Today’s Links: November 29, 2011

OPINION

ELVIS COSTELLO: “Steal This Record”
“Unfortunately, we at www.elviscostello.com find ourselves unable to recommend [Costello’s soon-to-be-released compendium] to you as the price appears to be either a misprint or a satire. […] If on the other hand you should still want to hear and view the component parts of the above mentioned elaborate hoax, then those items will be available separately at a more affordable price in the New Year, assuming that you have not already obtained them by more unconventional means.”

VENKAT BALASUBRAMANI: “Court OKs Private Seizure of Domain Names Which Allegedly Sold Counterfeit Goods”
“Luxury brand Chanel has engaged in a fierce campaign against counterfeit websites in federal court in Nevada. It has seized approximately six hundred domain names in the last few months. […] I’m sympathetic to the “whack-a-mole” problem rights owners face, but this relief is just extraordinarily broad and is on shaky procedural grounds.”

ILYA SHAPIRO & TREVOR BURRUS: “Rent Control Violates Property Rights and Due Process”
“Rent control is literally a textbook example of bad economic policy. Economics textbooks often use it as an example of how price ceilings create shortages, poor quality goods, and under-the-table dealings. A 1992 survey revealed that 93 percent of economists believe that rent control laws reduce both the quality and quantity of housing.”

NEWS

IMMIGRATION – Officials Probe Alabama Immigration Law’s Impact on Rights
“Two Justice Department officials said they returned to Alabama on Monday as ‘boots on the ground’ to sift through some of the more than 1,000 e-mails and calls received on a hotline fielding concerns about the state’s tough new immigration law.”

FED – Secret Fed Loans Gave Banks $13 Million
“The Federal Reserve and the big banks fought for more than two years to keep details of the largest bailout in U.S. history a secret. Now, the rest of the world can see what it was missing. “