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U.S. Interior Dept. Unplugged... Again
IO ERROR writes "The U.S. District Court ordered the Department of Interior to take all its systems offline for the third time, saying that its systems were too insecure to be left open. Among the systems to go offline are those that process payments owed to American Indians and Internet access in schools on Indian reservations. DOI employees cannot use the Web or send or receive e-mail."
...as reported by internet.com. Interestingly it seems that even the previous time was not really the first?
"For the second time in less than two years, a federal judge has ordered the Interior Department to disconnect from the Internet in order to protect $1 billion in American Indian money managed by the agency.
U.S. District Judge Royce Lamberth said Interior's refusal to cooperate with a court-appointed master who wanted to test the security of Interior's systems, prompted the decision. The government claimed it did not cooperate with Security Assurance Group of Annapolis, Md., because they could not agree on the "rules of engagement."
Looks like the Interior Department has been having computer problems for a long time (December 2001!):
"Web wanderers looking for information on national parks, government mapping services or geological disasters will need to get their information from non-official websites for a while.
U.S. District Judge Royce Lamberth issued the order late Wednesday after a report showed that the computer system which handles $500 million annually in royalties from Indian land has major security holes that make it easy to access the system, alter records and possibly divert funds."
then how exactly do they update your bank account?
Online banking allows you to play with your accounts. If it's hacked it's your data they screw with. The entire bank doesn't become a victim.
Your[sic] one of those bozo's that says "I'll never use my credit card online"
I use my card online all the time.
Not to mention a number of "private" networks use the internet as a backbone.
They're called "VPNs". Good luck hacking a properly maintained one anytime soon.
I know exactly what I'm speaking about. Go back to sleep.
Trolling is a art,
You don't really understand what happened do you?
Firstly, there is no Indian "race" or "nation" that was in conflict with the United States.
There were many conflicts with many tribes and there are many settlements which differ in scope and letter of the agreement.
Since the closing of the Frontier in 1890 and the end of major military action with the American Indians around the same time the rights of the American Indians have changed and the role of the government in thier lives has changed.
The crux of this arguement between the DOI/BIA and the folks suing them isn't about monetarily reimbursing for "or practically annahilating their race" it's about mismangement of natural resources on lands which are on Reservations or were on Reservations which are held in trust by the United States Government who act as stewards of the resources, both discovered and undiscovered.
Basicly the DOI/BIA has lost billions of dollars of money that should have been paid out to various tribes and various private citizens. Not only that, but they can't figure out a webserver that holds confidental information on the monies going out to private citizens that can't be exploited.