The problem that most people aren't thinking about is that all though Wells Fargo is probably the servicer of the loan, and was definitely the originator of the loan, they have most likely syndicated the loan- packaging it into a CMO or CDO and resold the interest in the loan to a variety of parties. The covenants of those CMOs often make it challenging to settle without legal action, so when Wells sues itself it may very well be because that is the only way to resolve the interests of one CMO holder (the people who bought the interest in the first loan) against the second CMO holder (the person who bought the interest in the second loan) without the appearance of impropriety. I agree this is totally stupid, but the system is the problem here. If we'd gone with a more transparent and regulated secondary market for mortgages such as the one that exists in Denmark see wiki here we wouldn't have all these problems. In Denmark the loans and the bond match each other very closely, and you can actually by the bond and use it to pay the mortgage, but that is material for another post...

I think that the problem for me is the abuse potential here for controlling partners and parents. Making people install and use it. Sure, there were tools that would do this before, but nothing so cheap (free) and ubiquitous as this. What is you teenage daughter going to say to her controlling potentially abusive boyfriend when he guilts her into installing it and demands she leave it on? The problem isn't with the product it is with us, people, and not enough time to work out what to do with it to be responsible.