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This Blog Is Republishing All the Animal Welfare Records the USDA Deleted (vice.com)
Last year, thousands of animal welfare records were removed from the web by the Department of Agriculture. Now, a government transparency blog is on a mission to recover and republish as many of these records as possible. From a report on Motherboard: "Whenever there are documents that were online, but got pulled offline, they're automatically important," said Russ Kick, who runs the blog The Memory Hole 2, where many of the documents have already been re-published. "Nobody's going to go through the trouble to delete something that doesn't matter." The documents, which were removed by the USDA's Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service (APHIS) late last week, included inspection records and annual reports made under the Animal Welfare Act and the Horse Protection Act. The USDA indicated that removing the documents was in response to a court decision, but a spokesperson contacted by Motherboard would not specify what court case. The records were typically used by animal welfare groups to keep tabs on how well these laws were being enforced, but were also used by the general public to research the inspection records of everything from dog breeders to circuses and zoos. "I've learned that if I see something and think 'I'm really surprised the government posted this,' I need to download it," Kick told me. "So when I found these reports, I thought 'this is surprising,' and I downloaded them."
First, disappear all the records. History is for losers. Information is sad.
You are welcome on my lawn.
Trump did not order the files taken down, having been done under the not-so-watchful eye of Barack "Government should be transparent" Obama.
"I don't know, therefore Aliens" Wafflebox1
wait, The Memory Hole *2* ??!!!1
the preceding comment is my own and in no way reflects the opinion of the Joint Chiefs of Staff
Because privacy is a basic human right, unless it's records about others.
I work at a place that gets inspected by APHIS. APHIS also puts our material into quarantine.
We have permits for all kinds of things that sound icky and salacious. If someone read the reports they might think, "Wait, something bad is going on here- why are they doing this? Let's follow the trail and find out what they are doing!"
They would be very disappointed to find out what is really going on- that it is all part of 'normal' business. That the icky sounding stuff would be absolutely pedestrian if you understood it.
APHIS is a prettyboring place once you get over the idea of 'quarantine'. My guess is that these records would be boring at first glance, andpretty much just spreadsheet data regardingregular inspections once you have an understanding of what they are doing.
But...maybe that's all just a conspiracy...
No reason to lie.
More Trump lies. It was last WEEK, not last year.
Like this one for example...
People should be more careful who they vote for
“He’s not deformed, he’s just drunk!”
*Update, 7 February, 12:15 p.m.: The U.S. Department of Agriculture released a statement this morning regarding the removal of animal welfare reports from its Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service (APHIS) website:
“The review of APHIS’ website has been ongoing, and the agency is striving to balance the need for transparency with rules protecting individual privacy. In 2016, well before the change of Administration, APHIS decided to make adjustments to the posting of regulatory records. In addition, APHIS is currently involved in litigation concerning, among other issues, information posted on the agency’s website. While the agency is vigorously defending against this litigation, in an abundance of caution, the agency is taking additional measures to protect individual privacy. These decisions are not final. Adjustments may be made regarding information appropriate for release and posting.”
"Nobody's going to go through the trouble to delete something that doesn't matter." What ???!!!??? I do that all the time.
5 out of 6 people enjoy Russian Roulette & 6 out of 7 Dwarfs are not Happy
People will take you more seriously if you don't lead with idiotic nonsense like Animals should be treated as a separate nation.
Not posting as an AC would also help.
It's possible to make a strong moral case against meat-eating, but you're not even close.
Lions and Tigers shouldn't eat our friends either! And kitties, they shouldn't have any animal protein either*!!!!
*Cats actually will die if they don't eat animal protein. Ever see what happens to a vegan cat? It is horrifying.
Agent K: A *person* is smart. People are dumb, stupid, panicky animals, and you know it.
I'll take "Things you'll never hear from a Clinton" for $500 Alex.
And the answer is: "Nobody's going to go through the trouble to delete something that doesn't matter."
Yes it's an anecdote! Were you expecting original research in a Slashdot comment?
BS, the reason most offices implement the shred everything rule is so that the employees don't have to make a decision about whether or not something meets the "Shred This" criteria. Better safe than sorry.
"The review of APHIS' website has been ongoing, and the agency is striving to balance the need for transparency with rules protecting individual privacy.
In 2016, well before the change of Administration, APHIS decided to make adjustments to the posting of regulatory records.
In addition, APHIS is currently involved in litigation concerning, among other issues, information posted on the agency's website.
While the agency is vigorously defending against this litigation, in an abundance of caution, the agency is taking additional measures to protect individual privacy.
These decisions are not final. Adjustments may be made regarding information appropriate for release and posting."
A blatant and stupid lie.
Trump administration forgets that people from the Obama administration are still alive and around.
Matt Herrick, director of Communications of USDA under Obama, tweeted this regarding the disappearing of animal abuse reports:
Decision by @usda 2 remove animal abuse reports not required.
Totally subjective. Same option given 2 past admin. We refused. #transparency
And it's not the first (and probably not the last) time that Trump administration, once caught doing something they shouldn't be doing, tries to blame it on Obama.
Like the Muslim ban, Yemen raid fiasco (BTW, that was "winning"), Trump's disastrous calls to Mexican and Australian heads of state... and now this.
More here.
Mit der Dummheit kämpfen Götter selbst vergebens
Nobody's going to go through the trouble to delete something that doesn't matter
What the hell is he talking about. Clearly he's never run out of disk space before.
Pasta, carrot cake, pancakes, some breads, and any number of other things have eggs in them, and if they don't eat animal byproducts like milk then it's almost impossible to eat anything. Nothing like telling a vegan that their pancakes have undeveloped chicken embryos in them.
Protein deficiency causes all kinds of problem for humans also muscle weakness, fatigue, hair loss, apathy, lower blood pressure, etc...
And I irrecoverably delete the wrong files all the time.
“Common sense is not so common.” — Voltaire
A fine example of an idiotic argument against vegetarianism, but... what was the point here, again?
Nobody's going to go through the trouble to delete something that doesn't matter
While I sympathize with Mr. Kick, and remain skeptical of the new administration, this statement is just stupid.
Things get deleted all the time, especially by people who later decide they would prefer the information were still up. Every time a website gets refreshed, they may preserve the data from before the refresh, but the data from two refreshes or more gets mangled. In any organization, there will be data rot.
Now, the fact that this is a government organization makes the problem even worse, because now there are legal reasons that compel then to take down reports or documents after some period of time. For example, if something goes to a hearing which finds in favor of the defendant.
If I could tattoo "Hanlon's Razor" onto the back of every blogger's hands, I would.
This.
Same for encryption. Encrypt EVERYTHING. Including the grocery list you used last week. More noise!
We used to have a Bill of Rights. Now, with the rights gone, all we have left is the bill.
I've read a lot of batshit insane crap on /. throughout the years, but I guess this is the current leader in the "bullshit of the year" award race.
We used to have a Bill of Rights. Now, with the rights gone, all we have left is the bill.
More to the point, it isn't like veganism is some ancient religious dietary restriction or even an anti-polonium-210 diet where if you let a few micrograms pass your lips for any reason you've "lost". People make the decision to eat vegan for many, many reasons, almost none of which are somehow completely undone by the occasional need to make accomodations.
That means fewer animals brought into existence in the first place. What is your basis for preferring animals not even existing as they won't be bred to be eaten, to having a life where they eventually get killed for food?
Shredding though is different than deleting. As you say, you're introducing noise into the data (aka useless shredded documents mixed in to the valuable shreds)
Deleting though doesn't leave a publicly accessible trace - delete the valuable stuff from your website, it's gone. There are no "shreds" left behind that people can download and attempt to reconstruct.
In fact, the process works the other way around - it's the stuff that doesn't matter that you *haven't* deleted that is acting as noise, obscuring the stuff that does matter.
--- Most topics have many sides worth arguing, allow me to take one opposite you.
No, the reason the vast majority of humans still eat meat is because we're omnivores. Three or four billion years of evolution isn't going away because you and a few other fringe types can't figure out why humans have incisor and canine teeth. Unless you're a creationist, in which case we eat meat because that's how array (deity) wants it.
I worked one place where a manager said it's a good idea to keep everything because it might need to be subpoenaed someday. I worked a different place where a manager said to purge old stuff because it might need to be subpoenaed someday.
The places I work at all say, "Please follow the data retention policy" and get their lawyers involved in defining that.
So they don't want you to understand what the data retention policy is?
I think we've pushed this "anyone can grow up to be president" thing too far.
So you believe that cows, chicken, etc. should be made extinct? They sure can't survive on their own anymore...not if predation isn't controlled. Modern sheep can't even defend themselves against parrots.
I think we've pushed this "anyone can grow up to be president" thing too far.
True. Technically you're just participating in the bitching section below a Washington Post story.
(-1: Post disagrees with my already-settled worldview) is not a valid mod option.
The reasons people still eat meat in the developed world are habit, taste, and convenience, and none of these reasons are sufficient to justify killing an animal to satisfy some type of primal urge.
Sure they are. They're great reasons and plenty sufficient. If they weren't sufficient nobody would do it.
Good answer.
--- Most topics have many sides worth arguing, allow me to take one opposite you.
Is there a ban on being muslim? I know of none. I suspect you are talking about the suspension of immigration from seven specific countries, using the incorrect language the mass media has attached to it.
NOPE! Comrade.
I am talking about Trump and his cohorts trying to blame Obama for their own unconstitutional actions - for which they just got their asses handed to them the federal appeals court. Sad.
CONGRATULATIONS COMRADE! TRUMP WON! ENJOY!
But do feel free to put up any strawman you like. After all... there's already a strawhead puppet put up in the White House.
Or a tu quoque fallacy.
Trump is not unique in something like this.
Which, AGAIN, manages to also be a false equivalence fallacy.
Cause not since King George the Third ruled in today's US parts have military raids been decided over a dinner, with only The Supreme Lunatic in Charge, his court astrologist, his son in law, a lunatic general and a single person from the Joint Chiefs of Staff.
Out of SEVEN.
Trump the situation room! Who needs them generals and admirals anyway when there are Kushner, Bannon and the Mad Dog there to give their council?
Remember when Carter took foreign policy advice from his beer swillin, public urinatin, Libyan agent brother Billy? No?
Would you like to know why you can't remember that? CAUSE IT DIDN'T HAPPEN!
Carter didn't order military raids on advice of his family, eschewing advice from the military chiefs, while listening to conspiracy theorists.
Here. Read up on why oranges are NOT like apples. This shit might blow your mind. Well... a man can hope.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/...
I'm not sure what disaster has resulted from those calls. Is either country busy importing Russian nuclear missiles to try to make us behave? Was there a plague of locusts, or what?
RIIIIIGHT! OK... So that's the new standard? Wait until they start importing Russian nuclear missiles? That's where the goalposts are nowadays?
What century do you live in kiddo? IT ain't 1960's bro. Nobody's putting up missiles. Better come back to the real world.
Maybe then you'd realize that when the President of a country makes an ass of himself in front of the foreign leaders and the whole world - it kinda matters.
And it matters A LOT when he comes off as a pathetic, babylike, tantrum-throwing demented lunatic.
Even King George got "regented" when his lunacy got THAT bad. He did manage to lose a big chunk of the empire before that happened though.
If this removal was a demand made of the last two "admin", then it surely wasn't caused by Trump. Who was giving the "option" of removing this material to the USDA? And if there was no demand, what was there to refuse -- in the name of "transparency"?
What? ANOTHER strawman?
The issue is NOT in determining the blame on who gave the Strawpuppet in Chief and his gang of incompetent lunatics the ability to order removal of the material.
IT IS ABOUT THEM LYING ABOUT WHO ORDERED THE REMOVAL OF SAID MATERIAL!!!
Get it, comrade?
In case you missed that one from your parents - LYING IS BAAAAAD!
Lying in such a STUPID way is WORSE!!! Not only are you a liar - YOU'RE A STUPID LIAR TOO!
Or a lunatic with no relation to reality.
But trump that. Trump won bro! Enjoy!
Mit der Dummheit kämpfen Götter selbst vergebens
NOPE!
Glad you admit there is no "Muslim ban".
I am talking about Trump and his cohorts trying to blame Obama for their own unconstitutional actions
No, actually, you were providing a list of why you hate Trump. The first one, your "Muslim ban", doesn't exist. The others were specious hyperbole.
RIIIIIGHT! OK... So that's the new standard?
Well, your new standard for "disaster" seems to be "did something I don't like." I'm just trying to bring us back to a more reasonable standard. You claimed the calls were "disastrous", I'm just trying to figure out exactly what that disaster was. Do you have anything at all, or just more flummery and insult?
IT ain't 1960's bro. Nobody's putting up missiles.
Right. North Korea isn't busy testing them so they can, we don't have any missiles in Europe, Russia doesn't have any missiles ... and I'm not your "bro". But it doesn't matter, because the examples I used weren't the only "disasters" that could have happened. But when the correct answer is "there was no disaster", it's hard to justify your claim.
Maybe then you'd realize that when the President of a country makes an ass of himself in front of the foreign leaders and the whole world - it kinda matters.
Obama spent eight years doing it. Where was your nearly illiterate outrage then? Is there a new standard at play here?
LYING IS BAAAAAD!
Yes. Like claiming there is a "Muslim ban" or that a couple of diplomatic calls where the new chief executive changed the tone of foreign relations away from "we're terribly sorry for everything we've ever done" were "disastrous".
If you need to tell a "vegan" that, then your so-called vegan has been seriously failing to do their homework.
When I decided to become a vegan, I knew perfectly well that I was going to have to read every word of the contents list of everything that I ate. And ruthlessly put it back on the shelf if it had the slightest hint of animal product in it. No "if", no "but" ; if it has any animal produce in it, it is out of the shopping basket.
Made life difficult for an hour or so when I went to visit my parents next. Then I took over doing cooking and shopping for myself - simples.
Birds are not dinosaur descendants;birds are dinosaurs, for all useful meanings of "birds", "are" and "dinosaurs"
My youngest son is allergic to dairy products [not lactose intolerant] just that alone is really hard to avoid.
I'm not sure I could imagine a world without cake, muffins, cookies, donuts, pancakes, pasta, cheese, yogurt, mashed potatoes, ice cream, sherbet, chocolate, cookies, butter, salad dressing, chewing gum, and the list goes on and on.
I'm sure. It was hard enough being a vegan in the UK in the 80s and 90s.
Your son.
Put that way, isn't the choice simpler?
The world doesn't guarantee that all your choices will have a nice option. I didn't particularly want to spend a decade as a vegan, but I felt that it was unavoidable.
Birds are not dinosaur descendants;birds are dinosaurs, for all useful meanings of "birds", "are" and "dinosaurs"
Truly... Pathetic. Such a loser. Sad.
You just keep banging them red herrings kiddo, pushing them irrelevant conclusions...
None of those are arguments. Nor are they addressing the facts I stated. You know... Facts. As in reality.
But you just keep on keeping on! Enjoy! Trump won! Don't be such a loser son! Go on!
Run naked through the streets yelling "WE WON! WE WON! WE WAAHAHAAAHAAN!!!"
Instead of being such a pathetic, sad, little loser that you have to keep resorting to fallacies.
At least you could LIE... It IS in vogue for your kind. But no... you probably suck at that too.
Sad. Such a loser.
Mit der Dummheit kämpfen Götter selbst vergebens