Google voice scams, explained

 

stream

Here is a  thorough discussion of the Google Voice scam, explanation by the Identity Theft Resource Center.

The scammer sets up a fake voice account from a seller who does not have one and impersonates the target.

Right of publicity and identity

vegas, 2012

Just a speculative post given a recent court opinion discussed on my main blog Monday:  

Is violation of a person's right of publicity a kind of temporary identity theft?    

As eviction moratoriums end, states scramble for incidental help to both landlords, tenants

 

over Appalachia, 2018-6

New York State has a patchwork system that should help most renters still threatened with eviction, this article maintains, on station WIVB.

In Texas there may be less protection in communities were local governments don’t participate, and some landlords don’t want to accept federal money.  And COVID Delta is making it much worse for renters.

SCOTUS nixes Biden's eviction moratorium, even during pandemic

SCOTUS 11-20

 SCOTUS has ended Biden's eviction moratorium, which had been viewed as constitutionally dubious anyway.  Adam Liptak reports in the New York Times. The Court said that only Congress can so this. 

On July 7, 2021, the Aspen Institute had provided a study showing that 30-40 million tenants displaced by COVID19 (at least indirectly) were at risk, and it is possible to tie this to systemic racism built up over the past (redlining, for example) if one wants to.  

Here is the text of the Opinion. 

SCOTUS seems to limit the NY eviction moratorium under due process; but a federal judge lets the moratorium stay Friday

East River, 2015/11

 SCOTUS has decided Thursday that part of the New York eviction moratorium could be illegal. Tenants cannot decide on their own whether they qualify, as that would deny landlords due process, apparently under the 14th Amendment. 

The Real Deal has a story here. 

Nevertheless, a federal judge decided Friday not to block the moratorium on evictions, apparently believing that the moratorium as worded was within the 5-4 SCOTUS ruling on limitations Thursday, Pete Williams reports for NBC News. 

What really happens in New York when evictions resume?

 

lower Manhattan, 2015-11

Matthew Haag of the New York Times asks, “500,000 New Yorkers owe back rent;  what happens when evictions resume?”  The article was consolidated onto the Microsoft Edge home page today by Microsoft News. 

It’s messy, and the devil is in the details.

But obviously, landlordship is risky business.  I had an issue with an (unqualified) assumed mortgage in the 1990s after I left Dallas, and finally the losses from it were paid back.  But increasingly, it is being difficult to own rental property unless you have a lot of capital and deep pockets.  That would affect people who, for example, want to offer airbnb’s, although because those are temporary, maybe that’s a safer business.

So I focus on my own “core activities”. 

 Update: Aug 12  Yahoo! has a list of ideas for how to followup on the end of eviction bans long term, here. 

Would Biden really wipe out private credit reporting companies?

 

Dallas, near Chilton's old location on Fitzhugh

The Biden administration has been proposing various ways to eliminate the three major credit reporting companies and replace them with a single credit reporting government agency.

American Action Forum has a discussion of why this would sputter as an idea. 

I worked for Chilton from 1981 to 1988 (on their billing systems), in Dallas.  Chilton would be bought by TRW, merger closed in 1989, and then be spun off as Experian, a major operation of which is located in McKinney, Texas, north of Dallas.

In March 2021, CNBC wrote an assessment of the proposal.

In April 2021, Ann Logue wrote a story on Yahoo! claiming the Biden wants to “shut down” the credit bureaus.  How do you decapitalize private companies?  Reason:  Racial equity.