They can't go to a competing label as they have already signed a note of consideration in essence guaranteeing that they will sign with that label. So , the grandparent poster is correct; sign up with us or break up.
It's not the information I fear. It's how people intend to use the information that I fear. For example, say my neigbor is out of town for a month. Someone knocks on Bob's (my neighbor) door and without any answer, comes to me to ask if I have seen Bob. Now, not knowing this person or their intent, I would like first to know why they would like to know. They could lie to me, they could not. In real life, we have the benefit of using the "something doesn't seem right" where-as online this invaluable safeguard doesn't exist.
Until something similar comes along in the online world, I am all for having total and complete control over my bits and bytes whenever possible.
Not to be grossly offtopic, but both spellings are correct and incorrect. Traditionally, the commonly accepted past tense & past participle form of "to spell" in English (as in the UK) spelling would be "spelt", where-as the commonly accepted American version would "spelled". It could be argued that "spelt" would be the formal form and "spelled" the informal form (similar to Usted verus Es). However, it is only slashdot and there are some of us that enjoy the butchering of the english language and believe it is part of the reason slashdot has been so sucessful.:)
While I agree that in principle the AC's comments were inflammatory and in general added nothing to the discussion, your reply was just as inflammatory only goes to feed the trolls. I only bring this up since browsing your comment history you generally make quite intellegible remarks I believe have contributed more than most to making/. more than "n4tALi3 p0rtM4n's h0t gRitZ". I am also making an active effort to lower the S/N ratio, instead of just whining about it.:)
My personal experience is that IOCom is one of the best in responding to/nuking abusive accounts. They are also very heavy into protecting a customer's privacy (so be prepared to prove abuse, not just random accusations). I have been with them for about 7 years now. I was with them when they were still a BBS that offerred internet access. For a good read into WHY they protect customer's privacy read here.
Blatantly ripped from arstechnica (I couldn't have worded it better myself:
K, point by point:
1/ 2038 is the end of the world as far as Unix 32 bit systems are considered. There's nothing magic about it per se, but since Google runs on Linux/ia32, it makes sense that their "forever cookie" goes to that date. Other than that, what's sinister? Lots of sites use cookies to track visitors' behaviour. If you care, use Mozilla, IE 6, or any other browser that lets you control cookies. Google works fine without them.
2/ Well, duh. Google needs to work with local laws and regulations, and my searches on consumer electronics may be a lot more useful if they send me to Wellington, New Zealand resources rather than Bumblefuck, Missouri.
3/ That is poor, but many sites don't have any explicit policy regarding how they treat their logs or anything else that could be used to identify visitors. You'd have to throw away your logs to avoid any possibility of tracing users.
4/ So?
5/ This is hardly unusual. Better stop using Linux, too, since the NSA did some work on the kernel!
6/ The toolbar asks if it can phone home. And if you don't like it, don't install it.
7/ There's a valid point, in the sense that Google and the Wayback machine could cause violations of legal settlements - for example, Philip Greenspun wrote a bitter and inflammatory screed about the VCs he brought into arsDigita, his old company. You could still get it on the Wayback machine and Google after he pulled it due to the outcome of a legal settlement he reached with them.
This isn't as clear cut as the author makes out.
8/ This is also the reason there's so much hostility to google in some quarters - there used to be a lucrative industry spamming less capable search engines like AltaVista, and the money has dried up in that area of hucksterism, since google has been pretty spam-proof for most of its history.
9/ This is true of any popular site.
8 is the real motivation for most anti-google hostility, mostly from bottom feeders like the self-styled SearchKing, who make money fucking up the usefulness of Internet resources for their clients. Complaining that google does its best to scrub scumbags would be like someone who posts ads for their hardware auction site into every Ars discussion bleating when the Ars crew yank their account.
Oh, and the Internet is full of kooks. That's the other reason..
Yeah, that stuff is awesome. The only real flaw (perhaps by design) was that it was extremely easy to bend at low temperatures. IIRC I was able to bend it almost as easily as PVC with a hair dryer.
Lexan is a bullet resistant plastic, similar to bullet proof glass but lighter, easier to mold, and more resistant to penetration. A few years ago, I made a skateboard out of the stuff just to have a clear skateboard. Now, it weighed in excess of 25 lbs. and was completely impractical but it looked good, and couldn't be shattered. I agree with you, the people who come up with these materials deserve to be compenstated fairly for their effort and hard work.
Uhm, I'm not trying to nitpick or anything but a notary public's duties are:
The primary duties of a Notary Public are to prevent fraud by confirming that signer's identity is who he or she claims to be, and that the person, in the presence of the notary, has voluntarily signed a document on a given date. A Notary Public has the authority to take acknowledgment, protest instruments, administer oaths, take depositions, and certify copies of documents not recordable in the public records.
THAT IS IT. Nothing more. As a notary public, I must get at least 2-3 people a day wanting me to authenticate some documentThey walk away upset when I tell them that a notary does not authenticate anything more than the fact that they signed that piece of paper.
Straying back on topic, I believe that the true motive behind employers who demand your credit report have no specific reason for requesting it other than a vague "you never know" or "we don't want some degenerate gambler". My simple reply: WELCOME TO BUSINESS. Risk MUST be accepted by the employer and that burden should remain with the employer. Businesses, corporation in particular, have a nasty habit of stomping on privacy whenever they see a risk. Minimizing the danger and impact of risk while still being able to fully reap the benefits from it is unfair.
lemme make sure I understand this MODERATORS. An AC vouches for Y piece of software being more useful/easier/better which is then vouched for by ANOTHER AC and somehow these comments get modded up? Exactly what makes them so interesting or informative?
<rant> I'm sorry, I know this is offtopic but it is something that needs to be addressed and I feel here in the forum where a clear example is shown is the best place. I have been on/. a long time and I believe it's high time to that moderators actually FOLLOW the moderation guidelines as opposed to just modding up/down opinions they agree or disagree with. I am convinced that meta-mod does not do enough punish/reward good moderators. </rant>
One crucial difference between the war on drugs and the copyright laws: people in general perceive drugs to be a "Bad Thing" while most fail to see that limited copyright is extremely important in our society. A closer analogy might be the civil rights movement where the oppresed broke unjust laws in a peaceful, yet very public manner.
Don't you remember the old days of/. when people would actually mobilize and go out and do something besides bitch? I do. I remember the big rush for linux advocacy in schools (and elsewhere for that matter) and the flood of volunteer requests and offers to donate time/$$/hardware/etc.
I think now is a prime opportunity utilize the case to call attention to what so many of us have been saying all along. Go tell mom neighbor Bob what this means to her in terms of them. While I believe that the SC made the wrong decision for the right reasons, imho, I believe that only a massive public outcrying will even begin to dent this. I think it will probably take a few represenatives not being re-elected to really get the fire under their asses lit.
This is a rather old debate...please see link for related debate. KDE Office Beta
Above is an old thread regarding KDE office beta and the confusion caused by alpha, beta, etc. and different people's expectations.
I think that a good general rule of thumb is to say that:
pre-alpha/alpha software all bets are off.
Beta - We've worked out all the major computer destroying bugs but there's still lots of little annoying ones.
Pre-Release candidate - Hey, we got this thing to work pretty well and now we need people to try and break it so that when we actually release we can
Honestly, I'd be pretty pissed if someone released a beta and it did something nasty like erase my ~ directory. We're not talking about CS 101 students releasing the Hello World Browser.
I am having difficulty agreeing that code length should determine which was the original and which was derived from the original. If that were true, would I not merely need to optimize the larger code to a shorter code length to make mine the original? I was always under the impression that whichever was created first was the original.
I agree that pursuing alternative licensing options from the author is a great idea for busineses, however some immediate concerns that come to mind: What about multiple authors?
I mean, I can envision it being practical with a small number of original authors, but what about larger packages?
By issuing a piece of software GPL'd the author of that software maintains GPL compliance as more than likely their code uses something GPL'd.
It becomes exponentially difficult to seek alternative terms with every original author down to the last piece of code that links, calls, etc. some other code that was released under the GPL.
Please correct me if I am mistaken. That is my understanding of the GPL, though IANAL, so ask MacAndrew, since he IS.;)
As a matter of fact there is. IOCOM http://www.io.com does. If you want to know the really interesting story behind WHY they take this stance see thisand some more in-depth info here.
I've been with them since roughly 1996/97 and I have NO complaints...shell access, linux friendly, etc etc...
Uhmmm.... not to quibble over details, though it appears as though you are trolling.
First, the actual limit in the US for cash transactions before a financial institution is REQUIRED to report it to the IRS is $10,000 , not $5,000. The reason for this (and I can assure you as I was a customer service manager for Bank of America for some years and have dealt with this on a daily basis) is that people try and get around reporting income to the IRS and/or try and fuck people out of money.
Second, keeping $10,000 in a cookie jar (or elsewhere that is not secured) is just plain stupidity. Not illegal. I know of certain customers that survived the great depression and have LARGE quantities of cash hidden/buried.
Third, so you mean when I cross state or county lines with my checkbook I am breaking the law? Or traveler's cheques? Or that cashier's check I'm taking for my closing costs on my home? Perhaps you meant cash? No, I've had several customers tell me stories about being pulled over with large amounts of cash, *NONE* of them have ever said that the officer had a problem or confiscated their money.
Fourth, I have bought many a plane ticket from Houston to Austin/Dallas/SA, etc. without a hitch but I will concede that I have never bought one from SF to LA.
Supermarker convenience cards? Lie. I'm serious. Just make some crap up and put it on the card.
Why should I be compelled to lie in order to protect my right to privacy of my information? The standard answer of "go somewhere else if you don't like it" not only fails to adress the issue directly, but fails to answer the question
What happens when all retailers being demanding this information? What option do I have then?
Had companies not taken a your information belongs to us attitude from the get-go, I believe that many more CUSTOMERS would be willing to assist the companies. I personally believe that the current attitude of compulsive lying/deception to "just get through" is one that negatively impacts us a whole.
Obviously they believe my information is valuable, otherwise they wouldn't ask. That being said, I don't appreciate my information being traded/sold.
I don't mind sharing my information with someone so long as I can be assured that
a) It is going to be used SOLELY for the stated purpose
b) The person/comapny I have chosen to share my information will not disclose that information to anyone else without my direct written consent, and must ask and acquire consent for each and every time they want to share my information
c) Should the person/company I have shared my information with be bought out, etc, the acquiring company must agree to above two and must re-acquire my consent.
On what basis may I ask are you making this assumption? Large corporations rarely make decisions based upon "serving you better". The only people they are interested in serving better is their shareholders. Now, that is not to judge whether that is the right or wrong thing to do; merely to say it is.
Anytime you give up your PERSONAL information, especially for free, you should know just what you are getting yourself into. Most people assume that they company they are so willingly giving their information will use it in a way they (the consumer) would see fit. It is only to learn later down the line that this is not the case. Either by confliciting expectations of the company/consumer or some other means (company is bought out, etc) the consumer then learns what they have really given away, their right to be left alone. And while I agree that a company has the right request personal information, in most instances I assert that it is my right to refuse their request WITHOUT recourse.
Okay, after seeing the article, right about the time this came on the news.
For the patience-impaired, a local (err, Houston area) high school has had a rash of staph infections break out and the infections are apparentaly resistant to antibiotics. Now I understand that we over-medicate everyone but what's next when things such as this pop up in more than just an "isolated" area?
Okay, so lately I've noticed a lot of cyncism and general angst about damn near every topic, so I'm going to make mine something worthwile. I'd really be interested in testing this new "toy" out.
We have a an NEC projector which we also bought the presentation kit http://www.duocomweb.com/literature/en/pdf/mt1055n ec.pdf
to go along with it. I am by far more impressed with thhan the projector. wireless mouse/tv remote... hmmm... The remote's line of sight is awesome, the batteries last forever (so long as you're not a laser pointing junkie) and the fact that I can control both the tv, projector and the pc as though it were a mouse/remote makes life sooo much easier.
The laser pointers nice too, i guess.. For fucking with my cat seems like much more fun.. But seriously though, I would love to have a screen where I could merely point at where I want to goto and use more natural motions to control things. This remote has a trigger for your normal left-click and the directional pad clicks for a right click.
Okay, let me clarify a bit. Yes, pointers are in use, however this is per domain. And the divisonal tree of my company looks like something ripped out of a federal bureacracy.
I work for an insurance company that encompasses many divisions. To give you an example of the complication of things, I work in the Small Group Medical Products Division. The MPSG is comprised of smaller divisions still none of which talk to each other directly. Marketing cannot access Licensing cannot access Customer Service cannot access Commissions cannot access Underwriting cannot access Client Admin, etc... Each subdivision has their own domain/server, hence the 200 emails.:)
I think the sysadmins are about the only ones whom have access to more than one division. Email is taken VERY seriously as far as privacy is concerned for this simple reason. The people (public, brokers, etc) don't seem to quite grasp (read - lazy) that sending over EVERY shred of information on a company (prospect) such as everyone's name, dob, ssn, salary, in addition to their health history and those related to them isn't a) to be taken lightly and b) shouldn't be sent unless specifically required.
To the best of my knowledge, the strategy is to compartmentalize this information so that SHOULD something bad occur, the damage can be contained/minimized. Everyone's information is each division MUST be kept seperate for various, namely security, privacy, and HIPAA compliance reasons. All of this to keep your info private.:) Pain in the ass? Yup. Worth it? YOU BETTER BELIEVE IT.
I feel your pain. Just the other week my boss decides to send our office ( ~20 people) a "cute" little movie file he found. This little gem was about 9MB and he accidentally sent it to everyone in our CORPORATION. Now, we're sort of a mish-mash of real estate, insurance, annuities, etc. Each division has about 300-800 people. There are 12 divisions. Needless to say, email slowed down just a bit....And then I got yelled at because he can't spell. But c'est la vie...
At the company I presently work for, almost EVERY email has an attachment (an excel spreadsheet and a word document). On occassion, those too lazy to type have sent in their scanned TIFF files. I recieved a 48 page TIFF file the other day that 140MB. I deleted it without opening it and told them to re-send in a smaller format. However, everyone else in my office is completely oblivious to the fact of the size of an email and replication. a 10MB attachment sent to 200 people occupies a lot of space REALLY quick. Especially since by default Save sent items and forwards contain the attachments. Everyone else in my office chalks up large attachments to "Outlook being broke" and asks me to come fix it. I then explain to them that they're trying to d/l a large file and just wait (stupid 2B channel ISDN). I recently convinced the Home Office that a size limit of 5MB was needed and exceptions could be made as needed. So far, nobody has needed one.:)
A little education goes a long way. People need to be taught some of what goes on in order to understand why doing XYZ is a bad idea.
Slashdot Mirror
They can't go to a competing label as they have already signed a note of consideration in essence guaranteeing that they will sign with that label. So , the grandparent poster is correct; sign up with us or break up.
To parent & grandparent poster:
It's not the information I fear. It's how people intend to use the information that I fear. For example, say my neigbor is out of town for a month. Someone knocks on Bob's (my neighbor) door and without any answer, comes to me to ask if I have seen Bob. Now, not knowing this person or their intent, I would like first to know why they would like to know. They could lie to me, they could not. In real life, we have the benefit of using the "something doesn't seem right" where-as online this invaluable safeguard doesn't exist.
Until something similar comes along in the online world, I am all for having total and complete control over my bits and bytes whenever possible.
Not to be grossly offtopic, but both spellings are correct and incorrect. Traditionally, the commonly accepted past tense & past participle form of "to spell" in English (as in the UK) spelling would be "spelt", where-as the commonly accepted American version would "spelled". It could be argued that "spelt" would be the formal form and "spelled" the informal form (similar to Usted verus Es). However, it is only slashdot and there are some of us that enjoy the butchering of the english language and believe it is part of the reason slashdot has been so sucessful. :)
/. more than "n4tALi3 p0rtM4n's h0t gRitZ". I am also making an active effort to lower the S/N ratio, instead of just whining about it. :)
While I agree that in principle the AC's comments were inflammatory and in general added nothing to the discussion, your reply was just as inflammatory only goes to feed the trolls. I only bring this up since browsing your comment history you generally make quite intellegible remarks I believe have contributed more than most to making
My personal experience is that IOCom is one of the best in responding to/nuking abusive accounts. They are also very heavy into protecting a customer's privacy (so be prepared to prove abuse, not just random accusations). I have been with them for about 7 years now. I was with them when they were still a BBS that offerred internet access. For a good read into WHY they protect customer's privacy read here.
Why didn't you just do the fake run like everyone else on the power pad? ;)
Yeah, that stuff is awesome. The only real flaw (perhaps by design) was that it was extremely easy to bend at low temperatures. IIRC I was able to bend it almost as easily as PVC with a hair dryer.
I don't know what Lexan is,
Lexan is a bullet resistant plastic, similar to bullet proof glass but lighter, easier to mold, and more resistant to penetration. A few years ago, I made a skateboard out of the stuff just to have a clear skateboard. Now, it weighed in excess of 25 lbs. and was completely impractical but it looked good, and couldn't be shattered. I agree with you, the people who come up with these materials deserve to be compenstated fairly for their effort and hard work.
THAT IS IT. Nothing more. As a notary public, I must get at least 2-3 people a day wanting me to authenticate some documentThey walk away upset when I tell them that a notary does not authenticate anything more than the fact that they signed that piece of paper.
Straying back on topic, I believe that the true motive behind employers who demand your credit report have no specific reason for requesting it other than a vague "you never know" or "we don't want some degenerate gambler". My simple reply: WELCOME TO BUSINESS. Risk MUST be accepted by the employer and that burden should remain with the employer. Businesses, corporation in particular, have a nasty habit of stomping on privacy whenever they see a risk. Minimizing the danger and impact of risk while still being able to fully reap the benefits from it is unfair.
lemme make sure I understand this MODERATORS. An AC vouches for Y piece of software being more useful/easier/better which is then vouched for by ANOTHER AC and somehow these comments get modded up? Exactly what makes them so interesting or informative?
/. a long time and I believe it's high time to that moderators actually FOLLOW the moderation guidelines as opposed to just modding up/down opinions they agree or disagree with. I am convinced that meta-mod does not do enough punish/reward good moderators.
<rant>
I'm sorry, I know this is offtopic but it is something that needs to be addressed and I feel here in the forum where a clear example is shown is the best place. I have been on
</rant>
One crucial difference between the war on drugs and the copyright laws: people in general perceive drugs to be a "Bad Thing" while most fail to see that limited copyright is extremely important in our society. A closer analogy might be the civil rights movement where the oppresed broke unjust laws in a peaceful, yet very public manner.
/. when people would actually mobilize and go out and do something besides bitch? I do. I remember the big rush for linux advocacy in schools (and elsewhere for that matter) and the flood of volunteer requests and offers to donate time/$$/hardware/etc.
Don't you remember the old days of
I think now is a prime opportunity utilize the case to call attention to what so many of us have been saying all along. Go tell mom neighbor Bob what this means to her in terms of them. While I believe that the SC made the wrong decision for the right reasons, imho, I believe that only a massive public outcrying will even begin to dent this. I think it will probably take a few represenatives not being re-elected to really get the fire under their asses lit.
The jello of course.
This is a rather old debate...please see link for related debate.
KDE Office Beta
Above is an old thread regarding KDE office beta and the confusion caused by alpha, beta, etc. and different people's expectations.
I think that a good general rule of thumb is to say that:
pre-alpha/alpha software all bets are off.
Beta - We've worked out all the major computer destroying bugs but there's still lots of little annoying ones.
Pre-Release candidate - Hey, we got this thing to work pretty well and now we need people to try and break it so that when we actually release we can
Honestly, I'd be pretty pissed if someone released a beta and it did something nasty like erase my ~ directory. We're not talking about CS 101 students releasing the Hello World Browser.
Can you please give a real world example of this?
I am having difficulty agreeing that code length should determine which was the original and which was derived from the original. If that were true, would I not merely need to optimize the larger code to a shorter code length to make mine the original? I was always under the impression that whichever was created first was the original.
I agree that pursuing alternative licensing options from the author is a great idea for busineses, however some immediate concerns that come to mind: What about multiple authors?
I mean, I can envision it being practical with a small number of original authors, but what about larger packages?
By issuing a piece of software GPL'd the author of that software maintains GPL compliance as more than likely their code uses something GPL'd.
It becomes exponentially difficult to seek alternative terms with every original author down to the last piece of code that links, calls, etc. some other code that was released under the GPL.
Please correct me if I am mistaken. That is my understanding of the GPL, though IANAL, so ask MacAndrew, since he IS. ;)
As a matter of fact there is. IOCOM http://www.io.com does. If you want to know the really interesting story behind WHY they take this stance see thisand some more in-depth info here.
I've been with them since roughly 1996/97 and I have NO complaints...shell access, linux friendly, etc etc...
Uhmmm.... not to quibble over details, though it appears as though you are trolling.
First, the actual limit in the US for cash transactions before a financial institution is REQUIRED to report it to the IRS is $10,000 , not $5,000. The reason for this (and I can assure you as I was a customer service manager for Bank of America for some years and have dealt with this on a daily basis) is that people try and get around reporting income to the IRS and/or try and fuck people out of money.
Second, keeping $10,000 in a cookie jar (or elsewhere that is not secured) is just plain stupidity. Not illegal. I know of certain customers that survived the great depression and have LARGE quantities of cash hidden/buried.
Third, so you mean when I cross state or county lines with my checkbook I am breaking the law? Or traveler's cheques? Or that cashier's check I'm taking for my closing costs on my home? Perhaps you meant cash? No, I've had several customers tell me stories about being pulled over with large amounts of cash, *NONE* of them have ever said that the officer had a problem or confiscated their money.
Fourth, I have bought many a plane ticket from Houston to Austin/Dallas/SA, etc. without a hitch but I will concede that I have never bought one from SF to LA.
For all those who can't/won't/don't register... the registration free link.
http://www.nytimes.com/2002/11/24/weekinreview/24Why should I be compelled to lie in order to protect my right to privacy of my information? The standard answer of "go somewhere else if you don't like it" not only fails to adress the issue directly, but fails to answer the question
What happens when all retailers being demanding this information? What option do I have then?
Had companies not taken a your information belongs to us attitude from the get-go, I believe that many more CUSTOMERS would be willing to assist the companies. I personally believe that the current attitude of compulsive lying/deception to "just get through" is one that negatively impacts us a whole.
Obviously they believe my information is valuable, otherwise they wouldn't ask. That being said, I don't appreciate my information being traded/sold.
I don't mind sharing my information with someone so long as I can be assured that
a) It is going to be used SOLELY for the stated purpose
b) The person/comapny I have chosen to share my information will not disclose that information to anyone else without my direct written consent, and must ask and acquire consent for each and every time they want to share my information
c) Should the person/company I have shared my information with be bought out, etc, the acquiring company must agree to above two and must re-acquire my consent.
On what basis may I ask are you making this assumption? Large corporations rarely make decisions based upon "serving you better". The only people they are interested in serving better is their shareholders. Now, that is not to judge whether that is the right or wrong thing to do; merely to say it is.
Anytime you give up your PERSONAL information, especially for free, you should know just what you are getting yourself into. Most people assume that they company they are so willingly giving their information will use it in a way they (the consumer) would see fit. It is only to learn later down the line that this is not the case. Either by confliciting expectations of the company/consumer or some other means (company is bought out, etc) the consumer then learns what they have really given away, their right to be left alone. And while I agree that a company has the right request personal information, in most instances I assert that it is my right to refuse their request WITHOUT recourse.
Okay, after seeing the article, right about the time this came on the news.
For the patience-impaired, a local (err, Houston area) high school has had a rash of staph infections break out and the infections are apparentaly resistant to antibiotics. Now I understand that we over-medicate everyone but what's next when things such as this pop up in more than just an "isolated" area?
Okay, so lately I've noticed a lot of cyncism and general angst about damn near every topic, so I'm going to make mine something worthwile. I'd really be interested in testing this new "toy" out. We have a an NEC projector which we also bought the presentation kit http://www.duocomweb.com/literature/en/pdf/mt1055n ec.pdf
to go along with it. I am by far more impressed with thhan the projector. wireless mouse/tv remote... hmmm... The remote's line of sight is awesome, the batteries last forever (so long as you're not a laser pointing junkie) and the fact that I can control both the tv, projector and the pc as though it were a mouse/remote makes life sooo much easier.
The laser pointers nice too, i guess.. For fucking with my cat seems like much more fun.. But seriously though, I would love to have a screen where I could merely point at where I want to goto and use more natural motions to control things. This remote has a trigger for your normal left-click and the directional pad clicks for a right click.
Okay, let me clarify a bit. Yes, pointers are in use, however this is per domain. And the divisonal tree of my company looks like something ripped out of a federal bureacracy.
:)
:) Pain in the ass? Yup. Worth it? YOU BETTER BELIEVE IT.
:b
I work for an insurance company that encompasses many divisions. To give you an example of the complication of things, I work in the Small Group Medical Products Division. The MPSG is comprised of smaller divisions still none of which talk to each other directly. Marketing cannot access Licensing cannot access Customer Service cannot access Commissions cannot access Underwriting cannot access Client Admin, etc... Each subdivision has their own domain/server, hence the 200 emails.
I think the sysadmins are about the only ones whom have access to more than one division. Email is taken VERY seriously as far as privacy is concerned for this simple reason. The people (public, brokers, etc) don't seem to quite grasp (read - lazy) that sending over EVERY shred of information on a company (prospect) such as everyone's name, dob, ssn, salary, in addition to their health history and those related to them isn't a) to be taken lightly and b) shouldn't be sent unless specifically required.
To the best of my knowledge, the strategy is to compartmentalize this information so that SHOULD something bad occur, the damage can be contained/minimized. Everyone's information is each division MUST be kept seperate for various, namely security, privacy, and HIPAA compliance reasons. All of this to keep your info private.
pfew... i've been trying to write that all day.
I feel your pain. Just the other week my boss decides to send our office ( ~20 people) a "cute" little movie file he found. This little gem was about 9MB and he accidentally sent it to everyone in our CORPORATION. Now, we're sort of a mish-mash of real estate, insurance, annuities, etc. Each division has about 300-800 people. There are 12 divisions. Needless to say, email slowed down just a bit....And then I got yelled at because he can't spell. But c'est la vie...
At the company I presently work for, almost EVERY email has an attachment (an excel spreadsheet and a word document). On occassion, those too lazy to type have sent in their scanned TIFF files. I recieved a 48 page TIFF file the other day that 140MB. I deleted it without opening it and told them to re-send in a smaller format. However, everyone else in my office is completely oblivious to the fact of the size of an email and replication. a 10MB attachment sent to 200 people occupies a lot of space REALLY quick. Especially since by default Save sent items and forwards contain the attachments. Everyone else in my office chalks up large attachments to "Outlook being broke" and asks me to come fix it. I then explain to them that they're trying to d/l a large file and just wait (stupid 2B channel ISDN). I recently convinced the Home Office that a size limit of 5MB was needed and exceptions could be made as needed. So far, nobody has needed one. :)
A little education goes a long way. People need to be taught some of what goes on in order to understand why doing XYZ is a bad idea.