I was consulting at a community bank last spring, helping them getting ready for an IT audit by the FDIC. They were replacing some machines, and I persuaded them to donate the old ones to a local computer group who refurbishes them and places them in schools and non-profits. I could see that their IT policy manual contained nothing about even wiping drives let alone destroying them.
As soon as I got them to my office, I invited the CEO in to see how much customer info his IT department had "donated." He was, of course, shocked. The sad thing is, probably 30 people were involved in that transfer and not one of them had the slightest clue. Another said thing is that the donation fiasco was just one of hundreds of examples of failure to adequately protect the privacy of customer information.
The good news is that the FDIC is taking customer data security very serious and is coming down hard on breaches and potential problems during their IT audits and their Safety and Soundness audits. So maybe it will get better. Except we are talking about humans...
Like I said, I'm getting old and counting seconds now! Also getting CTS and counting keystrokes and clicks. Yes, every little reduction helps.
I don't have any children at home, but you make a good point there. Better to turn that off if you've got kids. Or make sure they use their own machine with the feature disabled - I really dont' think I could give it up myself.
Yes, I use Google if I'm not sure of the URL. On my own machine, I have a link. On a public machine, I type google and hit Ctrl-Enter.
This one is missing us here in South Louisiana, but we've had more than our share and I can offer some sound advice.
1. You should already have your tech disaster plan in place and everyone drilled.
2. If the local authorities advise you to evacuate, do so immediately. If your boss says you have to stay, resign.
3. Before you evacuate, secure anything around your home or business that could fly around - chairs, toys, swings, signs,etc. Also, board your windows if possible.
4. If you get stuck in the hurricane, or once you get to the evacuation location, mix up a blenderful of Pat O'Brien's Hurricanes.
1 oz White rum
1 oz Jamaican Rum
1 oz Bacardi 151 proof rum
3 oz Orange juice with pulp
3 oz unsweetened Pineapple juice
1/2 oz Grenadine
Crushed Ice
Combine all ingredients, mix well (shake or stir). Pour over crushed ice in Hurricane glass. Best enjoyed through small straw. Garnish with fruit wedge if desired. Serves 1.
Make a lot of that - you can do the math to fill a pitcherful. By the time the storm hits, you'll all be three-sheets-to-the-wind and it will be the most exciting and fun weekend you've ever had. At least, that's how we do it down here.
Because there is such a thing as "default." Can't we agree that unless otherwise stated, it's a WWW page?
I'm getting too old to waste anymore of my life saying, hearing, or typing "http://www." Over a couple of years, think of how many sites I could visit in that wasted time.
[By the way, some people still don't realize that you can just type the middle part, leave out the www dot and the dot com part, and press CTRL-ENTER. It will automatically assume (default!) that you want a dot com world wide web page.]
Oh, great. Let's combine the computer security industry (already famous for making work and money for itself by scaring everyone with over-hyped media attention to every script-kiddy's feeble edit of an existing worm) with the Department of Homeland Security's similar tactics of justifying it's existence, not to mention whatever policies the powers-that-be desire.
Instead of uploading our photos to commercial sites and dealing with ads, or having to pay for large amounts of storage on web servers and doing our own sites, extended families could set up private P2P systems for photo-sharing.
Our local computer club has membership of 1,200 families. We'd like to post copies of instructional handouts, instructional PowerPoint shows, etc. for our members benefit - but buying the space on the server for that much content is out of our reach. Instead, all that content could reside on various members' machines on a P2P.
I can think of lots of these smaller applications. And the idea of cutting out a middleman appeals greatly.
Currently we make do in both situations (and others) by using file storage in commercial "groups" areas - MSN, Yahoo, etc. But maybe P2P could serve those kinds of needs better?
Credit card numbers are not the only sensitive info. Most corporations use email to communicate with their vendors and customers and much of what they discuss is proprietary.
How would you like your doctor discussing your medical condition with a colleague over an unsecured connection?
"...because our reach has always exceeded our grasp..."
But younger people see that as a bad thing. And have you noticed that they never use that old phrase, "conquer space," anymore? Conquering anything is considered evil.
It makes you wonder whether mankind will ever again accomplish anything "grand" and "awe-inspiring." Oh, shit, I sound like my great-grandmother...
Having been born with the renegade gene myself, it's just hard to hate a company that admits one of it's main goals is to create "a major disruptive impact."
Maybe so, but I really do think that enough people would be willing to pay a reasonable per-title download price that it just wouldn't be worth the cost of going after the ones who'd continue to steal.
If that were the case, why would the studios be so reluctant to do it? Is it because they are really inflating costs and themselves stealing from the artists?
These cases will be challenged in the courts and many of them will be overturned. We should be able to craft a reasonable bill that prevents these kinds of abuses while loosening up the restrictions that made terrorism detection virtually impossible. Surely we've got the smarts for that?
AnonymousGranny, we could be twins! I'm also 50+ and until the subpoenas started, I wouldn't have dreamed of listening to pirated music. My kids would offer me copies of CDs and I'd refuse and give them a (most annoying) lecture about intellectual property rights.
Not anymore. RIAA needs to go down, and I'm ready to do my part to help make it happen. Boycott of all RIAA labels and artists, limited sharing as an act of civil disobedience, writing to my Senators and congressman calling for reform of copyright law, etc.
Do you suppose RIAA factored in the "Granny rage" effect? I don't think so.
P.S. You might enjoy my journal rant about some of us grannies who won't get with the technology program.
Our local newspaper published that there are no chipmunks in our county. I called a reporter out to see and photograph the chipmunks on our property in said county.
(Unfortunately, a couple of months after that, our 3 cats wiped out the entire population. We buried their little celebrity bodies with full honors. True story.)
My point is, it's virtually impossible to prove non-existence -- trivial to prove existence.
New pirate born
on
RIAA Bits
·
· Score: 3, Interesting
I'd never, ever downloaded music nor accepted a copy of a CD from a friend until the RIAA started issuing the subpoenas.Two wrongs don't make a right, but sometimes the second wrong (the RIAA actions) piss off the honest folks so much that they side with the original lawbreakers.
I wonder if anyone else, like me, has been driven to a life of crime - or at least a life of acts of civil disobedience - by the RIAA goons?
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I was consulting at a community bank last spring, helping them getting ready for an IT audit by the FDIC. They were replacing some machines, and I persuaded them to donate the old ones to a local computer group who refurbishes them and places them in schools and non-profits. I could see that their IT policy manual contained nothing about even wiping drives let alone destroying them.
As soon as I got them to my office, I invited the CEO in to see how much customer info his IT department had "donated." He was, of course, shocked. The sad thing is, probably 30 people were involved in that transfer and not one of them had the slightest clue. Another said thing is that the donation fiasco was just one of hundreds of examples of failure to adequately protect the privacy of customer information.
The good news is that the FDIC is taking customer data security very serious and is coming down hard on breaches and potential problems during their IT audits and their Safety and Soundness audits. So maybe it will get better. Except we are talking about humans...
Like I said, I'm getting old and counting seconds now! Also getting CTS and counting keystrokes and clicks. Yes, every little reduction helps.
I don't have any children at home, but you make a good point there. Better to turn that off if you've got kids. Or make sure they use their own machine with the feature disabled - I really dont' think I could give it up myself.
Yes, I use Google if I'm not sure of the URL. On my own machine, I have a link. On a public machine, I type google and hit Ctrl-Enter.
1. You should already have your tech disaster plan in place and everyone drilled.
2. If the local authorities advise you to evacuate, do so immediately. If your boss says you have to stay, resign.
3. Before you evacuate, secure anything around your home or business that could fly around - chairs, toys, swings, signs,etc. Also, board your windows if possible.
4. If you get stuck in the hurricane, or once you get to the evacuation location, mix up a blenderful of Pat O'Brien's Hurricanes.
1 oz White rum
1 oz Jamaican Rum
1 oz Bacardi 151 proof rum
3 oz Orange juice with pulp
3 oz unsweetened Pineapple juice
1/2 oz Grenadine
Crushed Ice
Combine all ingredients, mix well (shake or stir). Pour over crushed ice in Hurricane glass. Best enjoyed through small straw. Garnish with fruit wedge if desired. Serves 1.
Make a lot of that - you can do the math to fill a pitcherful. By the time the storm hits, you'll all be three-sheets-to-the-wind and it will be the most exciting and fun weekend you've ever had. At least, that's how we do it down here.
Because there is such a thing as "default." Can't we agree that unless otherwise stated, it's a WWW page?
I'm getting too old to waste anymore of my life saying, hearing, or typing "http://www." Over a couple of years, think of how many sites I could visit in that wasted time.
[By the way, some people still don't realize that you can just type the middle part, leave out the www dot and the dot com part, and press CTRL-ENTER. It will automatically assume (default!) that you want a dot com world wide web page.]
Oh, great. Let's combine the computer security industry (already famous for making work and money for itself by scaring everyone with over-hyped media attention to every script-kiddy's feeble edit of an existing worm) with the Department of Homeland Security's similar tactics of justifying it's existence, not to mention whatever policies the powers-that-be desire.
We'll all be on tranquilizers in no time.
Yes, and think even smaller.
Instead of uploading our photos to commercial sites and dealing with ads, or having to pay for large amounts of storage on web servers and doing our own sites, extended families could set up private P2P systems for photo-sharing.
Our local computer club has membership of 1,200 families. We'd like to post copies of instructional handouts, instructional PowerPoint shows, etc. for our members benefit - but buying the space on the server for that much content is out of our reach. Instead, all that content could reside on various members' machines on a P2P.
I can think of lots of these smaller applications. And the idea of cutting out a middleman appeals greatly.
Currently we make do in both situations (and others) by using file storage in commercial "groups" areas - MSN, Yahoo, etc. But maybe P2P could serve those kinds of needs better?
Credit card numbers are not the only sensitive info. Most corporations use email to communicate with their vendors and customers and much of what they discuss is proprietary.
How would you like your doctor discussing your medical condition with a colleague over an unsecured connection?
"...because our reach has always exceeded our grasp..."
But younger people see that as a bad thing. And have you noticed that they never use that old phrase, "conquer space," anymore? Conquering anything is considered evil.
It makes you wonder whether mankind will ever again accomplish anything "grand" and "awe-inspiring." Oh, shit, I sound like my great-grandmother...
Having been born with the renegade gene myself, it's just hard to hate a company that admits one of it's main goals is to create "a major disruptive impact."
Maybe so, but I really do think that enough people would be willing to pay a reasonable per-title download price that it just wouldn't be worth the cost of going after the ones who'd continue to steal.
If that were the case, why would the studios be so reluctant to do it? Is it because they are really inflating costs and themselves stealing from the artists?"If you're making meth, you're dealing in death and ruined lives."
Yes, but they are not "terrorists" by any stretch of the imagination. The Patriotic Act provisions should not apply to them.
Find another way to get the meth labs...These cases will be challenged in the courts and many of them will be overturned. We should be able to craft a reasonable bill that prevents these kinds of abuses while loosening up the restrictions that made terrorism detection virtually impossible. Surely we've got the smarts for that?
The Bigfoot believers are quietly committed? I'm so relieved to hear that. It was really worrying me that all those nuts were running around loose.
Wait. Did you say, "...quite committed"? Never mind...
Exactly my point! But maybe what we need to do is breed bigger cats...
AnonymousGranny, we could be twins! I'm also 50+ and until the subpoenas started, I wouldn't have dreamed of listening to pirated music. My kids would offer me copies of CDs and I'd refuse and give them a (most annoying) lecture about intellectual property rights.
Not anymore. RIAA needs to go down, and I'm ready to do my part to help make it happen. Boycott of all RIAA labels and artists, limited sharing as an act of civil disobedience, writing to my Senators and congressman calling for reform of copyright law, etc.
Do you suppose RIAA factored in the "Granny rage" effect? I don't think so.
P.S. You might enjoy my journal rant about some of us grannies who won't get with the technology program.
Our local newspaper published that there are no chipmunks in our county. I called a reporter out to see and photograph the chipmunks on our property in said county.
(Unfortunately, a couple of months after that, our 3 cats wiped out the entire population. We buried their little celebrity bodies with full honors. True story.)
My point is, it's virtually impossible to prove non-existence -- trivial to prove existence.
Here's a good "how to" page.
I'd never, ever downloaded music nor accepted a copy of a CD from a friend until the RIAA started issuing the subpoenas.Two wrongs don't make a right, but sometimes the second wrong (the RIAA actions) piss off the honest folks so much that they side with the original lawbreakers.
I wonder if anyone else, like me, has been driven to a life of crime - or at least a life of acts of civil disobedience - by the RIAA goons?