Census Bureau Loses Hundreds of Laptops

Billosaur writes "According to CNN, The U.S. Commerce Department has lost 1,137 laptop computers since 2001, most of them assigned to the Census Bureau. According to Commerce Secretary Carlos M. Gutierrez, 'All of the equipment that was lost or stolen contained protections to prevent a breach of personal information.' This comes after the fiasco involving the Veteran's Affairs Department's loss and eventual recovery of a laptop containing 26.5 million veteran and active-duty records." Given the scope of the operation, are these losses to be expected or is this an example of poor government security standards?

Comments

Re:Heh.

[Impy the Impiuos Imp]

Seriously, I'm sure the vast majority were just census takers who never returned them, and, hey, nobody ever came and got it!

1137out of a total of how many?

[winkydink]

5% shrinkage per year is considered doing a good job when it comes to managing laptop losses.

Re:No consequences means no responsibility.

[philwx]

Couldn't have said it better myself. Having been in the military, going to the Navy Exchange (this is the equivalent of Px, just a store on base), you would get in line to find a frowning checkout clerk, basically you've inconvenienced them by coming to their register. That's just the tip of it, most of the administrative services run by civilians for the military are much, much worse. I called one (forget the name of it) regarding a movement of personal belongings to another state and her attitude was as if I were some kind of annoying telemarketer (and not the reason her highschool dropout butt had a job). I can think of many examples, and there are probably many more I've forgotten. They are smart enough to perk up for officers though, I can say that for sure. One walks into the room and they're all professional. Looking back, it kind of disgusts me. I'm glad I got out when I did. But I digress, that's most government employees for ya. The bare minimum mantra.

Re:No consequences means no responsibility.

[boristdog]

I worked for the federal govt for 6 years. The parent post is very true.

You are encouraged to toe the line, come in on time, leave on time...and not much else. If you do a good job you are "rewarded" by being kept in that position, because they need someone who can do the work. If you screw up, the only way they can get rid of you is by promotion.

Still, the efforts of the 20-25% who know what they are doing keeps the government working. Most of them stay for the security and benefits. I still have friends there who are good workers, but too afraid to face the real world (i.e. Private Sector) and are cranking away to that retirement and pension. I'm only 42 and I could be three years from retirement right now if I hadn't quit 16 years ago. But it would be only at half pay, which would be less than 1/4 of what I make now.

So give thanks to the timid hard workers who actually make the government work. The rest of us will enjoy our risks and rewards.

Re:No consequences means no responsibility.

[fragmentate]

I worked for the Department of Health Services. Obviously they have data that is ultra-sensitive since it involves classifications of all disorders (including HIV, AIDS, mental). When people "lost" laptops they weren't even given so much as a slap on the wrist. They had certain vaguely numbered forms to fill out (for insurance purposes), and then some requisitions for a new laptop to be ordered. What was obvious to me was ignored by them. These people hadn't lost anything at all. They simply got a free laptop out of the deal, and got an upgrade for work. After looking through the support system some people had lost, misplaced, or had stolen multiple laptops.

I don't work for the government now, I work in the private sector for a technology company. The difference here is that if you lose a laptop you don't get a new one "just like that." Every laptop has special tools that "phone home" if they're connected to the internet. If, and only if, after 6 months, they get no response from this laptop do you get a new laptop issued. The neat thing is these guys here have no idea that this "phone home" software is installed.

The consequences for this carelessness are pretty serious. If you lose a laptop, and it phones home from any of your login IPs, you'll find your desk cleared of all clutter, and your boxes out on the curb.

I believe my position at the Department of Health was a "make work" position -- i.e. it was established to satisfy some quota. I cared enough to resign because I don't want a fake job. I'm not happy just being there. I hear people say "man, that is the dream job. Get paid $50k/yr. to do absolutely nothing." I hear that all the time. I don't like that kind of job. It's boring, it's dull, and it leads to the very complacency that allows this lackey attitude about hardware.

I think the government is a magnet for people that want to do very little, and who don't really care about anyone else. To them, their job is an entitlement. It's like a cancer cluster. The people that cause this attitude are in denial and too busy justifying it all to care how much harm they're actually doing.

There is no end in sight; they just hired my brother in-law's wife -- she's never had a job longer than 3 weeks (literally). Yet, she's been working for the government for 6 weeks now. Go figure.

She'll have that laptop pawned in no time.

Re:No consequences means no responsibility.

[Gilmoure]

Bingo! All I want to do is sit in my cube, take my calls, keep up with email and alerts and then go home. I don't want to escort the uncleared so they can sit on their ass 6 times a day and suck on a cig, I don't want to wander half-way across campus to hit the good snack machine or over priced grill and I sure as hell don't want some mouth breather hanging around my cube talking about millionaires playing with a ball. So yeah, I'm the unpleasant asshole that no one likes, who dresses weird (messy long hair, scraggly beard, Ornery Boy shirt (in a button down only shirt office)) and always beat everyone else's stats by 30%-50% every month. Feh.

I'm a lazyass

[The Raven]

I'm a lazy bastard. Luckily, my primary job is technical support, which I do extremely well, happily, and without complaint (yes, I enjoy Internet Technical Support, no I'm not delusional or ill). So, between calls, I slack.

We used to have the office 'anti-social asshole' who did his job well and without complaint, but he got fired. We still have the office whiner (our highly unqualified, also lazy, network admin). And we have a few other more middle-of-the-road average guys mostly do their work, mostly don't gab, mostly don't goof off, etc.

I miss the office bastard. I have to do the work he used to do. That doesn't fit well with my 'lazy' persona.

Myrddin