wrote: “In this case, I must quibble. I believe that the mortgagor cannot go scot-free. While enforcing the mortgage is by far the more convenient route, the claimant standing in the shoes of the mortgagee/note owner could claim against the home “owner” for unjust enrichment outside the mortgage enforcement procedure. Evidence of the existence of the claim can be adduced from related documentation. The “home owner” could be required to prove the source of funds for buying the house…, which of course he could not. All very inconvenient, time consuming and expensive. But look on the bright side. It’s employment for lawyers.”


And another lawyer. Jay wrote: “Despite what your friend says, just because the chain of ownership of the note is broken does NOT mean a borrower is relieved of his debt. Observers have speculated for a long time about what would happen if a judge demanded that only the right owner could foreclose, and that particular chicken has come home to roost. It may take awhile, but sooner or later the banks will find the original note and the proper successor in interest will be found and the defaulting borrower will have to make a deal or be foreclosed out. Meanwhile, all the shenanigans are true and they will result in big delays and huge costs as lenders have to go back and do things right. Some homeowners who were improperly evicted will have claims and they will get some relief but they won’t get their houses back. This is indeed a mess and the lenders deserve everything they are getting – particularly Bank of America, which bought one of the worst offenders, Countrywide.


In addition, another lawyer named Howard said: “While it is true that some may take advantage of the mortgage mess, the process will always win. You do not make good law for the bad cases. You cannot have people lying and fraudulently fixing chain of title due to the inconvenience. I once had a mortgage foreclosure that XXXXXX handled. It took years, and at the end he had made a theoretical mistake and was forced to start over or seek judicial help in fixing the error. While the client was furious, the process was righteous.


Michael G. added to the debate: “We’re talking about estimates of $20bn or more in losses (from put-backs, etc.). I agree that you do not make good law from bad cases. And I know that shortcuts were taken when loans were securitized. I was not suggesting a solution, only the gravity of the problem. The halting of foreclosures is one more factor that will prevent the housing market from finding equilibrium and weigh on the health of American banks. Stagnant economic growth, a financial system under heavy stress, and plenty of landmines to side-step… but hey, at least NBER says that the recession ended!”


Kathy is a skilled observer of our system. She wrote “Suggesting the dissolution of civil society is fear mongering/hyperbole. I believe the US is in for a long uncertain meandering period as housing unravels, but I don’t think we’re going back to keeping cash and guns under the mattress.”


A senior partner in a major accounting firm liked the original piece. JB replied: “Whoever wrote it explained this situation as clearly as the Big Short explained the base mess. Please pass on my thanks for a job well done.”


CG chimed in from Hawaii: “The whole purpose of MBSs was for Wall Street to “Madoff the World.”


MS is a skilled lawyer and former judge. He wrote: “First paragraph starts off wrong. The note does not permit foreclosure. Suing on the note gives plaintiff a judgment. It is the mortgage which makes the property security for the note. No mortgage, no foreclosure. So I stopped reading.”


Highly tech-savvy businessperson GC wrote: “While it is popular to try and pin all the blame on Fannie and Freddie (and they certainly deserve as much opprobrium as we have energy left to give), in fact the ownership of MERS is a good indictment of all the players in the game. See this link: http://www.mersinc.org/about/shareholders.aspx . ”


Lastly, Elliot S. wrote and linked websites. He did this in response to John Mauldin who ran the original piece in his newsletter. “They are wrong with regards to the Note and chain of title. Actually, they couldn’t more wrong. The Note is just the IOU and gives the lender the right to collect any money lost. MERS has nothing to do with Notes only with mortgages. The mortgage is the controlling document that is used for the foreclosure and the ONLY document. The mortgage gets assigned from one lender to another and often the assignments didn’t get recorded and the last lender, who actually owned the mortgage, didn’t have the right to foreclosure. Therefore, they created MERS, which is a registration of the mortgage but not to a bank, but to MERS. MERS is the mortgage holder and the loans are assigned via registration number. Therefore, if XYZ sells a mortgage to ABC, MERS is notified that the lender’s MERS ID is changed from XYZ to ABC and there is no need for a recorded assignment and that alleviated a huge problem for unrecorded or lost assignment. The foreclosure is actually performed in the name of MERS. So I am not sure what the heck this guy is talking about. The issue with GMAC and other lenders has NOTHING to do with this. The issue is what they are calling “Robo-signers” which are individuals who signed affidavits stating that they had “personal knowledge” of the facts in a foreclosure case, when in fact they did not. http://www.forextv.com/forex-news-story/forex-why-did-the-mortgage-servicers-use-robo-signers Read this actual and in the paragraph that starts with Second, they will provide the support for my claims. Here are additional articles I searched for on the web. http://www.fiercefinance.com/story/robo-signer-wells-fargo-no-foreclosure-halt-yet/2010-10-14 and http://www.housingwire.com/2010/10/15/robo-signers-are-a-drop-in-the-bucket-to-mortgage-industrys-problems I hate people that have no idea what they are talking about and mislead people. They don’t even know what a Note and Mortgage are or what they are used for, holy cows. And MERS doesn’t slice or dice mortgages they are just a repository. Must of the slicing and dicing is done in CDOs, which if needed I will explain why. CDO unlike MBS or RBMS continually slice and dice the junior pieces or Mezz into new CDO whereby they take the more riskier debt make them look like AAA.”


I will stop and add just add a few personal observations. No writer mentioned the role of real estate taxes so we discussed this with NE, a highly skilled, community development real estate professional. He described how a well-informed tax-sale certificate buyer could jump ahead of the other lien holders and get a house on the cheap. In addition, an occupant could keep the tax payments current, delay the mortgage payment while the mess is in the courts, and remain in the house for quite a while. He noted how many mortgage servicers do not collect the real estate taxes and are therefore exposed.


Also, state law prevails on mortgages. That means 50 jurisdictions with 50 different sets of rules. The securities are mostly through NY trusts, noted Josh Rosner. The trust will determine how the securitizations are unwound, not the rules under which the foreclosures will occur. Many of our diverse legal opinions are coming to us because the lawyers involved are citing their own local jurisdictions.


We thank the many, many readers for their thoughtful comments. We do not normally pass on a piece and keep the writer anonymous. Had he written without rudeness and expletives the outcome might have been different. It is too bad he had to resort to abusive language. The original text, despite the technical errors, was provocative and captured the gist of the mess.


Many have asked about the identity of the original writer, LG sent this email: “David Kotok: A simple Google search would have revealed to you who wrote the following. I doubt he is need of you providing him 15 minutes of fame, but who knows…http://gonzalolira.blogspot.com/2010/10/second-leg-down-of-americas-death.html .” Thank you, LG.


BTW, there is an investment implication in our view. We believe the banking system will weather this mess and the weakness in the sector will evolve into a buying opportunity as a result. The new Fed policy of additional QE implies more liquidity to offset the economic weakness of the foreclosure mess and more subsidies for banks.



ABC <b>News</b> for iPad adds 2010 Election Results | iLounge <b>News</b>

iLounge news discussing the ABC News for iPad adds 2010 Election Results. Find more iPad news from leading independent iPod, iPhone, and iPad site.

BREAKING <b>NEWS</b>: James Cameron&#39;s Next Films Are &#39;Avatar 2′ &amp; &#39;3′ For <b>...</b>

BREAKING NEWS: James Cameron's Next Films Are 'Avatar 2' & '3' BREAKING NEWS: James Cameron's Next Films … TV Pitch Season Coming To An End � Official: 'The Hobbit' Stays In New Zealand � Michael Jackson Song 'Thriller' In Center Of Pic ...

GM hiring nuggets: Alderson, Daniels, Ryan, Ricco etc.

We don't yet know if new GM Sandy Alderson (the process is underway of making his hiring official with the commissioner's office and scheduling a news conference for either Friday or Tuesday) will turn the Mets into a championship team, ...


property management atlanta ga

ABC <b>News</b> for iPad adds 2010 Election Results | iLounge <b>News</b>

iLounge news discussing the ABC News for iPad adds 2010 Election Results. Find more iPad news from leading independent iPod, iPhone, and iPad site.

BREAKING <b>NEWS</b>: James Cameron&#39;s Next Films Are &#39;Avatar 2′ &amp; &#39;3′ For <b>...</b>

BREAKING NEWS: James Cameron's Next Films Are 'Avatar 2' & '3' BREAKING NEWS: James Cameron's Next Films … TV Pitch Season Coming To An End � Official: 'The Hobbit' Stays In New Zealand � Michael Jackson Song 'Thriller' In Center Of Pic ...

GM hiring nuggets: Alderson, Daniels, Ryan, Ricco etc.

We don't yet know if new GM Sandy Alderson (the process is underway of making his hiring official with the commissioner's office and scheduling a news conference for either Friday or Tuesday) will turn the Mets into a championship team, ...




MOVIES

Nevada Smith: Steve McQueen plays novelist Harold Robbins' character at a younger age in this 1966 Western that sends the title character on a mission of vengeance after his father is murdered by three men in a dispute over gold — and nothing and no one will stand in his way. The strong supporting cast includes Karl Malden, Brian Keith and Suzanne Pleshette (2:30 p.m. TCM). 


The Lovely Bones: Director Peter Jackson's 2009 adaptation of Alice Sebold's bestseller stars Stanley Tucci as a neighbor of a murdered youngster (Saoirse Ronan). Her survivors, including her parents (Rachel Weisz, Mark Wahlberg), are seen through her eyes as her spirit witnesses the aftermath of the tragedy from above (8 p.m. HBO). 


SPORTS


College football: Boston College at Florida State (9 a.m. ESPN); Arkansas at Auburn (12:30 p.m. CBS); Texas at Nebraska (12:30 p.m. ABC); Iowa at Michigan (12:30 p.m. ESPN); California at USC (12:30 p.m. FS Prime); South Carolina at Kentucky (3 p.m. ESPN2); Ohio State at Wisconsin (4 p.m. ESPN); Iowa State at Oklahoma (4 p.m. FS Prime); Arizona at Washington State (4:30 p.m. VS); Mississippi at Alabama (6 p.m. ESPN2); Oregon State at Washington (7:15 p.m. ESPN).


Baseball: Playoffs: The New York Yankees visit the Texas Rangers (1 p.m. TBS); the San Francisco Giants visit the Philadelphia Phillies (4:30 p.m. Fox). 


Exhibition basketball: The Denver Nuggets visit the Lakers (7:30 p.m. FSN).


Photo: Justin Stephens / Cartoon Network



The Foreclosure Mess-a Follow-up

October 18, 2010

David Kotok


>


Wow, there were many, many emails in response to the recent piece entitled “Foreclosure Mess.” Here are some of those observations.


Some folks missed the opening disclaimer and attributed the piece to me; that was their error. I did not write it [BR: The original was from Gonzalo Lira's blog]. I only edited out the expletives. I do not believe that F this and F that add anything. MK wrote back: “The article’s issues needed the expletives. In this particular case they would have been in context and not extraneous. Next time leave them in. &%$)@%%$.” Readers who get to the end of today’s follow-up will be able to judge for themselves.


The piece had many technical and legal errors, although most professionals agreed with this overall theme. Barry Ritholtz summarized the legal side with a “lawyer’s hat” on: “The flaw in this piece is that courts have long been authorized to apply principles of equity, as opposed to law, to cases brought before it. This means that we do not want to create unjust enrichment for either wrongdoers or other bad outcomes. We have two bad actors here: The homeowner who is in default, and the banks/securitizes who failed to do the document creation and title management correctly. Most judges do not want to see, in civil cases, an absurd outcome. Rewarding the homeowner (free house!) or the lenders (No penalty for massive screw-ups!), a total victory would offend those principles. An example of a possible outcome in a full-blown litigation might be for the court to order the mortgage modified to the current equity value of the home, so that it punishes the lenders who failed to do their proper legal work on the documents, but does not give a home to a defaulted homeowner free. Courts of “equity” (meaning fairness, not ownership) apply these principles to avoid ridiculous outcomes.”


A senior bank executive with extensive mortgage experience also responded. WP wrote: “There are technical errors made by the writer, but much of it is accurate.”


JR replied: “David, how are you, my mother fwd this to me as I am in the business. Is it safe to assume that the bank foreclosures will be taken off the market, which would then decrease the amount of homes that are listed dramatically (over 70%) in some markets. The market has been saturated with foreclosure listings. Over the past 2 years, it has been very easy to get a foreclosure sale, where individuals were able to buy a home for 76 cents on the dollar, in essence bringing the values down on sales-cost comparisons (appraisals). What impact will we see to the market? I’m thinking that with the foreclosures no longer as easy to get as a McDonalds happy meal, the remaining properties that are listed will now sell at or above market value, because the “value foreclosure meal” will be no longer available to the buyer. What will this do to the short sale market, being that short sales were the bank alternative to foreclosure?”


Another lawyer weighed in. Mr. B wrote: “In this case, I must quibble. I believe that the mortgagor cannot go scot-free. While enforcing the mortgage is by far the more convenient route, the claimant standing in the shoes of the mortgagee/note owner could claim against the home “owner” for unjust enrichment outside the mortgage enforcement procedure. Evidence of the existence of the claim can be adduced from related documentation. The “home owner” could be required to prove the source of funds for buying the house…, which of course he could not. All very inconvenient, time consuming and expensive. But look on the bright side. It’s employment for lawyers.”


And another lawyer. Jay wrote: “Despite what your friend says, just because the chain of ownership of the note is broken does NOT mean a borrower is relieved of his debt. Observers have speculated for a long time about what would happen if a judge demanded that only the right owner could foreclose, and that particular chicken has come home to roost. It may take awhile, but sooner or later the banks will find the original note and the proper successor in interest will be found and the defaulting borrower will have to make a deal or be foreclosed out. Meanwhile, all the shenanigans are true and they will result in big delays and huge costs as lenders have to go back and do things right. Some homeowners who were improperly evicted will have claims and they will get some relief but they won’t get their houses back. This is indeed a mess and the lenders deserve everything they are getting – particularly Bank of America, which bought one of the worst offenders, Countrywide.


In addition, another lawyer named Howard said: “While it is true that some may take advantage of the mortgage mess, the process will always win. You do not make good law for the bad cases. You cannot have people lying and fraudulently fixing chain of title due to the inconvenience. I once had a mortgage foreclosure that XXXXXX handled. It took years, and at the end he had made a theoretical mistake and was forced to start over or seek judicial help in fixing the error. While the client was furious, the process was righteous.


Michael G. added to the debate: “We’re talking about estimates of $20bn or more in losses (from put-backs, etc.). I agree that you do not make good law from bad cases. And I know that shortcuts were taken when loans were securitized. I was not suggesting a solution, only the gravity of the problem. The halting of foreclosures is one more factor that will prevent the housing market from finding equilibrium and weigh on the health of American banks. Stagnant economic growth, a financial system under heavy stress, and plenty of landmines to side-step… but hey, at least NBER says that the recession ended!”


Kathy is a skilled observer of our system. She wrote “Suggesting the dissolution of civil society is fear mongering/hyperbole. I believe the US is in for a long uncertain meandering period as housing unravels, but I don’t think we’re going back to keeping cash and guns under the mattress.”


A senior partner in a major accounting firm liked the original piece. JB replied: “Whoever wrote it explained this situation as clearly as the Big Short explained the base mess. Please pass on my thanks for a job well done.”


CG chimed in from Hawaii: “The whole purpose of MBSs was for Wall Street to “Madoff the World.”


MS is a skilled lawyer and former judge. He wrote: “First paragraph starts off wrong. The note does not permit foreclosure. Suing on the note gives plaintiff a judgment. It is the mortgage which makes the property security for the note. No mortgage, no foreclosure. So I stopped reading.”


Highly tech-savvy businessperson GC wrote: “While it is popular to try and pin all the blame on Fannie and Freddie (and they certainly deserve as much opprobrium as we have energy left to give), in fact the ownership of MERS is a good indictment of all the players in the game. See this link: http://www.mersinc.org/about/shareholders.aspx . ”


Lastly, Elliot S. wrote and linked websites. He did this in response to John Mauldin who ran the original piece in his newsletter. “They are wrong with regards to the Note and chain of title. Actually, they couldn’t more wrong. The Note is just the IOU and gives the lender the right to collect any money lost. MERS has nothing to do with Notes only with mortgages. The mortgage is the controlling document that is used for the foreclosure and the ONLY document. The mortgage gets assigned from one lender to another and often the assignments didn’t get recorded and the last lender, who actually owned the mortgage, didn’t have the right to foreclosure. Therefore, they created MERS, which is a registration of the mortgage but not to a bank, but to MERS. MERS is the mortgage holder and the loans are assigned via registration number. Therefore, if XYZ sells a mortgage to ABC, MERS is notified that the lender’s MERS ID is changed from XYZ to ABC and there is no need for a recorded assignment and that alleviated a huge problem for unrecorded or lost assignment. The foreclosure is actually performed in the name of MERS. So I am not sure what the heck this guy is talking about. The issue with GMAC and other lenders has NOTHING to do with this. The issue is what they are calling “Robo-signers” which are individuals who signed affidavits stating that they had “personal knowledge” of the facts in a foreclosure case, when in fact they did not. http://www.forextv.com/forex-news-story/forex-why-did-the-mortgage-servicers-use-robo-signers Read this actual and in the paragraph that starts with Second, they will provide the support for my claims. Here are additional articles I searched for on the web. http://www.fiercefinance.com/story/robo-signer-wells-fargo-no-foreclosure-halt-yet/2010-10-14 and http://www.housingwire.com/2010/10/15/robo-signers-are-a-drop-in-the-bucket-to-mortgage-industrys-problems I hate people that have no idea what they are talking about and mislead people. They don’t even know what a Note and Mortgage are or what they are used for, holy cows. And MERS doesn’t slice or dice mortgages they are just a repository. Must of the slicing and dicing is done in CDOs, which if needed I will explain why. CDO unlike MBS or RBMS continually slice and dice the junior pieces or Mezz into new CDO whereby they take the more riskier debt make them look like AAA.”


I will stop and add just add a few personal observations. No writer mentioned the role of real estate taxes so we discussed this with NE, a highly skilled, community development real estate professional. He described how a well-informed tax-sale certificate buyer could jump ahead of the other lien holders and get a house on the cheap. In addition, an occupant could keep the tax payments current, delay the mortgage payment while the mess is in the courts, and remain in the house for quite a while. He noted how many mortgage servicers do not collect the real estate taxes and are therefore exposed.


Also, state law prevails on mortgages. That means 50 jurisdictions with 50 different sets of rules. The securities are mostly through NY trusts, noted Josh Rosner. The trust will determine how the securitizations are unwound, not the rules under which the foreclosures will occur. Many of our diverse legal opinions are coming to us because the lawyers involved are citing their own local jurisdictions.


We thank the many, many readers for their thoughtful comments. We do not normally pass on a piece and keep the writer anonymous. Had he written without rudeness and expletives the outcome might have been different. It is too bad he had to resort to abusive language. The original text, despite the technical errors, was provocative and captured the gist of the mess.


Many have asked about the identity of the original writer, LG sent this email: “David Kotok: A simple Google search would have revealed to you who wrote the following. I doubt he is need of you providing him 15 minutes of fame, but who knows…http://gonzalolira.blogspot.com/2010/10/second-leg-down-of-americas-death.html .” Thank you, LG.


BTW, there is an investment implication in our view. We believe the banking system will weather this mess and the weakness in the sector will evolve into a buying opportunity as a result. The new Fed policy of additional QE implies more liquidity to offset the economic weakness of the foreclosure mess and more subsidies for banks.




south beach foreclosures foreclosures for sale miami by hotmiamireo


ABC <b>News</b> for iPad adds 2010 Election Results | iLounge <b>News</b>

iLounge news discussing the ABC News for iPad adds 2010 Election Results. Find more iPad news from leading independent iPod, iPhone, and iPad site.

BREAKING <b>NEWS</b>: James Cameron&#39;s Next Films Are &#39;Avatar 2′ &amp; &#39;3′ For <b>...</b>

BREAKING NEWS: James Cameron's Next Films Are 'Avatar 2' & '3' BREAKING NEWS: James Cameron's Next Films … TV Pitch Season Coming To An End � Official: 'The Hobbit' Stays In New Zealand � Michael Jackson Song 'Thriller' In Center Of Pic ...

GM hiring nuggets: Alderson, Daniels, Ryan, Ricco etc.

We don't yet know if new GM Sandy Alderson (the process is underway of making his hiring official with the commissioner's office and scheduling a news conference for either Friday or Tuesday) will turn the Mets into a championship team, ...


ABC <b>News</b> for iPad adds 2010 Election Results | iLounge <b>News</b>

iLounge news discussing the ABC News for iPad adds 2010 Election Results. Find more iPad news from leading independent iPod, iPhone, and iPad site.

BREAKING <b>NEWS</b>: James Cameron&#39;s Next Films Are &#39;Avatar 2′ &amp; &#39;3′ For <b>...</b>

BREAKING NEWS: James Cameron's Next Films Are 'Avatar 2' & '3' BREAKING NEWS: James Cameron's Next Films … TV Pitch Season Coming To An End � Official: 'The Hobbit' Stays In New Zealand � Michael Jackson Song 'Thriller' In Center Of Pic ...

GM hiring nuggets: Alderson, Daniels, Ryan, Ricco etc.

We don't yet know if new GM Sandy Alderson (the process is underway of making his hiring official with the commissioner's office and scheduling a news conference for either Friday or Tuesday) will turn the Mets into a championship team, ...

















Free Making Money




We know that developers who get their apps into the top lists at the iTunes Store make oodles of cash, but as the smartphone biz expands it looks like some are making serious money.


Games developer Backflip Studios has confirmed itself to be making over half a million dollars per month from in-game ads alone. That’s on top of any revenues for games sales.


At root is the 47.5 million Backflip titles installed on iOS devices (and another 5.5 million on Androids). These form a network for advertising which is bringing in big bucks for the developer.


The developer sees up to 800 million ad impressions per month across their free titles (such as Ninjump, pictured). Revenues have expanded fast — in March the company had raised a million dollars in the previous six months.




Comments


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  1. Yep! Twitter is gonna make a fortune off your drunken night at Chili's



     Posted by: ZuDfunck |
    October 18, 2010 1:45 PM




















  2. Let's see. . . you use a free service and then want them to promote your restricted material and give you the profits. . . hmmm... yeah, I would like that deal also.



    This really sounds like much to do about nothing. Let me see, I have a photo that I want to sell at some point but show it off on twitter. How can I do that without loss of my property? Well, maybe make a low res thumb of your image and upload that with slight modifications, like a watermark, then the original image is still yours to do with as you please, isn't it?



    I don't know but this sounds a bit ridiculous. How many problems would arise if such services allowed everyone to copyright everything they submit? Well, when you think of it it's really funny. . . people complain about every company suing every other company over patents and how those sofware patents shouldn't be allowed yada, yada, but WAIT!!! when it comes to my precious picture that I'm going to upload via a free service. . . I WANT IT PROTECTED!



    Posted by: gpeasy |
    October 18, 2010 1:55 PM




















  3. This article, and all of the other articles that this stemmed from, contains a fundamental misunderstanding about the definition of "Content" in the context of Twitter. Twitter's "Content" is the 140 characters and any metadata stored and served by Twitter. Anything that requires a URL to access (i.e. a link shared on Twitter) is not considered "Content" in the context of Twitter's ToS (from http://twitter.com/tos "any information, text, graphics, or other materials uploaded, downloaded or appearing on the Services (collectively referred to as 'Content')").



    This may become an issue if Twitter were to—say for example—buy TwitPic or create their own Photo Sharing tool. And yes, there is potential legal concern with the way that their Media Pane system works in the #newtwitter UI design, as it does state "appearing on" but for their license to apply to the content of their Media Pane, it would require that the license from the service allowing their content to be displayed to be sub-licensed. Prior to the Media Pane in #newtwitter, I would have said this is a complete non-issue. Now, it's just something to "watch" and, if you're really worried about it, don't use services that work in the Media Pane.



    tl;dr: This article is vastly misleading. "Content" is the text in a tweet and anything you upload directly to a Twitter website, not to a third-party service or your own servers.



    You should know better, RWW.



     Posted by: Michael Owens |
    October 18, 2010 1:57 PM




















  4. This is a significant development for professionals, and it's worth noting to the general public. I wonder how often the people at Twitter might acutally take advantage of this...? The web seems to get more "open" every day, something we all need to be aware of.



    Posted by: David Perdew |
    October 18, 2010 1:57 PM




















  5. This is about lawyers and their constant need to prove value to their clients (whom they charge absurd hourly rates to).



    A number of lawyers take this approach (non-exclusive license; right to reproduce, sub-license, etc.). Other, more reasonable lawyers take more of the BasecampHQ approach to managing data on behalf of someone (albeit, under paid accounts).



    If Twitter ever tried to resell a photo that was uploaded, they would (most likely) run afoul of a range of Copyright Laws while they try to uphold their T&C which are one-sided and were never reviewed by their User's attorney's in a fair and reasonable negotiation. Additionally, if a Minor uploads photos, without parental consent, good luck appropriating those under their T&C.



    If Twitter had strong management, who had more experience, they'd fire the lawyer who wrote the T&C and say, "thanks, bye." Then, go find an attorney who's more forward thinking.



    Posted by: Bob |
    October 18, 2010 2:04 PM




















  6. I agree with @MichaelOwens on this, mostly a non-issue. From the TOS,



    "...information, text, graphics, or other materials uploaded, downloaded or appearing on the Services (collectively referred to as “Content”)."



    So it looks like photos you upload to Twitter (your profile pic and background image) can be used by them, but your linked photos are not uploaded to Twitter so they don't count as "Content" in the TOS.



    The only gray area I see is photos appearing in the media pane, since the definition of content includes "appearing on the Services," so avoid using twitpic and the like and there is no issue.



    tl;dr +1 to @michaelowens' point



    Posted by: aaron.pk |
    October 18, 2010 2:27 PM




















  7. So, if my photo is hosted at my paid Flickr account and it's labeled "All Rights Reserved" but I send a link to my photo to Twitter... who owns it now?



    Posted by: Erin |
    October 18, 2010 2:32 PM




















  8. Seriously? This is a surprise to anyone? People share pictures on Twitter (and third party pic services) because they want the world to see it and SHARE it. Professional photos aren't posting their masterpieces on TwitPic.



    Posted by: Russ Hill |
    October 18, 2010 2:39 PM




















  9. Michael Owens said much what I came to say so I won't repeat him.



    Based on the false logic of this article, you are implying that if I share a link to a NY Times article, Twitter can use the content from that article to their hearts content. Obviously false.



    Anyone can put anything they want into a TOS but that doesn't mean its legal.



    Posted by: Jmartens |
    October 18, 2010 2:43 PM




















  10. I am not an expert on this topic, but I believe companies (like Twitter) need to have clauses like this in the TOS to protect themselves from copyright violations. They need the freedom to copy, modify, and reproduce contributed content as well as the right to move it around in on their servers. Technically wouldn't Twitter be violating copyright if the original author didn't approve of how their content was being used, displayed, or modified by Twitter? I was given this notion from different company's rep that deals with online content distribution. Although, the way companies word their TOS make many people worry about losing control of there IP.





    Posted by: bobsbag |
    October 18, 2010 3:32 PM




















  11. I don't believe this is as casual as some of the comments indicate; nor, is the Post so off-track.



    Twitter are acquiring both photo and video developers to bring this all in-house.



    To @bobsbag's point -- yes, Twitter need some non-exclusive publication right, within the boundaries of their service (even extended to the future to some degree); or, even a self-extending license based on a User not deleting files. What Twitter do NOT require is an unrestricted License coupled with the ability to sell, transfer or in any manner profit from the direct licensing of content (they can sell ad space around it and use it for promotional purposes).



    Now, yes, anyone would be a fool to post anything on nearly any "free" service out there if they intend to use it commercially themselves. But, I'd look to Flickr's T&C for a better model than what Twitter provide. There are a slew of alternatives out there, only a high paid lawyer will tell you they "must have these draconian T&C."



    Posted by: bob r. |
    October 18, 2010 5:33 PM




















  12. Obviously false.



    Anyone can put anything they want into a TOS but that doesn't mean its lega



    Posted by: ogame |
    October 18, 2010 8:30 PM




















  13. Sorry but their is no way that this can be legit or enforced. adding a URL to a permalink that contains an embedded image and/or download links to higher quality versions of that image (or other media) does not give Twitter the rights defined in the ToS. Even if this were the legal intentions by Twitter's lawyers and business executives, I have to assume that this would not hold up in a court of law... that is if the terms are not properly modified before a case were to ever get that far.



    As for the issue of displaying media on the #NewTwitter Right Side Column used for presenting supplemental meta data, media and eventually ads..... This is not really an issue since only official content partners can use this real estate and those services ToS already apply. I have been waiting for over a month (contacted contentpartnerships@twitter.com) to learn more about the content embedding situation. I'd assume that their would be a whitelisting process and then twitter would utilize common tech to fetch and display media from approved domains (oembed, link rel & meta tags). Ideally, Twitter would also pull in License info when specified and content creators would use preview/watermarked versions of their media for display inside Twitter.com while reserving the high quality media as separate embeds/links on the URL/page.



     Posted by: sull |
    October 18, 2010 9:19 PM




















  14. The problem is people don't try to understand legalise, and try to understand the tech terms for the same. Now lets look at the part of the ToS he has quoted.



    use, copy(copy from photo sites to display them within twitter, pic may be copied to cache), reproduce(retweet), process, modify and adapt (reduce 2mb pic to may be 100kb before displaying it), publish (just in case someone decides to print a twitterfeed from a browser?), transmit (send across the internetz), display (duh!) and distribute such Content (retweet!)





    "You agree that this license includes the right for Twitter to make such Content available to other companies, organizations or individuals who partner with Twitter for the syndication, broadcast, distribution or publication of such Content on other media and services, subject to our terms and conditions for such Content use"

    You know, people use Twitter API and I think that's what they are talking about here. So please stop freaking out, really!

    If there's a newsworthy pic you have taken, the agencies will contact you and not twitter. Do they really think Twitter would employ somebody to handle silly requests from media like this? Really?



    Posted by: | Balu | |
    October 19, 2010 12:08 AM




















  15. Non-issue.



    This is a standard language to protect company from people who would upload stuff onto a content distribution service and then sue the same service for copyright infringement. Check Yahoo's, for example:



    "With respect to Content you submit or make available for inclusion on publicly accessible areas of Yahoo! Groups, the license to use, distribute, reproduce, modify, adapt, publicly perform and publicly display such Content on the Yahoo! Services solely for the purposes of providing and promoting the specific Yahoo! Group to which such Content was submitted or made available."



    Posted by: twitterer |
    October 19, 2010 12:30 AM




















  16. Well, Twitter can use the photos, and they can even sell them further. So if they appear on magazine covers, tough luck.



    However, for use in advertisements, pictures of people need a model release. So there are limits to what the images can be used for. But in general, yes. Twitter (and Facebook) can do pretty much what they want or dare with the content they are sent.



    Most of the legalese is there to make the actual service possible, but eg. Twitters ToS goes beyond that.



     Posted by: Tarmo Toikkanen |
    October 19, 2010 12:39 AM




















  17. This might be beneficial for twitter but I don't think that general public would like this. This seems disturbing to any pro photographers who tweet their photographs.



    Posted by: street bike accessories |
    October 19, 2010 2:18 AM




















  18. Seriously now, if you share your photos via Twitter or any other social media sites, you lose its rights exclusively and can be picked up by anyone and use it anywhere. If you have photos you don’t want to be used all over the internet, don’t share it or publish it anywhere. Once it is published, it’s gone unless you have stated on your own website against using the photos for other purposes other than yours.



    Posted by: Steve Jobs |
    October 19, 2010 9:18 AM




















  19. This is clearly a load of nonsense. Michael Owens above has debunked this misleading information nicely but I'll add some food for thought: if an article from the New York Times appears in the Twitter media pane can Twitter re-publish and sell that article? I think not. Nor do they "own" your photo. Photofocus did not "consult it's lawyers," Scott Bourne asked his buddy Larry to scan the TOS. Larry is obviously not an entertainment lawyer and knows little about content licensing. This scare mongering was well deconstructed by petapixel dot com yesterday, It's sad that this noise is still floating around and considered legitamate information.



     Posted by: Daniel K. Berman |
    October 19, 2010 9:39 AM




















  20. These are all great comments, and I'm glad to see people unpack this item -- though it's interesting to see where you all agree and disagree. The critiques of our coverage are compelling and much appreciated, though it's important to see that question mark in the title. I put it there for a reason.



    I don't think Twitter is "evil" nor do I think that the wildest interpretation of what can be enforced (or not) with the ToS changes are necessarily true. What is important is that a photo blog had consulted their lawyers about it. And lots of people (still) have questions about it. The coverage is the conversation, and we can all only weigh in until our questions are answered. PhotoFocus' means of getting these questions answered was to ask their counsel. And that's significant.



     Posted by: Violet Blue |
    October 19, 2010 4:10 PM




















  21. It we view this to the point of twitter then it's quite beneficial for them, they can do what they want with other photos but I don't think that public would like this.



    Posted by: flash banner |
    October 19, 2010 11:06 PM




















  22. My only worry is people read articles like this by looking at the headline and a few paragraphs only. The notion then starts rumours that twitter owns you and your data and your pictures/video and we will soon have a sequel to the movie social network.



    I see you suggest you don't think twitter is "evil" but I can guarantee you most eyeballs on this page will walk away thinking exactly that.



    A



    Posted by: ashul |
    October 20, 2010 2:56 AM




















  23. I agree with @MichaelOwens comments.

    Thanks for the article and interesting commnets.



    Posted by: Penny |
    October 20, 2010 11:50 AM




















  24. How is this news? I remember the TOS for facebook saying the exact same thing. Yes, I read the TOS.



    Posted by: Dan |
    October 21, 2010 10:32 AM




















  25. I should have looked at the author of the original post. Much ado about mostly nothing. Twitter may eventually start a hosting site for pics and will get rights to things posted there but, as others have noted, just because a ToS says something doesn't mean they can actually get away with it. And I don't think Twitter is evil (certainly not even close to the evil that is Facebook), if I did then I'd have stopped using it long ago.



     Posted by: Erik O |
    October 21, 2010 10:43 AM




















  26. Not sure what everyone is surprised about. Most major social networking or blogging platform gain a royalty free right to your photos if you post them. For example, Tumblr, Posterous, etc all gain a royalty free right to any photos you post. The lesson? Don't post photos on the internet unless you are okay with people or companies using them for free. I am surprised people get upset about this, it's 2010 and I thought we all knew this by now.



    Posted by: Mike |
    October 21, 2010 5:10 PM




















  27. I dont find this a big shocker - read the tos of most companies and you find this type of proviso. Usually its just ot cover themselves and to provide them with the final word if they wanted to push it - in reality, how many photos would this affect? On the bright side, I could use with some extra exposure so it could work out good for some photogs!

    Would it just be the rights to the low res, watermarked image?



    Posted by: Grant Stringer |
    October 22, 2010 1:44 AM




















  28. The moment you upload and shared your photos in twitter you have an idea already that it might be use by the third party and not only by you. It's obvious I guess not only in twitter but in other social sites that your photo for that matter when you made public any one can have access on it and can use it. The best way to alter that is not to share at all or try to upload something you know it's okay to let go. I don't give a time to see their provision because it's really obvious though.



    Posted by: daniellehudges |
    October 23, 2010 12:41 AM























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    Comments


    Subscribe to comments for this post OR Subscribe to comments for all ReadWriteWeb posts










    1. Yep! Twitter is gonna make a fortune off your drunken night at Chili's



       Posted by: ZuDfunck |
      October 18, 2010 1:45 PM




















    2. Let's see. . . you use a free service and then want them to promote your restricted material and give you the profits. . . hmmm... yeah, I would like that deal also.



      This really sounds like much to do about nothing. Let me see, I have a photo that I want to sell at some point but show it off on twitter. How can I do that without loss of my property? Well, maybe make a low res thumb of your image and upload that with slight modifications, like a watermark, then the original image is still yours to do with as you please, isn't it?



      I don't know but this sounds a bit ridiculous. How many problems would arise if such services allowed everyone to copyright everything they submit? Well, when you think of it it's really funny. . . people complain about every company suing every other company over patents and how those sofware patents shouldn't be allowed yada, yada, but WAIT!!! when it comes to my precious picture that I'm going to upload via a free service. . . I WANT IT PROTECTED!



      Posted by: gpeasy |
      October 18, 2010 1:55 PM




















    3. This article, and all of the other articles that this stemmed from, contains a fundamental misunderstanding about the definition of "Content" in the context of Twitter. Twitter's "Content" is the 140 characters and any metadata stored and served by Twitter. Anything that requires a URL to access (i.e. a link shared on Twitter) is not considered "Content" in the context of Twitter's ToS (from http://twitter.com/tos "any information, text, graphics, or other materials uploaded, downloaded or appearing on the Services (collectively referred to as 'Content')").



      This may become an issue if Twitter were to—say for example—buy TwitPic or create their own Photo Sharing tool. And yes, there is potential legal concern with the way that their Media Pane system works in the #newtwitter UI design, as it does state "appearing on" but for their license to apply to the content of their Media Pane, it would require that the license from the service allowing their content to be displayed to be sub-licensed. Prior to the Media Pane in #newtwitter, I would have said this is a complete non-issue. Now, it's just something to "watch" and, if you're really worried about it, don't use services that work in the Media Pane.



      tl;dr: This article is vastly misleading. "Content" is the text in a tweet and anything you upload directly to a Twitter website, not to a third-party service or your own servers.



      You should know better, RWW.



       Posted by: Michael Owens |
      October 18, 2010 1:57 PM




















    4. This is a significant development for professionals, and it's worth noting to the general public. I wonder how often the people at Twitter might acutally take advantage of this...? The web seems to get more "open" every day, something we all need to be aware of.



      Posted by: David Perdew |
      October 18, 2010 1:57 PM




















    5. This is about lawyers and their constant need to prove value to their clients (whom they charge absurd hourly rates to).



      A number of lawyers take this approach (non-exclusive license; right to reproduce, sub-license, etc.). Other, more reasonable lawyers take more of the BasecampHQ approach to managing data on behalf of someone (albeit, under paid accounts).



      If Twitter ever tried to resell a photo that was uploaded, they would (most likely) run afoul of a range of Copyright Laws while they try to uphold their T&C which are one-sided and were never reviewed by their User's attorney's in a fair and reasonable negotiation. Additionally, if a Minor uploads photos, without parental consent, good luck appropriating those under their T&C.



      If Twitter had strong management, who had more experience, they'd fire the lawyer who wrote the T&C and say, "thanks, bye." Then, go find an attorney who's more forward thinking.



      Posted by: Bob |
      October 18, 2010 2:04 PM




















    6. I agree with @MichaelOwens on this, mostly a non-issue. From the TOS,



      "...information, text, graphics, or other materials uploaded, downloaded or appearing on the Services (collectively referred to as “Content”)."



      So it looks like photos you upload to Twitter (your profile pic and background image) can be used by them, but your linked photos are not uploaded to Twitter so they don't count as "Content" in the TOS.



      The only gray area I see is photos appearing in the media pane, since the definition of content includes "appearing on the Services," so avoid using twitpic and the like and there is no issue.



      tl;dr +1 to @michaelowens' point



      Posted by: aaron.pk |
      October 18, 2010 2:27 PM




















    7. So, if my photo is hosted at my paid Flickr account and it's labeled "All Rights Reserved" but I send a link to my photo to Twitter... who owns it now?



      Posted by: Erin |
      October 18, 2010 2:32 PM




















    8. Seriously? This is a surprise to anyone? People share pictures on Twitter (and third party pic services) because they want the world to see it and SHARE it. Professional photos aren't posting their masterpieces on TwitPic.



      Posted by: Russ Hill |
      October 18, 2010 2:39 PM




















    9. Michael Owens said much what I came to say so I won't repeat him.



      Based on the false logic of this article, you are implying that if I share a link to a NY Times article, Twitter can use the content from that article to their hearts content. Obviously false.



      Anyone can put anything they want into a TOS but that doesn't mean its legal.



      Posted by: Jmartens |
      October 18, 2010 2:43 PM




















    10. I am not an expert on this topic, but I believe companies (like Twitter) need to have clauses like this in the TOS to protect themselves from copyright violations. They need the freedom to copy, modify, and reproduce contributed content as well as the right to move it around in on their servers. Technically wouldn't Twitter be violating copyright if the original author didn't approve of how their content was being used, displayed, or modified by Twitter? I was given this notion from different company's rep that deals with online content distribution. Although, the way companies word their TOS make many people worry about losing control of there IP.





      Posted by: bobsbag |
      October 18, 2010 3:32 PM




















    11. I don't believe this is as casual as some of the comments indicate; nor, is the Post so off-track.



      Twitter are acquiring both photo and video developers to bring this all in-house.



      To @bobsbag's point -- yes, Twitter need some non-exclusive publication right, within the boundaries of their service (even extended to the future to some degree); or, even a self-extending license based on a User not deleting files. What Twitter do NOT require is an unrestricted License coupled with the ability to sell, transfer or in any manner profit from the direct licensing of content (they can sell ad space around it and use it for promotional purposes).



      Now, yes, anyone would be a fool to post anything on nearly any "free" service out there if they intend to use it commercially themselves. But, I'd look to Flickr's T&C for a better model than what Twitter provide. There are a slew of alternatives out there, only a high paid lawyer will tell you they "must have these draconian T&C."



      Posted by: bob r. |
      October 18, 2010 5:33 PM




















    12. Obviously false.



      Anyone can put anything they want into a TOS but that doesn't mean its lega



      Posted by: ogame |
      October 18, 2010 8:30 PM




















    13. Sorry but their is no way that this can be legit or enforced. adding a URL to a permalink that contains an embedded image and/or download links to higher quality versions of that image (or other media) does not give Twitter the rights defined in the ToS. Even if this were the legal intentions by Twitter's lawyers and business executives, I have to assume that this would not hold up in a court of law... that is if the terms are not properly modified before a case were to ever get that far.



      As for the issue of displaying media on the #NewTwitter Right Side Column used for presenting supplemental meta data, media and eventually ads..... This is not really an issue since only official content partners can use this real estate and those services ToS already apply. I have been waiting for over a month (contacted contentpartnerships@twitter.com) to learn more about the content embedding situation. I'd assume that their would be a whitelisting process and then twitter would utilize common tech to fetch and display media from approved domains (oembed, link rel & meta tags). Ideally, Twitter would also pull in License info when specified and content creators would use preview/watermarked versions of their media for display inside Twitter.com while reserving the high quality media as separate embeds/links on the URL/page.



       Posted by: sull |
      October 18, 2010 9:19 PM




















    14. The problem is people don't try to understand legalise, and try to understand the tech terms for the same. Now lets look at the part of the ToS he has quoted.



      use, copy(copy from photo sites to display them within twitter, pic may be copied to cache), reproduce(retweet), process, modify and adapt (reduce 2mb pic to may be 100kb before displaying it), publish (just in case someone decides to print a twitterfeed from a browser?), transmit (send across the internetz), display (duh!) and distribute such Content (retweet!)





      "You agree that this license includes the right for Twitter to make such Content available to other companies, organizations or individuals who partner with Twitter for the syndication, broadcast, distribution or publication of such Content on other media and services, subject to our terms and conditions for such Content use"

      You know, people use Twitter API and I think that's what they are talking about here. So please stop freaking out, really!

      If there's a newsworthy pic you have taken, the agencies will contact you and not twitter. Do they really think Twitter would employ somebody to handle silly requests from media like this? Really?



      Posted by: | Balu | |
      October 19, 2010 12:08 AM




















    15. Non-issue.



      This is a standard language to protect company from people who would upload stuff onto a content distribution service and then sue the same service for copyright infringement. Check Yahoo's, for example:



      "With respect to Content you submit or make available for inclusion on publicly accessible areas of Yahoo! Groups, the license to use, distribute, reproduce, modify, adapt, publicly perform and publicly display such Content on the Yahoo! Services solely for the purposes of providing and promoting the specific Yahoo! Group to which such Content was submitted or made available."



      Posted by: twitterer |
      October 19, 2010 12:30 AM




















    16. Well, Twitter can use the photos, and they can even sell them further. So if they appear on magazine covers, tough luck.



      However, for use in advertisements, pictures of people need a model release. So there are limits to what the images can be used for. But in general, yes. Twitter (and Facebook) can do pretty much what they want or dare with the content they are sent.



      Most of the legalese is there to make the actual service possible, but eg. Twitters ToS goes beyond that.



       Posted by: Tarmo Toikkanen |
      October 19, 2010 12:39 AM




















    17. This might be beneficial for twitter but I don't think that general public would like this. This seems disturbing to any pro photographers who tweet their photographs.



      Posted by: street bike accessories |
      October 19, 2010 2:18 AM




















    18. Seriously now, if you share your photos via Twitter or any other social media sites, you lose its rights exclusively and can be picked up by anyone and use it anywhere. If you have photos you don’t want to be used all over the internet, don’t share it or publish it anywhere. Once it is published, it’s gone unless you have stated on your own website against using the photos for other purposes other than yours.



      Posted by: Steve Jobs |
      October 19, 2010 9:18 AM




















    19. This is clearly a load of nonsense. Michael Owens above has debunked this misleading information nicely but I'll add some food for thought: if an article from the New York Times appears in the Twitter media pane can Twitter re-publish and sell that article? I think not. Nor do they "own" your photo. Photofocus did not "consult it's lawyers," Scott Bourne asked his buddy Larry to scan the TOS. Larry is obviously not an entertainment lawyer and knows little about content licensing. This scare mongering was well deconstructed by petapixel dot com yesterday, It's sad that this noise is still floating around and considered legitamate information.



       Posted by: Daniel K. Berman |
      October 19, 2010 9:39 AM




















    20. These are all great comments, and I'm glad to see people unpack this item -- though it's interesting to see where you all agree and disagree. The critiques of our coverage are compelling and much appreciated, though it's important to see that question mark in the title. I put it there for a reason.



      I don't think Twitter is "evil" nor do I think that the wildest interpretation of what can be enforced (or not) with the ToS changes are necessarily true. What is important is that a photo blog had consulted their lawyers about it. And lots of people (still) have questions about it. The coverage is the conversation, and we can all only weigh in until our questions are answered. PhotoFocus' means of getting these questions answered was to ask their counsel. And that's significant.



       Posted by: Violet Blue |
      October 19, 2010 4:10 PM




















    21. It we view this to the point of twitter then it's quite beneficial for them, they can do what they want with other photos but I don't think that public would like this.



      Posted by: flash banner |
      October 19, 2010 11:06 PM




















    22. My only worry is people read articles like this by looking at the headline and a few paragraphs only. The notion then starts rumours that twitter owns you and your data and your pictures/video and we will soon have a sequel to the movie social network.



      I see you suggest you don't think twitter is "evil" but I can guarantee you most eyeballs on this page will walk away thinking exactly that.



      A



      Posted by: ashul |
      October 20, 2010 2:56 AM




















    23. I agree with @MichaelOwens comments.

      Thanks for the article and interesting commnets.



      Posted by: Penny |
      October 20, 2010 11:50 AM




















    24. How is this news? I remember the TOS for facebook saying the exact same thing. Yes, I read the TOS.



      Posted by: Dan |
      October 21, 2010 10:32 AM




















    25. I should have looked at the author of the original post. Much ado about mostly nothing. Twitter may eventually start a hosting site for pics and will get rights to things posted there but, as others have noted, just because a ToS says something doesn't mean they can actually get away with it. And I don't think Twitter is evil (certainly not even close to the evil that is Facebook), if I did then I'd have stopped using it long ago.



       Posted by: Erik O |
      October 21, 2010 10:43 AM




















    26. Not sure what everyone is surprised about. Most major social networking or blogging platform gain a royalty free right to your photos if you post them. For example, Tumblr, Posterous, etc all gain a royalty free right to any photos you post. The lesson? Don't post photos on the internet unless you are okay with people or companies using them for free. I am surprised people get upset about this, it's 2010 and I thought we all knew this by now.



      Posted by: Mike |
      October 21, 2010 5:10 PM




















    27. I dont find this a big shocker - read the tos of most companies and you find this type of proviso. Usually its just ot cover themselves and to provide them with the final word if they wanted to push it - in reality, how many photos would this affect? On the bright side, I could use with some extra exposure so it could work out good for some photogs!

      Would it just be the rights to the low res, watermarked image?



      Posted by: Grant Stringer |
      October 22, 2010 1:44 AM




















    28. The moment you upload and shared your photos in twitter you have an idea already that it might be use by the third party and not only by you. It's obvious I guess not only in twitter but in other social sites that your photo for that matter when you made public any one can have access on it and can use it. The best way to alter that is not to share at all or try to upload something you know it's okay to let go. I don't give a time to see their provision because it's really obvious though.



      Posted by: daniellehudges |
      October 23, 2010 12:41 AM























    29. bench craft company complaints

      Nevada Voters Complain Of Problems At Polls - Las Vegas <b>News</b> Story <b>...</b>

      LAS VEGAS -- Some voters in Boulder City complained on Monday that their ballot had been cast before they went to the polls, raising questions about Clark County's electronic voting machines. Wednesday, October 27, 2010.

      Juan Williams: Fox <b>News</b> Lets &#39;Black Guy With A Hispanic Name&#39; Host <b>...</b>

      Juan Williams said Tuesday that he's still upset about his firing from NPR, and added that NPR does not understand the Fox News culture or audience. In an interview with Baltimore Sun columnist David Zurawik, Williams said he remains ...

      Lujiazui Breakfast: <b>News</b> And Views About China Stocks (Oct. 27 <b>...</b>

      Investors and traders in China's main financial district are talking about the following before the start of trade today: Shares in automaker Hong Kong-listed BYD tanked by 9% after the company said profit fell by 99% in the third ...


      bench craft company complaints bench craft company complaints

      Nevada Voters Complain Of Problems At Polls - Las Vegas <b>News</b> Story <b>...</b>

      LAS VEGAS -- Some voters in Boulder City complained on Monday that their ballot had been cast before they went to the polls, raising questions about Clark County's electronic voting machines. Wednesday, October 27, 2010.

      Juan Williams: Fox <b>News</b> Lets &#39;Black Guy With A Hispanic Name&#39; Host <b>...</b>

      Juan Williams said Tuesday that he's still upset about his firing from NPR, and added that NPR does not understand the Fox News culture or audience. In an interview with Baltimore Sun columnist David Zurawik, Williams said he remains ...

      Lujiazui Breakfast: <b>News</b> And Views About China Stocks (Oct. 27 <b>...</b>

      Investors and traders in China's main financial district are talking about the following before the start of trade today: Shares in automaker Hong Kong-listed BYD tanked by 9% after the company said profit fell by 99% in the third ...


      bench craft company complaints bench craft company complaints

      Nevada Voters Complain Of Problems At Polls - Las Vegas <b>News</b> Story <b>...</b>

      LAS VEGAS -- Some voters in Boulder City complained on Monday that their ballot had been cast before they went to the polls, raising questions about Clark County's electronic voting machines. Wednesday, October 27, 2010.

      Juan Williams: Fox <b>News</b> Lets &#39;Black Guy With A Hispanic Name&#39; Host <b>...</b>

      Juan Williams said Tuesday that he's still upset about his firing from NPR, and added that NPR does not understand the Fox News culture or audience. In an interview with Baltimore Sun columnist David Zurawik, Williams said he remains ...

      Lujiazui Breakfast: <b>News</b> And Views About China Stocks (Oct. 27 <b>...</b>

      Investors and traders in China's main financial district are talking about the following before the start of trade today: Shares in automaker Hong Kong-listed BYD tanked by 9% after the company said profit fell by 99% in the third ...


      bench craft company complaints bench craft company complaints

Tuesday, October 26, 2010

how to manage personal finances


If navigating the murky waters of credit scores and debt leaves you scratching your head and wishing someone would just tell you what to do, you’re in luck. Credit Sesame is a new startup launching in private beta today at TechCrunch Disrupt that’s looking to help do just that — give the site access to your financial data, and it will present you with a handful of options, along with bulletpoints explaining why they work for you. If you’d like to try the site out for yourself, head to CreditSesame.com/TechCrunch and use the password OpenSesame.


Credit Sesame doesn’t take long to set up — the company says it takes a couple of minutes — but it does require sensitive information including your social security number (which the site needs in order to access your credit history). That may make some users wary, but the site is aware of potential privacy and security issues, and has a FAQ that talks about how it protects your data here.


Once you’ve entered your information, the site will visualize key data like your credit and debt (it’s clearly taking some design cues from BillShrink and Mint’s pretty graphs). It will also offer recommendations for how you can save money — the company says it analyzes thousands of financial products to determine which are the best fit for each user, and Credit Sesame says it saves an average home owner up to $600 per month. Proposals are based on pre-qualified loans, and Credit Sesame says that it uses the “same pricing engine that top banks use” to find those products.



Q&A:

GT: I get consume value proposition. How are you going to compete with and what’s your advantage vs. Mint, BillShrink, etc.

A: Companies out there like Mint do a great job helping with finances. But what really helps.. most companies lack ingredients. One is consumer intelligence. Second is product intelligence. Our core competence is product intelligence. Analytics that brings it all together.


SP: I think it’s well designed. Hard to get distribution. Broader questions that founders here need to ask themselves: why am I founding a company in the first place. Might be that you want financial independence, build lifestyle business. Third reason which is bad: you think you’ve spent your career in Silicon Valley and highest level status is to be a founder. The founders who fall into first two categories, sometimes lifestyle businesses become incredible industries. Founders see a problem that desperately needs solving. Third class doesn’t usually succeed. I think everyone needs to ask which they are. Not saying you guys are the third.

A: I’m a serial entrepreneur. I sold to a lot of banks and had a good exit. I noticed that banks are great, but their objectives aren’t aligned with consumer’s best interest. When consumers go to a lot branches, they want to know if they should be worried, if there is something they should do different. And the answers they get aren’t sufficient.


VR: What is the user experience. How much info do I need to give to get started. WIth recommendations, how hard is it to do those?

A: Takes two minutes, answer 5-6 questions. Once you enter information we aggregate everything. We refresh that data for you. Our system knows enough about the client/market that if an opportunity arises we’ll present the option and the system can do it for them.






'When I married Donna, I could get both hands around her waist,' said my husband's grandfather. Pointing at his full-figured wife, he boasted, 'Now look how much I got. That's what I call an investment!' — Katherine Eby, via Reader's Digest.com


In essence, that funny anecdote is right. Of course it doesn't sound very flattering to Katherine's grandmother-in-law, but that's exactly what investment is all about: making sure that your accounts and net worth grow bigger over time.


Investment is that exercise of putting money in a financial account, in your business, in a friend's business, or even in some other companies' business, for the pursuit of growing one's money. Investment is an effort to get one's money to "grow."


Investment works on the principle of "compounded interest." Interest that is added to your principal, or initial investment, itself gets to earn interest. So if you've initially invested $200, at the interest rate of 2.5%, at the maturity term of one month, you'll be earning $5 at the end of that month. If you renew the term of your money, your $205 will then earn $5.13 ($5.125) when another month is over. Certificates of deposit accounts or time deposits work exactly like this.


On the other hand, mutual funds work on the principle of snowballed profits. Mutual funds are as good as stocks and bonds, only you don't manage them yourself. Rather, trained financial experts are hired to manage your money. To invest in mutual funds, you can look into a broker that charges low commissions and check out their offerings.


Basic Tips For Investing In A Business


Investments could also mean those things you purchase or put money in, in order to further your business. Most people take additional studies in order to get the credentials needed to help them advance in their chosen careers. Other people invest in machinery, gadgets and equipment in order to make their lives easier. Then, most businesses invest in people which make up their workforce — their much-needed manpower.


Here are three informal rules of thumb by which you can measure your investments and purchases:


Small Business <b>News</b>: Marketing Mambo

It's a dance step every small business must master and arguably the most important especially in the beginning of your small business. Marketing encompasses.

AMERICAblog <b>News</b>: MoveOn woman kicked &amp; stomped by &#39;Libertarian <b>...</b>

News and opinion about US politics from a liberal perspective.

Debian Project <b>News</b> - July 26th, 2010

Debian Day in New York, MiniDebConf in India, Debian Installer beta1, Debian Podcast, how to attract more users?


bench craft company complaints
bench craft company complaints

MABUHAY ALLIANCE HOST THE 6TH ANNUAL ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENT CONFERENCE by mabuhayalliance


Small Business <b>News</b>: Marketing Mambo

It's a dance step every small business must master and arguably the most important especially in the beginning of your small business. Marketing encompasses.

AMERICAblog <b>News</b>: MoveOn woman kicked &amp; stomped by &#39;Libertarian <b>...</b>

News and opinion about US politics from a liberal perspective.

Debian Project <b>News</b> - July 26th, 2010

Debian Day in New York, MiniDebConf in India, Debian Installer beta1, Debian Podcast, how to attract more users?


bench craft company complaints bench craft company complaints

If navigating the murky waters of credit scores and debt leaves you scratching your head and wishing someone would just tell you what to do, you’re in luck. Credit Sesame is a new startup launching in private beta today at TechCrunch Disrupt that’s looking to help do just that — give the site access to your financial data, and it will present you with a handful of options, along with bulletpoints explaining why they work for you. If you’d like to try the site out for yourself, head to CreditSesame.com/TechCrunch and use the password OpenSesame.


Credit Sesame doesn’t take long to set up — the company says it takes a couple of minutes — but it does require sensitive information including your social security number (which the site needs in order to access your credit history). That may make some users wary, but the site is aware of potential privacy and security issues, and has a FAQ that talks about how it protects your data here.


Once you’ve entered your information, the site will visualize key data like your credit and debt (it’s clearly taking some design cues from BillShrink and Mint’s pretty graphs). It will also offer recommendations for how you can save money — the company says it analyzes thousands of financial products to determine which are the best fit for each user, and Credit Sesame says it saves an average home owner up to $600 per month. Proposals are based on pre-qualified loans, and Credit Sesame says that it uses the “same pricing engine that top banks use” to find those products.



Q&A:

GT: I get consume value proposition. How are you going to compete with and what’s your advantage vs. Mint, BillShrink, etc.

A: Companies out there like Mint do a great job helping with finances. But what really helps.. most companies lack ingredients. One is consumer intelligence. Second is product intelligence. Our core competence is product intelligence. Analytics that brings it all together.


SP: I think it’s well designed. Hard to get distribution. Broader questions that founders here need to ask themselves: why am I founding a company in the first place. Might be that you want financial independence, build lifestyle business. Third reason which is bad: you think you’ve spent your career in Silicon Valley and highest level status is to be a founder. The founders who fall into first two categories, sometimes lifestyle businesses become incredible industries. Founders see a problem that desperately needs solving. Third class doesn’t usually succeed. I think everyone needs to ask which they are. Not saying you guys are the third.

A: I’m a serial entrepreneur. I sold to a lot of banks and had a good exit. I noticed that banks are great, but their objectives aren’t aligned with consumer’s best interest. When consumers go to a lot branches, they want to know if they should be worried, if there is something they should do different. And the answers they get aren’t sufficient.


VR: What is the user experience. How much info do I need to give to get started. WIth recommendations, how hard is it to do those?

A: Takes two minutes, answer 5-6 questions. Once you enter information we aggregate everything. We refresh that data for you. Our system knows enough about the client/market that if an opportunity arises we’ll present the option and the system can do it for them.






'When I married Donna, I could get both hands around her waist,' said my husband's grandfather. Pointing at his full-figured wife, he boasted, 'Now look how much I got. That's what I call an investment!' — Katherine Eby, via Reader's Digest.com


In essence, that funny anecdote is right. Of course it doesn't sound very flattering to Katherine's grandmother-in-law, but that's exactly what investment is all about: making sure that your accounts and net worth grow bigger over time.


Investment is that exercise of putting money in a financial account, in your business, in a friend's business, or even in some other companies' business, for the pursuit of growing one's money. Investment is an effort to get one's money to "grow."


Investment works on the principle of "compounded interest." Interest that is added to your principal, or initial investment, itself gets to earn interest. So if you've initially invested $200, at the interest rate of 2.5%, at the maturity term of one month, you'll be earning $5 at the end of that month. If you renew the term of your money, your $205 will then earn $5.13 ($5.125) when another month is over. Certificates of deposit accounts or time deposits work exactly like this.


On the other hand, mutual funds work on the principle of snowballed profits. Mutual funds are as good as stocks and bonds, only you don't manage them yourself. Rather, trained financial experts are hired to manage your money. To invest in mutual funds, you can look into a broker that charges low commissions and check out their offerings.


Basic Tips For Investing In A Business


Investments could also mean those things you purchase or put money in, in order to further your business. Most people take additional studies in order to get the credentials needed to help them advance in their chosen careers. Other people invest in machinery, gadgets and equipment in order to make their lives easier. Then, most businesses invest in people which make up their workforce — their much-needed manpower.


Here are three informal rules of thumb by which you can measure your investments and purchases:


bench craft company complaints

Small Business <b>News</b>: Marketing Mambo

It's a dance step every small business must master and arguably the most important especially in the beginning of your small business. Marketing encompasses.

AMERICAblog <b>News</b>: MoveOn woman kicked &amp; stomped by &#39;Libertarian <b>...</b>

News and opinion about US politics from a liberal perspective.

Debian Project <b>News</b> - July 26th, 2010

Debian Day in New York, MiniDebConf in India, Debian Installer beta1, Debian Podcast, how to attract more users?


bench craft company complaints bench craft company complaints

Small Business <b>News</b>: Marketing Mambo

It's a dance step every small business must master and arguably the most important especially in the beginning of your small business. Marketing encompasses.

AMERICAblog <b>News</b>: MoveOn woman kicked &amp; stomped by &#39;Libertarian <b>...</b>

News and opinion about US politics from a liberal perspective.

Debian Project <b>News</b> - July 26th, 2010

Debian Day in New York, MiniDebConf in India, Debian Installer beta1, Debian Podcast, how to attract more users?


bench craft company complaints bench craft company complaints

Small Business <b>News</b>: Marketing Mambo

It's a dance step every small business must master and arguably the most important especially in the beginning of your small business. Marketing encompasses.

AMERICAblog <b>News</b>: MoveOn woman kicked &amp; stomped by &#39;Libertarian <b>...</b>

News and opinion about US politics from a liberal perspective.

Debian Project <b>News</b> - July 26th, 2010

Debian Day in New York, MiniDebConf in India, Debian Installer beta1, Debian Podcast, how to attract more users?


bench craft company complaints bench craft company complaints