THE WAGES OF VIRTUAL SIN: Financial predators

FRIAR BARNARDINE. Thou hast committed–
BARABAS. Fornication: but that was in another country,
And besides, the wench is dead.
– from “The Jew of Malta,” Christopher Marlowe, 1589/1590

Wars and calamities breed predators. Morality is almost always a casualty of the disorder following upon conflict and social upheaval. So we should not be surprised, however disgusted, that a new breed of predator has crawled out of the current financial wreckage. Desperate people facing the loss of their homes through foreclosure are an easy target. Some of the same unscrupulous operators who peddled subprime mortgages to people who could not afford them are now selling fraudulent remedies that purport to help homeowners avoid foreclosure.

According to the U.S. Federal Trade Commission:

Fraudulent foreclosure “rescue” professionals [aim] to make a quick profit through fees or mortgage payments they collect from you, but do not pass on to the lender. Sometimes, they assume ownership of your property by deceiving you, the homeowner. Then, when it’s too late to save your home, they take the property or siphon off the equity.

The scammers extract money from distressed homeowners in several different ways: by obtaining a fee in advance for promise of service; finagling a transfer of the property title to the ‘rescue’ firm by allowing the owner to remain as renter; claiming special relationship with or pretending to be the lender and having mortgage payments sent to the scammer’s address; and (illegally) charging a fee for modifying a mortgage under the new federal relief plan.

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Japanese Translation of Virtual Organization (PDF format)

Translator: Akira Kawaguchi Download the entire translation as a single ZIP file or individual chapter PDFs below. Complete Japanese Translation (ZIP file containing all chapters) Individual chapter PDF files - Forward by Translator - Profile of Translator - Preface to Japanese Translation (by Author) - Foreword (by Murray Turoff) - Preface - Chapter 1: Intimations of a New Order -…

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Preface to Japanese Translation of Virtual Organization

November 1, 2005 (Original article date)

Virtual organization presents two different faces to the world. One face reveals an ability to enhance the efficiency and effectiveness of management, and to achieve greater flexibility of action. The other shows the dissolution of traditional relationships in the course of realizing these desirable ends. In a word, virtual organization is a disturbing agent of social change and thus provokes ambivalent responses. It is most clearly evident as an innovation in business management, especially within multinational firms and in e-commerce. But virtual organization has implications for society as a whole and is thus treated in this book in its broad social context.

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Virtual Organization – the definitive text

Virtual Organization – Towards a Theory of Societal Transformation Stimulated by Information Technology

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“Before Internet (BI), the historian Stavrianos (1976) wrote, “The Western world today is re-experiencing the decay and despair of its early post-Roman centuries.” Despite opposite causes – technological stagnation in the Roman Empire versus unbridled technological development in the modern West – both periods bear similar marks of decline…”

Reviews:
“…is a meditative and thought-provoking discourse on how modern information technology molds and transforms society itself… Virtual Organization is highly recommended reading which delves deeply into serious and complex forces driving the growth and change of our modern society.”Library Bookwatch Review

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