Difference between revisions of "Main Page"

Revision as of 15:42, 14 November 2006

This Wiki is an invitation to collaborate on building a learning and research environment based on Yochai Benkler's book, The Wealth of Networks: How Social Production Transforms Markets and Freedom, available under a Creative Commons Attribution Noncommercial Sharealike license.

Read the book

in different formats:

Wiki: summaries, commentary, downloads
PDF - in the original book format or in a paper-friendly version
HTML - formatted in separate chapters, in an easier-to-read format
Hardcopy: from Amazon or from Yale Press
Translations

Reviews

German Law Journal
Public Knowledge

Discussions

Crooked Timber (Net-seminar)
OpenBusiness (interview)
OpenDemocracy (interview)

Using this wiki

The basic idea is to make this Wiki a place for at least five things:

Collaborate on writing a summary of the ideas and claims of the book (see Table of Contents)
Collaborate on writing commentaries and elaborating and refining the presentation
Provide an easy platform through which to access underlying research materials:
- those used in the book's notes
- and resources that are useful for further research, refinement, and updating
Describe, link to, and analyze examples of the phenomena the book describes
- The purpose is not to “make the case” for the book or find “gotcha” counter examples. What we are trying to do is provide a real research tool, annotated bibliography, and platform for collaborative learning. Examples and counter-examples should be selected and described with that purpose in mind.
Demonstrate and discover what is valuable in a learning platform
- Through separate pages devoted to ideas and experiments of what can be done with an online book to make it a learning platform, we hope to expand the range of uses to which this Wiki can be available.
- Through creative, systematic and interactive uses of this wiki, we hope to enhance our individual and collective skills & experience in a wiki world

Growing this Wiki

Growing this Wiki: Ideas for how to help the wiki grow and be useful
Remixes

A Wiki User's Guide

See the User's Guide for usage and configuration help.

Please use the Sandbox for experiments and to get acquainted with this wiki.

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-== '''''Loan Protection Insurance Scenario In UK ''''' ==
+This Wiki is an invitation to collaborate on building a learning and research environment based on Yochai Benkler's book, ''The Wealth of Networks: How Social Production Transforms Markets and Freedom'', available under a
-[http://www.paymentcare.co.uk '''Paymentcare'''] the UK specialist protection insurance provider recently launched a unique range of stand alone Payment Protection Insurance policies providing cover for Loan Protection - PPI, [http://www.paymentcare.co.uk/mortgage-payment-protection-insurance-uk.php '''Mortgage Protection''']- MPPI, [http://www.paymentcare.co.uk/income-payment-protection-insurance-uk.php '''Income Protection'''] - IP (not to be confused with PHI which provides longer term cover for disability due to accident or sickness but not unemployment). The monthly payment protection policies provide cover on an ASU basis which unlike PHI does provide cover in the case of unemployment as well as accident and sickness.
+[http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-sa/2.5/ Creative Commons Attribution Noncommercial Sharealike] license.
-The latest payment protection insurance policy to be offered by Paymentcare allows consumers to protect their monthly credit card repayments in the same way that they can protect personal loan repayments with [http://www.paymentcare.co.uk/loan-payment-protection-insurance-uk.php '''Personal Loan Payment Protection Insurance''']. Again like [http://www.paymentcare.co.uk/loan-payment-protection-insurance-uk.php  '''Loan Protection''' ]and [http://www.paymentcare.co.uk/mortgage-payment-protection-insurance-uk.php '''Mortgage Protection'''] this innovative insurance policy allows consumers to cover a number of [http://www.paymentcare.co.uk/credit-card-payment-protection-insurance-uk.php '''credit cards'''] with just one policy at a far better rate than the credit card company's offer.
+== Read the book==
-The guiding principles behind the development of these great value payment protection insurance policies are to offer excellent value for money to UK consumers in terms of level of cover and monthly premiums paid and always to treat customers fairly. [http://www.paymentcare.co.uk '''Paymentcare's'''] Loan Protector policy has been slashing monthly premiums for customers by up to 70% in comparison to some high street banks and loan company premiums for loan insurance. The protection policies offer true flexibility with a choice of payment options ranging from back to day one cover through to 150 day excess periods and include extra cover benefits including carer cover, hospitalisation benefit, life insurance and terminal illness cover (instead of the more widely promoted critical illness - which tends to have numerous exclusions) and also include a free ‘back to work' service available to the policyholder and their immediate family.
+''in different formats:''
+* [[Table of Contents|Wiki]]: summaries, commentary, downloads
+* [[Download PDFs of the book|PDF]] - in the original book format or in a paper-friendly version
+* [http://www.congo-education.net/wealth-of-networks HTML] - formatted in separate chapters, in an easier-to-read format
+* Hardcopy: [http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/0300110561/sr=8-1/qid=1140626021/ref=pd_bbs_1/104-8246423-0950353?%5Fencoding=UTF8 from Amazon] or [http://yalepress.yale.edu/yupbooks/book.asp?isbn=0300110561 from Yale Press]
+* [[Translations]]
-In light of the recent furore surrounding the hazy world of Payment Protection Insurance you would be forgiven for thinking PPI is a dirty word. At present, most cover is being sold at excessively high premiums and with questionable sales tactics by high street banks and loan companies. The Financial Services Authority (FSA), Office of Fair Trading (OFT), Treasury Select Committee (TSC) and WHICH? Are all deeply concerned with the abuse of these products and plan to further investigate the mis-selling allegations behind payment protection insurance in the UK.
+== Reviews ==
-In many cases consumers have been sold [http://www.paymentcare.co.uk/loan-payment-protection-insurance-uk.php '''loan payment protection insurance'''] policies which do not provide appropriate cover, very often resulting in claims being refused when consumers have made a legitimate claim.
+* ''[http://www.germanlawjournal.com/article.php?id=765 German Law Journal]''
+* ''[http://www.publicknowledge.org/node/669 Public Knowledge]''
-Over-charged and under-protected
+== Discussions ==
-In the current market, it is possible to get PPI(payment protection insurance) cover at a premium of £11.73p per £100 of cover per month at best, and at worst this figure is currently £22.69p per £100 of cover per month. Both are from household name loan providers. That's an extra £22 to cover every £100 of a monthly loan repayment! Furthermore, as PPI is most commonly sold by high street banks and loan companies as a "single premium policy" this is even more of a rip-off as consumers also pay interest on the single premium which has been added to the original loan amount upfront.
+* [http://crookedtimber.org/2006/05/30/introduction-the-wealth-of-networks-seminar/ Crooked Timber] (Net-seminar)
+* ''[http://www.openbusiness.cc/2006/04/24/the-wealth-of-networks OpenBusiness]'' (interview)
+* ''[http://www.opendemocracy.net/media-copyrightlaw/benkler_3487.jsp OpenDemocracy]'' (interview)
-It has already been well documented that these existing offerings are not, as you would expect, from back street loan sharks preying on the needy by attempting to make even more money from their unfortunate circumstances. These offerings are from high street banks, building societies and supermarkets - the institutions that, one would expect, would be able to offer ‘more for less.'
+== Using this wiki ==
-What is lesser known about PPI products sold by many large institutions, is that in some cases, they automatically include the cover at the quotation stage without establishing that the borrower actually wants it. WHICH? recently conducted a mystery shopper survey contacting 20 personal loan providers with startling results. Many included PPI without even being asked, many others failed to find out whether policies were suitable and others still, failed to even send out policy documents or fully advise potential customers on what is and what isn't covered.
+The basic idea is to make this Wiki a place for at least five things:
-Shane Craig, MD of Paymentcare said "Personal debt in the UK has grown to dangerous proportions, now exceeding the trillion pound mark. The average household debt in the UK is £10,700 (excluding mortgages) according to The Citizen's Advice Bureau who dealt with well over one million new debt enquiries last year, suggesting that many people are struggling to maintain payments. The trouble is, traditional PPI providers know this and appear to be praying on peoples' fears rather than offering policies designed with consumers needs in mind, and they're taking advantage of people in debt, often making a desperate situation much worse. It's scandalous that in some cases consumers have been sold policies that they didn't really want, because they were led to believe that their loan may not have been approved without it. This is unacceptable and we intend to buck the trend, I urge anyone that has [http://www.paymentcare.co.uk/loan-payment-protection-insurance-uk.php '''payment protection insurance''' ] attached to a loan to get a quotation for a stand alone policy as they will undoubtedly save hundreds of pounds over the term of their loan. Monthly paid [http://www.paymentcare.co.uk/loan_protector.php '''PPI'''] is a great product for those that genuinely need it, especially when you consider the incidence of accident and sickness and growing numbers of redundancies within the UK. We know that one size doesn't fit all, which is why we offer a comprehensive range of cover options to suit our customers' needs at the lowest possible price.
+# Collaborate on writing a summary of the ideas and claims of the book (see [[Table of Contents]])
+# Collaborate on writing commentaries and elaborating and refining the presentation
+# Provide an easy platform through which to access underlying research materials:
+#* those used in the book's notes
+#* and resources that are useful for further research, refinement, and updating
+# Describe, link to, and analyze examples of the phenomena the book describes
+#* The purpose is not to “make the case” for the book or find “gotcha” counter examples.  What we are trying to do is provide a real research tool, annotated bibliography, and platform for collaborative learning. Examples and counter-examples should be selected and described with that purpose in mind.
+# Demonstrate and discover what is valuable in a learning platform
+#* Through separate pages devoted to ideas and experiments of what can be done with an online book to make it a learning platform, we hope to expand the range of uses to which this Wiki can be available.
+#* Through creative, systematic and interactive uses of this wiki, we hope to enhance our individual and collective skills & experience in a wiki world
+=== Growing this Wiki ===
+* [[Growing this Wiki]]: Ideas for how to help the wiki grow and be useful
+* [[Remixes]]
+=== A Wiki User's Guide ===
+See the [http://meta.wikipedia.org/wiki/MediaWiki_User%27s_Guide User's Guide] for usage and configuration help.
+Please use the [[Sandbox]] for experiments and to get acquainted with this wiki.
+{{Footer}}