You're absolutely right. Having worked as a contractor for the government at the state level, along with local authorities, the FBI, Homeland Security, and the Army. I can tell you from first hand experience that it is impossible to compete with the resources available via tax payers dollars. That said, a vast majority of the IT staff at all levels of government are completely incompetent, and have no idea how to utilize the power at their finger tips. All this really comes down to however, is just a matter of time for these groups to step on the wrong toes. There ARE a few individuals working for the feds and can and will exploit the nearly limitless power of our tax funded infrastructure to seek out and eliminate these groups. The level of skill of Lulz and Anonymous really has nothing to do with the argument. They may or may not be vastly more skilled than their government counterparts, but they are forced to break their way through countless security measures and have no help from any enforcement agencies, so they are always at the disadvantage in fighting from the outside. That alone makes any and all of these efforts completely pointless. Fighting with the government is not the answer. Establishing a presence from within the government is really the only way to accomplish anything of value. Honestly I think it is quite naive of these groups to assume that they can change anything with this campaign. Though I support government and industry transparency as much as Im sure they do, I realize that this is only going to make change harder in the future, and thus am adamantly against what they are doing.
Interesting point actually. I used to work for a company that doled out IT work with payments. Each month a department would earn points to spend on IT. Now obviously certain production support items were free, but any enhancements, additions, or non-critical requests would pull out of their bin. Left overs would roll over, or could essentially be redeemed for company sponsored team building events and such. Conversely IT would earn points based on their "customer satisfaction" scores, which would translate into things like extra bonuses, vacation days, or just free lunches. Technically our "employees" were actually our clients employees as we basically were just an outsourcer for infrastructural needs such as call centers, order processing, support, hosting, etc. But I think a lot of other companies could benefit from that sort of agreement with their employees. That way everybody benefits from cooperation, I actually had a lot of fun working for that company we had stuff going on almost weekly!
Its interesting to see the point of view from the other side of the fence. My experience has been exactly the opposite. Management quite often will make promises that their infrastructure cant deliver on. When IT says " we cant do it," its usually because management tends to be focused on nothing but their bottom line and refuses to invest in proper infrastructure. That is where the politics comes into play, IT generally could care less about the politics, we just want to get the job done with proper resources without having to bend over backwards and take one in the a** because some technophobe cfo doesnt want to sacrifice some numbers on his balance sheet. When will people realize that they need to work with IT and not against IT? Try it; you will find that things get done much more efficiently. Look at google, facebook, etc.
Who cares?? Linux is still open source, there IS still an alternative. If Canonical wants to push its own version to something apple-esque then thats their business. At the very least they are providing more variety of choices which is something you DONT get with apple. They are also helping to bring Linux to the mainstream so they must be doing something right. If you dont like it, stop complaining and go with one of the dozens of other distros.
Shift calendar for doctors may not fall under HIPPA, but it does fall under employee confideniatliy and safety. Were I a doctor I would absoutely not want my shift or any other information published on any system that is not properly secured within and by my IT department. There is absolutely no excuse whatsoever for having external services for any job "required" functions that is not sanctioned by your IT department. Period, end of story. For the hospitals and its patients sake I hope the OP is a just troll.
Same here... I work for a bank. Anybody caught setting up a server that was not explicitly sanctioned by IT would be fired on the spot. Period, no questions asked and no quarter. For compliance, all communication in and out must be logged. This is FEDERALLY mandated, and not just IT being nazi's. I worked for a company prevously that provided call center and info management services for a medical provider and we didnt even allow people on the floor with cell phones.
Is it abnormal that, as a IT professional, that this post almosts makes me angry?? lol
I can tell you after working 14 years in IT, that if ANYBODY did this they would find their network ports blocked and a notice from an executive on their desk in the morning. ESPECIALLY in the medical field with, as others mentioned, HIPPA compliance issues. If you really want to make enemies in IT then keep pushing it. Otherwise make a case to the director with your requirements and do it the right way.
Except that Google didnt try to make anything, HTC made the phones. Google just wanted to control their own distribution channel. And who said nobody wanted them? They pulled back the N1 due to hardware issues and realized that they didnt want to get involved in the handset market. Apple on the other hand wants control over every step of the process.
I don't trust google, I don't trust anybody but myself and my family. But I really don't have enough of my personal life online to care, and they have done a great job making a usable and free application stack, so I use it and I really don't give a crap. And at least with them I can have some legal recourse if I am truly wronged, whereas you have little recourse against a government that has wronged you as they make the laws, and clearly bend them where they see fit. Everybody knows big business is in bed with the government, and as wrong as that is I don't blame big business for that, I blame the government for allowing to happen. They should be helping to protect the people from big business, not helping to prosecute the people.
How bout not making "asinine assumptions" that I assume anything? I dont care what state you live in, the banks and credit card companies dont give a rats ass what the court says. That was my point, which is clearly NOT "Wrong." I posted nothing that needed to be "called out" to begin with. You take the antagonist point of view, in some need to assert some authority over somebody is completely unfounded. Finding any an all possible caveats that I may not have explicitly stated, and immediately declare me wrong, when every word I said was the truth, although with some extraneous details omitted.
Theres not need to be passing insults back and forth as the conversation is meaningless otherwise. Were not competing for debate award or anything so just chill out and speak our piece without the attitude.
My point was that marriage, in this day and age, is simply a legal institution. You can have nearly all of the same benefits (save some tax related benefits) and avoid any negative legal ramifications, without actually being married. Honestly that is the only contempt I have for the whole thing. Although to your point I agree, you lose a lot of yourself in any divorce.
Arizona actually, one of the community-property states. However even in other states you still technically share the debt. Yes you can argue in court to force the other person to be "legally" responsible for said debt. However as far as the banks are concerned any loans that you have cosigned for affect the credit of both parties if they go late despite any legal agreement you might have. And regardless of the state, the credit card companies will still report both names on the account to the credit bureau.
Why is there always somebody on here that prefixs their entire statement with simply, "Wrong." Do you do that in person as well? You then proceed to contridict yourself, but for only 9 out of 50 cases. Are you just trying to incite an argument or do you just delight in being rude to somebody you've never talked to or met before?
Though you dont share scores, you most certainly share the debt. Im still being haunted my ex wifes debt. The only real benefit to being married is the ability to put your spouse on your insurance at a reasonable rate, although these days some let you list as domestic partner for the same benefits. Honestly, with the laws, and the credit card companies these days its almost financially more responsible to just NOT get married at all.
"The growing danger, said lawmakers, makes it imperative that Congress move on legislation that would expand government controls and set requirements to make systems safer."
Uh NO... it makes it imperative that security folks get better training! Why does this government think they can fix everything by expanding government controls???
I dont understand why they think a "hunger strike" is going to do any more than a regular strike. They arent just going to sit out there till they die, they will eat eventually. Just let them go hungry. Weird. 0_o
THAT is pure utter bull shit. I use facebook, mostly to communicate with family, but I am very careful about my privacy and who I allow to see my posts. At least, I try to be. Simply posting on a social network does in no way indicate that I want to be "heard", logged, stalked, or any of the above by some company looking to sell me something. Is my very existance my acknowedgement that it is ok to invade my privacy for advertising purposes?
The theaters around here are usually guarded by some pimply faced 16 year old, or some special needs individual. I've had the kids get all guardian of the gate on me when I tried to bring a drink that I hadn't finished from the place I just ate at, but otherwise its never been an ordeal. Although I've caught a couple advanced screenings and they are definitely a little more protective there, understandably. Although, early or not the quality of those recorded videos is never worth the couple hours they take to download.
Anyhow, if they want to stick cameras in the theaters to gauge my reactions, they will certainly get one! My middle finger!
"You're only inclined to say yes because you find Armstrong personally convincing?"
Yes that is pretty much what Im saying. Given my personal experience and my familys long standing relationship with the man, Im inclined to believe he actually is telling the truth. However, after so many years of "evidence" both for and against it. I am content in the fact that I may never actually know the truth, and frankly it doesnt matter to me one way or the other.
I guess the point of my post was that there are people that would support both sides but no one is a more credible source of information than the man himself.
Ive been playing WoW uninterrupted since the origional open beta, with an occasional couple months break here and there. I also played Ultima Online since launch before that. Heck the only reason I gave up on UO was to play WoW, and if something else better comes along I will gladly move on. MMOs for me are an essential part of my personal gaming experience, but I dont really harbor any loyalties to one specific company. I still play wow because to date, not one other company has made anything that even compares. And yes I have tried several others, including Warhammer and Conan both of which looked incredibly promising but, to answer your question, just didnt have the gameplay dynamics that WoW has.
Although I will admit, I have started to tire of it over the last year or so. The only reason I still play is because my son plays as well and I enjoy playing with him. I think as I have gotten older I have taken to more casual gaming anyhow, aside from the occasional Fallout 3 or Assasins Creed II marathons.
Slashdot Mirror
You're absolutely right. Having worked as a contractor for the government at the state level, along with local authorities, the FBI, Homeland Security, and the Army. I can tell you from first hand experience that it is impossible to compete with the resources available via tax payers dollars. That said, a vast majority of the IT staff at all levels of government are completely incompetent, and have no idea how to utilize the power at their finger tips. All this really comes down to however, is just a matter of time for these groups to step on the wrong toes. There ARE a few individuals working for the feds and can and will exploit the nearly limitless power of our tax funded infrastructure to seek out and eliminate these groups. The level of skill of Lulz and Anonymous really has nothing to do with the argument. They may or may not be vastly more skilled than their government counterparts, but they are forced to break their way through countless security measures and have no help from any enforcement agencies, so they are always at the disadvantage in fighting from the outside. That alone makes any and all of these efforts completely pointless. Fighting with the government is not the answer. Establishing a presence from within the government is really the only way to accomplish anything of value. Honestly I think it is quite naive of these groups to assume that they can change anything with this campaign. Though I support government and industry transparency as much as Im sure they do, I realize that this is only going to make change harder in the future, and thus am adamantly against what they are doing.
Interesting point actually. I used to work for a company that doled out IT work with payments. Each month a department would earn points to spend on IT. Now obviously certain production support items were free, but any enhancements, additions, or non-critical requests would pull out of their bin. Left overs would roll over, or could essentially be redeemed for company sponsored team building events and such. Conversely IT would earn points based on their "customer satisfaction" scores, which would translate into things like extra bonuses, vacation days, or just free lunches. Technically our "employees" were actually our clients employees as we basically were just an outsourcer for infrastructural needs such as call centers, order processing, support, hosting, etc. But I think a lot of other companies could benefit from that sort of agreement with their employees. That way everybody benefits from cooperation, I actually had a lot of fun working for that company we had stuff going on almost weekly!
Its interesting to see the point of view from the other side of the fence. My experience has been exactly the opposite. Management quite often will make promises that their infrastructure cant deliver on. When IT says " we cant do it," its usually because management tends to be focused on nothing but their bottom line and refuses to invest in proper infrastructure. That is where the politics comes into play, IT generally could care less about the politics, we just want to get the job done with proper resources without having to bend over backwards and take one in the a** because some technophobe cfo doesnt want to sacrifice some numbers on his balance sheet. When will people realize that they need to work with IT and not against IT? Try it; you will find that things get done much more efficiently. Look at google, facebook, etc.
Who cares?? Linux is still open source, there IS still an alternative. If Canonical wants to push its own version to something apple-esque then thats their business. At the very least they are providing more variety of choices which is something you DONT get with apple. They are also helping to bring Linux to the mainstream so they must be doing something right. If you dont like it, stop complaining and go with one of the dozens of other distros.
Shift calendar for doctors may not fall under HIPPA, but it does fall under employee confideniatliy and safety. Were I a doctor I would absoutely not want my shift or any other information published on any system that is not properly secured within and by my IT department. There is absolutely no excuse whatsoever for having external services for any job "required" functions that is not sanctioned by your IT department. Period, end of story. For the hospitals and its patients sake I hope the OP is a just troll.
Same here... I work for a bank. Anybody caught setting up a server that was not explicitly sanctioned by IT would be fired on the spot. Period, no questions asked and no quarter. For compliance, all communication in and out must be logged. This is FEDERALLY mandated, and not just IT being nazi's. I worked for a company prevously that provided call center and info management services for a medical provider and we didnt even allow people on the floor with cell phones. Is it abnormal that, as a IT professional, that this post almosts makes me angry?? lol
I can tell you after working 14 years in IT, that if ANYBODY did this they would find their network ports blocked and a notice from an executive on their desk in the morning. ESPECIALLY in the medical field with, as others mentioned, HIPPA compliance issues. If you really want to make enemies in IT then keep pushing it. Otherwise make a case to the director with your requirements and do it the right way.
Except that Google didnt try to make anything, HTC made the phones. Google just wanted to control their own distribution channel. And who said nobody wanted them? They pulled back the N1 due to hardware issues and realized that they didnt want to get involved in the handset market. Apple on the other hand wants control over every step of the process.
I don't trust google, I don't trust anybody but myself and my family. But I really don't have enough of my personal life online to care, and they have done a great job making a usable and free application stack, so I use it and I really don't give a crap. And at least with them I can have some legal recourse if I am truly wronged, whereas you have little recourse against a government that has wronged you as they make the laws, and clearly bend them where they see fit. Everybody knows big business is in bed with the government, and as wrong as that is I don't blame big business for that, I blame the government for allowing to happen. They should be helping to protect the people from big business, not helping to prosecute the people.
Best advice ever! lol And when the divorce is finished; change your name, social security number and disappear off the grid for a couple years.
How bout not making "asinine assumptions" that I assume anything? I dont care what state you live in, the banks and credit card companies dont give a rats ass what the court says. That was my point, which is clearly NOT "Wrong." I posted nothing that needed to be "called out" to begin with. You take the antagonist point of view, in some need to assert some authority over somebody is completely unfounded. Finding any an all possible caveats that I may not have explicitly stated, and immediately declare me wrong, when every word I said was the truth, although with some extraneous details omitted. Theres not need to be passing insults back and forth as the conversation is meaningless otherwise. Were not competing for debate award or anything so just chill out and speak our piece without the attitude.
My point was that marriage, in this day and age, is simply a legal institution. You can have nearly all of the same benefits (save some tax related benefits) and avoid any negative legal ramifications, without actually being married. Honestly that is the only contempt I have for the whole thing. Although to your point I agree, you lose a lot of yourself in any divorce.
Arizona actually, one of the community-property states. However even in other states you still technically share the debt. Yes you can argue in court to force the other person to be "legally" responsible for said debt. However as far as the banks are concerned any loans that you have cosigned for affect the credit of both parties if they go late despite any legal agreement you might have. And regardless of the state, the credit card companies will still report both names on the account to the credit bureau.
Why is there always somebody on here that prefixs their entire statement with simply, "Wrong." Do you do that in person as well? You then proceed to contridict yourself, but for only 9 out of 50 cases. Are you just trying to incite an argument or do you just delight in being rude to somebody you've never talked to or met before?
Nobody cares man. Please go away.
Though you dont share scores, you most certainly share the debt. Im still being haunted my ex wifes debt. The only real benefit to being married is the ability to put your spouse on your insurance at a reasonable rate, although these days some let you list as domestic partner for the same benefits. Honestly, with the laws, and the credit card companies these days its almost financially more responsible to just NOT get married at all.
I cant see this ever working, in fact the very act of opting out of tracking makes you more easily trackable.
"The growing danger, said lawmakers, makes it imperative that Congress move on legislation that would expand government controls and set requirements to make systems safer."
Uh NO... it makes it imperative that security folks get better training! Why does this government think they can fix everything by expanding government controls???
It "might" help if T-mobile actually advertised it on their own home page. I see no mention of it at all on t-mobile.com.
I dont understand why they think a "hunger strike" is going to do any more than a regular strike. They arent just going to sit out there till they die, they will eat eventually. Just let them go hungry. Weird. 0_o
Hence why Obama opted to continue his support for the patriot act...
THAT is pure utter bull shit. I use facebook, mostly to communicate with family, but I am very careful about my privacy and who I allow to see my posts. At least, I try to be. Simply posting on a social network does in no way indicate that I want to be "heard", logged, stalked, or any of the above by some company looking to sell me something. Is my very existance my acknowedgement that it is ok to invade my privacy for advertising purposes?
Agreed, its a freaking movie theater not a top secret government building.
The theaters around here are usually guarded by some pimply faced 16 year old, or some special needs individual. I've had the kids get all guardian of the gate on me when I tried to bring a drink that I hadn't finished from the place I just ate at, but otherwise its never been an ordeal. Although I've caught a couple advanced screenings and they are definitely a little more protective there, understandably. Although, early or not the quality of those recorded videos is never worth the couple hours they take to download.
Anyhow, if they want to stick cameras in the theaters to gauge my reactions, they will certainly get one! My middle finger!
"You're only inclined to say yes because you find Armstrong personally convincing?" Yes that is pretty much what Im saying. Given my personal experience and my familys long standing relationship with the man, Im inclined to believe he actually is telling the truth. However, after so many years of "evidence" both for and against it. I am content in the fact that I may never actually know the truth, and frankly it doesnt matter to me one way or the other.
I guess the point of my post was that there are people that would support both sides but no one is a more credible source of information than the man himself.
Ive been playing WoW uninterrupted since the origional open beta, with an occasional couple months break here and there. I also played Ultima Online since launch before that. Heck the only reason I gave up on UO was to play WoW, and if something else better comes along I will gladly move on. MMOs for me are an essential part of my personal gaming experience, but I dont really harbor any loyalties to one specific company. I still play wow because to date, not one other company has made anything that even compares. And yes I have tried several others, including Warhammer and Conan both of which looked incredibly promising but, to answer your question, just didnt have the gameplay dynamics that WoW has.
Although I will admit, I have started to tire of it over the last year or so. The only reason I still play is because my son plays as well and I enjoy playing with him. I think as I have gotten older I have taken to more casual gaming anyhow, aside from the occasional Fallout 3 or Assasins Creed II marathons.