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from the put-it-in-the-cloud-what-could-go-wrong dept.
For a long time in Australia when you purchased property you had to visit the local Land Titles office or local equivalent to pay your stamp duty and get paperwork done. Recently several state governments decided to outsource this critical function to a private company, the Property Exchange Australia - PEXA. It was seen as a win-win with a private company taking over storing and maintaining land titles and the State Governments getting a kick back for it. Until it all went wrong recently when $250,000 was stolen from a PEXA conveyancer's account.
The victim of the hack was Dani Venn, who is well known for being on the local version of Masterchef. PEXA has claimed no responsibility for the loss and with the PEXA system soon to be made mandatory in NSW, Victoria and Western Australia, many people are concerned that the system is not secure and should not be used for title or money transfers. While the Commonwealth Bank was able to freeze and recover 138K of the funds, 110K is still missing leaving Ms Venn in the lurch. PEXA has claimed to be taking action to secure the service.
While PEXA has claimed that their online system will be of benefit to lawyers, sellers, buyers and real estate agents, the reality of moving data out of offline systems to internet based servers may very well have just created the sweetest honeypot ever seen online in Australia.
(Score: 2) by krishnoid on Thursday July 05 2018, @05:19AM (3 children)
I thought one would typically pick a company based on reputation, which seems like it shouldn't make a difference what the contract itself says. I've been under the impression that if you have to resort to examining the contract, both sides have already lost.
(Score: 4, Insightful) by Arik on Thursday July 05 2018, @05:26AM
Of course it's only due diligence to examine reputation and bear it in mind. But that's not enough. Reputation is a record of the past. You've heard of pump and dump? It's not just for stocks, it happens with reputation all the time. It's so common the accountants have a special name for it, it's called 'Goodwill' and you'll find it right there on the ledgers at most companies.
So the company that has no reputation may be looking to build goodwill, the company with a great reputation might just be ready to cash some in. Caveat emptor.
Regardless of the reputation, you always want an iron-clad contract spelling out what you require and giving you a viable path forward in the event the other party fails to deliver what is promised.
If laughter is the best medicine, who are the best doctors?
(Score: 5, Insightful) by Whoever on Thursday July 05 2018, @05:41AM (1 child)
As someone who has negotiated contracts in past jobs (but I am not a lawyer), I take the view that contracts should be viewed primarily as the document that defines what happens when things go wrong. When two companies have an agreement on working together and things are going smoothly, no one really cares about what the contract says. It's only when there is a disagreement that the contract becomes important. Unfortunately, too many authors of contracts really don't understand this simple concept.
(Score: -1, Spam) by Anonymous Coward on Thursday July 05 2018, @07:28AM
Waiting. Watching. Waiting. Watching. Waiting. Watching. Waiting. Watching. Waiting. Watching. Grinning. The man got up.
***
Little Bobby happily waved goodbye to his friends and began walking home from school. As the boy was going home, he couldn't help but notice a creepy obese man sitting on a park bench; it seemed as though the man was staring at him intently. Bobby's fear of the man caused him to unconsciously walk faster, even as he tried to tell himself that it was all in his imagination. In fact, the boy was so anxious that he couldn't even look back to check if the man was still there. Bobby hurriedly got away from the park and out of the man's line of sight. Then, once he realized how far he had traveled, he sighed; finally, he could calm down. Just then, Bobby felt a pair of hands grab him. As the child looked up to see who it was, he saw the creepy man's face staring down at him; the word "abomination" came to mind. The last thing that little Bobby ever heard was the man screaming, "Galoop!"
***
"Junk. Junk. Junk. Oh, this looks interesting!" A man was pulling something out from the depths of a dumpster. While some would find it strange to see someone riffling through garbage, others would realize that many valuable treasures are discarded and waiting to be found by those who are bold enough to seek them out. This was the man's - Wilham the Adventurer's - favorite hobby: Dumpster diving. He just never knew what he would find next, which kept things exciting. Then, it came out.
Wilham had finally managed to pull out the object and began inspecting it. "Hm." the man muttered to himself. It appeared to be the brutalized corpse of a naked little boy. While this by itself was fairly mundane, Wilham decided to ascertain whether or not it could still be utilized. The man closely examined the body's anus and genitals for several seconds and appeared to be deep in thought. Suddenly, and without any warning, the man exclaimed, "Warped!" Following this, and while the taste still remained in his mouth, Wilham tossed the irreparable garbage aside and continued his search for usable treasure.
Little Bobby eventually rotted away and was all but forgotten, but at least he had been fully utilized.