Sunday, January 13, 2013

Open Access Movement

    On Yahoo News - by Virginia Hefferman 1/13/2013
     
    "Aaron Swartz was a hacker-activist and a committed liberator of information. Facing federal charges, a possible sentence of 35 years in prison and a $1 million fine, for downloading subscription-only academic papers with the intent to distribute them, Swartz hanged himself in his apartment in Brooklyn on Friday. He was 26."
     
    R.I.P. Aaron Swartz. 
     
     
    Information is power. But like all power, there are those who want to keep it for themselves. The world’s entire scientific and cultural heritage, published over centuries in books and journals, is increasingly being digitized and locked up by a handful of private corporations. Want to read the papers featuring the most famous results of the sciences? You’ll need to send enormous amounts to publishers like Reed Elsevier.
     
    There are those struggling to change this. The Open Access Movement has fought valiantly to ensure that scientists do not sign their copyrights away but instead ensure their work is published on the Internet, under terms that allow anyone to access it. But even under the best scenarios, their work will only apply to things published in the future. Everything up until now will have been lost.
     
    That is too high a price to pay. Forcing academics to pay money to read the work of their colleagues? Scanning entire libraries but only allowing the folks at Google to read them? Providing scientific articles to those at elite universities in the First World, but not to children in the Global South? It’s outrageous and unacceptable.
     
    “I agree,” many say, “but what can we do? The companies hold the copyrights, they make enormous amounts of money by charging for access, and it’s perfectly legal — there’s nothing we can do to stop them.” But there is something we can, something that’s already being done: we can fight back.
     
    Those with access to these resources — students, librarians, scientists — you have been given a privilege. You get to feed at this banquet of knowledge while the rest of the world is locked out. But you need not — indeed, morally, you cannot — keep this privilege for yourselves. You have a duty to share it with the world. And you have: trading passwords with colleagues, filling download requests for friends.
     
    Meanwhile, those who have been locked out are not standing idly by. You have been sneaking through holes and climbing over fences, liberating the information locked up by the publishers and sharing them with your friends.
     
    But all of this action goes on in the dark, hidden underground. It’s called stealing or piracy, as if sharing a wealth of knowledge were the moral equivalent of plundering a ship and murdering its crew. But sharing isn’t immoral — it’s a moral imperative. Only those blinded by greed would refuse to let a friend make a copy.
     
    Large corporations, of course, are blinded by greed. The laws under which they operate require it — their shareholders would revolt at anything less. And the politicians they have bought off back them, passing laws giving them the exclusive power to decide who can make copies.
     
    There is no justice in following unjust laws. It’s time to come into the light and, in the grand tradition of civil disobedience, declare our opposition to this private theft of public culture.
     
    We need to take information, wherever it is stored, make our copies and share them with the world. We need to take stuff that's out of copyright and add it to the archive. We need to buy secret databases and put them on the Web. We need to download scientific journals and upload them to file sharing networks. We need to fight for Guerilla Open Access.
     
    With enough of us, around the world, we’ll not just send a strong message opposing the privatization of knowledge — we’ll make it a thing of the past. Will you join us?
     
    Aaron Swartz
    July 2008, Eremo, Italy

Tuesday, January 8, 2013

Site Launch - Nationwide Alliance of Legal Document Preparers


The Nationwide Alliance of Legal Document Preparers is actively seeking new members.

If you or your company assists consumers with their legal tasks, please join us. No membership fees until February 1, 2013. - members will be billed during the month of February. Annual membership only $39.00.

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

PRLog (Press Release) - Jan. 6, 2013 - We believe it is our duty as Americans to exercise our freedom. Use it or lose it. Http://www.naldp.net

NALDP GOALS

Help consumers navigate the legal system

Increase the credibility of nonlawyer legal practitioners

Provide educational opportunities for consumers and legal document preparers

Create a networking entity for legal document preparers

Initiate a way for consumers to find document assistance across state lines

STATEMENT

Our goal is to make it easier for consumers to accomplish their OWN legal goals. We hope to nurture relationships with the legal establishment in every state. Our member legal document preparers do not offer legal advice and will always refer consumers to an attorney when advice is requested. States vary widely in their attitude toward nonlawyer legal document preparers. We do not seek to encourage any legal document preparer to over step their bounds or break any rules set by their state regarding their limitations.

To join go to:

http://www.naldp.net/membership.html

COME GROW WITH US!

Monday, January 7, 2013

Are we there yet?

The U.S. economy is slowly recovering from years of no growth and slow growth. Unemployment is still not anywhere its ideal 3% rate, but at 8.1% as of November 2012 is an improvement over the year before. In November 2011 the unemployment rate in Florida was 10.2% – so quite a difference. Not to say we're totally in the clear. Just somewhat better.

One thing to consider is which types of businesses and industries do well in a poor economy. For example, our industry, legal document preparation does well in general during a poor economy. People who cannot afford attorneys turn to us to help them do it themselves. Even those that can afford attorneys, choose DIY over paying an attorney if they feel that there legal matter is routine, or something that is not going to be contested.

Within our legal document preparation industry, there are certain types of projects that are most popular during a poor economy. Bankruptcies, obviously. As people are trying to recover from their personal economic challenges, bankruptcy is, for some, the best alternative. Bankruptcy petition preparers have long been recognized under federal law as actors in consumer bankruptcy document preparation. Bankruptcy petition preparers typically charge around 10% of an attorney charge for bankruptcy petition preparation. Credit repair is another popular niche, also for obvious reasons. Many people who had always been able to maintain good credit ratings in the past were unable to sustain those high scores during the economic down turn. Debt defense, mortgage modification, foreclosure defense, are also common legal tasks that people may do themselves or seek out document preparers to help them format their paperwork and follow procedure.

Divorces in general likely increase during a poor economy. And as people cannot afford divorce attorneys, they increasingly turn to document preparers for help. In Sarasota County, at least one of the parties in most divorces was pro se. An article published in the Herald Tribune on September 9, 2012 states: “There is no question, though, that pro-se divorces are the new normal. For the past five years, 55 percent of divorce cases in Manatee and Sarasota counties have included at least one spouse who is pro se”.


Other industries that are counter cyclical include:

  • Home Health Industries
  • Employment Services
  • Business Support Services
  • Investigation and Security Services
  • Services to Buildings and Dwellings
  • Management, scientific, and technical consulting services
  • Gas stations
  • Computer systems design and related services

Each of the above industries realized greater than a 10% average increase in sales over the past twelve months. The DIY industries in general have improved while the service industries have faltered or failed. Traditional types of services such as hair and nail salons, restaurants, pet care services, house cleaners and landscapers have fallen dramatically over the past year as more and more consumers are stretching their dollars and doing more with less.

According to the New York Times – and relying on data from www.sageworks.com









Friday, January 4, 2013

Are Refund Anticipation Checks (RAC) any different from the outlawed Refund Anticipation Loans (RAL)?

Did anything change? What's in a name anyway? 

The federal government outlawed RALs and so now we have RACs. Refund Anticipation Loans became Refund Anticipation Checks. If you remember from years past, Refund Anticipation Loans came under fire from the Federal Trade Commission as predatory. There is minimal difference in the effect of a RAL or RAC. Both of them trigger fees The following is reprinted from Yahoo, Finance:

"Who Needs an Income Tax Refund Anticipation Loan or Check? Absolutely Nobody  ResponsibleLending.com
Yahoo! Finance 20 Dec 2012
Refund anticipation loans, considered a form of predatory lending, essentially ended in 2012; but a banking product known as a refund anticipation check (RAC) is set to take their place in 2013. The Department of Treasury explains that RACs are temporary bank accounts, established on behalf of a taxpayer, that can receive a direct deposit refund. This is a bank deposit, not a loan, and is limited to the size of the refund, minus any applicable fees. For taxpayers without a bank account, RACs may expedite refunds by up to six weeks, and they also let filers pay for tax preparation fees out of the expected refund. The National Consumer Law Center says that the average cost of RACs is about $30 to $32; but tax preparers may charge their own "add-on" fees, ranging from $25 to hundreds of dollars. However, many low-income taxpayers can e-file for free, saving on both tax preparation fees and RAC fees. “

There seems to be very little difference between RACs and RALs. RACs like RALs are marketed towards the least sophisticated (read low income) taxpayers. The filer does not have to pay anything out of pocket, and all the fees for filing and tax preparation are deducted from the filer's refund which, in this case, is funded through a special bank account set up specifically for the tax refund. Fees apply. Even though RACs may not be as expensive and predatory as RALs they are also to be avoided. Federal tax refunds are much faster nowadays than in years past, and a filer is quite likely to have their refund in 21 days anyway without a RAC. The IRS site,  states: “If you e-file, you can generally expect your refund in less than 21 days.”

One of the other supposed benefits of a Refund Anticipation Check is that people with no bank account can have use them. No need to open a bank account. My suggestion – then open one!

Many low income filers may not realize that free tax preparation assistance is available.

Heart of Florida United Way  – posts on their site:
"Free tax assistance is available by IRS-certified volunteers to people who make $50,000 or less and would like assistance in preparing their tax returns.
Tax sites are available throughout Orange, Osceola, and Seminole Counties and offer free electronic filing so you can hold on to all of your refund."


Pinellas County:

A list of free tax preparation sites through VITA – VolunteerIncome Tax Assistance


Statewide:
AARP -
And more information about free tax assistance for low income seniors. There is also information about how you can help. We're all in this together.


I'm sure there are many more places low income Floridians can go to get help with their taxes. There is no need to be subjected to expensive fees. One of the problems with Refund Anticipation Loans was that sometimes a filer would file, and the IRS would deny the anticipated refund. The filer would have spent the money before he found out, and wind up owing money to the income tax preparation company. I'm not sure that the scenario would be any different if the same thing happened with a Refund Anticipation Check.