The so called red flag rules are an added cost to small businesses and don't really do that much to help prevent identity theft. They apply to anyone who sells a product on any terms other than cash or credit card. This includes your local home heating oil dealer, local appliance store that might offer you a payment plan right down to a bar that lets you keep a tab until pay day.
You can nominally comply with these rules by downloading a template over the internet and designating a person to "review" red flags. They are overly broad, and treat businesses that keep customer records on index cards in a file cabinet the same as the bank that holds your mortgage.
These rules are much like PCI compliance. They sound impressive, but mean very little. Heck RBS Worldpay/Lynk is still processing credit cards but they lost their PCI compliance, after suffering a data breach jeopardizing 1.5 million payroll cards and at least 1.1 million Social Security numbers.
PCI and red flag rules foist the onus of data protection onto small merchants, while the monopolists who benefit from Visa/Mastercard transactions don't have to change anything.
Visa/Mastercard should be tasked with making the whole system more secure. Forcing the burden of data protection in a broken system onto small merchants is like blaming the depositors in a bank when it gets robbed.
I agree that the point of the point of the coloring book was great, but I don't think it was helpful to include images specific to one "bad thing". The general pictures of floods and drawing how you felt sad etc. was great, why politicize it by putting in images of 9/11?
I think that the general thrust of the coloring book was good. I read it and it basically said that bad things can happen to good people, it's not your fault that the bad things happened, you might feel bad, talk about what you're feeling, and sooner or later you'll feel better.
But using images of a specific single "bad thing", rather than a general flood, tornado, etc. wasn't helpful.
As to children not understanding the complexity of "bad", I can point to my nephew on a preschool field trip to the police station. A uniformed police officer came over to shake his hand. My nephew replied that he couldn't talk to him because he isn't allowed to talk to strangers.
That is the Walmart Effect in a nutshell. That store only delivers what its customers want. They want low low prices, and easy returns. The products don't have to be high quality or made in the USA. The cashiers don't have to be too friendly, or even too quick, just quick enough. The stores don't have to be too clean, just not disgustingly dirty. If the average consumer wanted to spend a little more for service, maybe we'd actually get it
Intent is important, but what was the intent of the woman who "fell victim" to the scammers? She clearly was originally trying to get money that wasn't hers. How is this different than if she was fencing stolen television sets? Her intent was to profit from ill gotten gains.
People go to the ERs because they DON'T have insurance and/or are undocumented persons. The ER can't turn anyone away because of payment issues. Hospitals don't even attempt to collect payments.
A friend of mine was helping me work on my car. His hand slipped off a wrench and he cut himself. He needed stitches, but didn't have insurance so I told him that I'd pay whatever bills he had. I must add here that he is Brazilian, but here LEGALLY.
He gives the hospital his address to send a bill to, someone asks if he is Brazilian, and lo and behold no bill was ever sent.
The devotion of our entire educational system to "special education" is what has harmed your son and every other typical or more intelligent child. Massachusetts has standardized achievement tests that all students must be proficient enough to pass. A school gets punished if all its sub groups don't improve on these tests. Sub groups are SPED, Asian, African American, Non-English speakers, typical students, etc. There is no defined group for high achievers. According all the resources must be spent on SPED or non-English speakers, so that they can improve.
Resources are wasted in many other ways as well. A SPED student has an individual education plan (iep) designed by a physician/psychologist, the parents, a childrens advocate, and a rubber stamping member of the schools. If this iep says that the student requires two personal aides, organic spinach for lunch, and the freedom to curse and swear at his teachers, then the school must accommodate that or they will be sued and lose.
SPED by law will cover a child from the age of 3 to 22. My town's school budget is paying to have 21 year olds bussed to costly day programs an hour away.
Our priorities aren't even as lofty as focusing on the average height poppies. Instead we are razing the flowerbeds so that all children resemble the stunted weeds.
Umm.. while I agree with the sentiment, depending on what aerospace company the person works for, this could be a bad idea. While the kids might get a kick out of a recreation of the Challenger disaster, it is kinda morbid.
Not just Google, but the evil incarnation of Microsoft's failed nontechnical desktop, Google, and a laughing yellow sea creature. Witness Google Sponge Bob!
The great ruse is that the Visa/Mastercard cartel even care about fraud. They don't. All fraud is pushed back to the merchant, or if the merchant is insolvent, back to the merchant's processor. What is even more outrageous is that interchange fees go to Visa/Mastercard - a cartel that really does nothing. The processor and the actual network like Buypass or Paymentech live off something like 3 to 6 cents a transaction. The processor is making money, but they actually don't have the money to change to anything more secure.
Will not happen because credit card companies are NOT The ones on the hook for the losses. The charade of PCI compliance has foisted all responsibility back to the merchant. The Visa/Mastercard cartel actually make MORE money from fraud because there are many more transactions, and they profit from every single transaction. Visa/mastercard took approximately $40 Billion last year in interchange fees, this is in addition to any customer interest or late penalties. They have no incentive to change and teh merchants (other than say Walmart) are in no position to quibble with them.
Being San Francisco he obviously should have been a gang banging pistol packing illegal immigrant - he would have been out in a day on personal recognizance and shielded from any federal authorities.
You are quite right - IMHO THAT is the reason that we don't have a more secure credit card system in place. There is absolutely no incentive for the cartel to do any better. Especially with this illusion of PCI compliance. PCI is just a clever way for Visa/Mastercard to palm off any responsibility whatsoever to the merchant.
Credit card companies couldn't care any less, because THEY are not out any money. Anything that was fraudulently charged on the cards gets charged back top the merchant. The gas station can try and go after the thief, but the police don't always go after that aggressively.
Certainly daycare/nannies are not the ideal people to be raising your own children. But pre-school can help socialize kids who have stayed at home with mom since they were born.
Now the idea of making it nationalized is terrible. There should be choices out there for more or less academic pre-schools, depending on what your kid enjoys.
While you may not be advocating the sterilization of the stupid (or at least those who can't read latin) you do indeed seem to be proposing that they walk in front of siege weapons.
Of course, I'm sure that you are aware that PDFs can be edited, but it is a little trickier. This will stop the majority of edits, but if there is a will there is a way. Perhaps the people who will edit a PDF in their favor would end up taking you for a ride anyways, so it probably balances out.
I suppose that you could head to another precinct to vote. All you'd need is the address and name of another registered voter from that precinct and you'd need to make sure that the other person is not going to vote themselves. At least what I have seen done is that the poll worker crosses your name off a list when you come in to vote. That could prove troublesome if you came in and said you were Mr. Smith, but the real Mr. Smith had already voted. Also there is, in my small town at least, some expectation that someone would recognize you, as the precinct is probably a few hundred people all from the same part of town.
But I do agree, it is an imperfect system. All the same, in an age where we need IDs to board a plane, IDs to ride a Greyhound Bus, etc. It is refreshing to me that voting is not on that same list.
Um.. proxy vote - that is a scary scary idea. You could be strongly suggested to leave your vote coupon at your local union hall if you are a teamster or a teacher. You could also just sell your vote. Very scary scenarios.
All Massachusetts does is at every polling place is a list of registered voters for that precinct by street, then house #, then name. You say what street you live on, give your address, verify your name, and then you are handed a ballot. You mark the ballot in private, and then it is scanned into a ballot reader.
The paper trail is the paper ballots themselves, but the count is done by the machine. The only flaw is that you don't need to show proof of identification to vote, but as voting is a right, you shouldn't have to.
Just my two cents on repeat offenders. I don't see the effectiveness of jail time, I fear that harsher jail times would only create a "war on DWI" that might be as effective as our "war on drugs". But I think first offenders should get a two year ignition interlock, a long probation term with very regular visits, weekly drug and alcohol testing, etc. Keep them out of jail so that they can support themselves and then try to get them into some sort of treatment program.
Nothing can bring back dead friends - that includes harsh jail sentences. What you seem to be proposing is harsh jail sentences. Isn't that what we have done with America's illicit drug problem, and look where that has gotten us. The people who are still driving drunk these days obviously have drinking problems, jail won't solve those problems. Slap anyone who gets caught driving drunk with ignition interlock restrictions on their licenses, so that they can't drive drunk again. Impose treatment programs. Heck, make them show up at probation officers every day to swallow antibuse. I don't want to pay to house them in prison, and if we treat them we might just change the behavior rather than just punish.
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The so called red flag rules are an added cost to small businesses and don't really do that much to help prevent identity theft. They apply to anyone who sells a product on any terms other than cash or credit card. This includes your local home heating oil dealer, local appliance store that might offer you a payment plan right down to a bar that lets you keep a tab until pay day.
You can nominally comply with these rules by downloading a template over the internet and designating a person to "review" red flags. They are overly broad, and treat businesses that keep customer records on index cards in a file cabinet the same as the bank that holds your mortgage.
These rules are much like PCI compliance. They sound impressive, but mean very little. Heck RBS Worldpay/Lynk is still processing credit cards but they lost their PCI compliance, after suffering a data breach jeopardizing 1.5 million payroll cards and at least 1.1 million Social Security numbers.
PCI and red flag rules foist the onus of data protection onto small merchants, while the monopolists who benefit from Visa/Mastercard transactions don't have to change anything.
Visa/Mastercard should be tasked with making the whole system more secure. Forcing the burden of data protection in a broken system onto small merchants is like blaming the depositors in a bank when it gets robbed.
I agree that the point of the point of the coloring book was great, but I don't think it was helpful to include images specific to one "bad thing". The general pictures of floods and drawing how you felt sad etc. was great, why politicize it by putting in images of 9/11?
I think that the general thrust of the coloring book was good. I read it and it basically said that bad things can happen to good people, it's not your fault that the bad things happened, you might feel bad, talk about what you're feeling, and sooner or later you'll feel better.
But using images of a specific single "bad thing", rather than a general flood, tornado, etc. wasn't helpful.
As to children not understanding the complexity of "bad", I can point to my nephew on a preschool field trip to the police station. A uniformed police officer came over to shake his hand. My nephew replied that he couldn't talk to him because he isn't allowed to talk to strangers.
That is the Walmart Effect in a nutshell. That store only delivers what its customers want. They want low low prices, and easy returns. The products don't have to be high quality or made in the USA. The cashiers don't have to be too friendly, or even too quick, just quick enough. The stores don't have to be too clean, just not disgustingly dirty. If the average consumer wanted to spend a little more for service, maybe we'd actually get it
Intent is important, but what was the intent of the woman who "fell victim" to the scammers? She clearly was originally trying to get money that wasn't hers. How is this different than if she was fencing stolen television sets? Her intent was to profit from ill gotten gains.
People go to the ERs because they DON'T have insurance and/or are undocumented persons. The ER can't turn anyone away because of payment issues. Hospitals don't even attempt to collect payments.
A friend of mine was helping me work on my car. His hand slipped off a wrench and he cut himself. He needed stitches, but didn't have insurance so I told him that I'd pay whatever bills he had. I must add here that he is Brazilian, but here LEGALLY.
He gives the hospital his address to send a bill to, someone asks if he is Brazilian, and lo and behold no bill was ever sent.
But the prize you may have won for playing chess most certainly were yours, yes?
The devotion of our entire educational system to "special education" is what has harmed your son and every other typical or more intelligent child. Massachusetts has standardized achievement tests that all students must be proficient enough to pass. A school gets punished if all its sub groups don't improve on these tests. Sub groups are SPED, Asian, African American, Non-English speakers, typical students, etc. There is no defined group for high achievers. According all the resources must be spent on SPED or non-English speakers, so that they can improve.
Resources are wasted in many other ways as well. A SPED student has an individual education plan (iep) designed by a physician/psychologist, the parents, a childrens advocate, and a rubber stamping member of the schools. If this iep says that the student requires two personal aides, organic spinach for lunch, and the freedom to curse and swear at his teachers, then the school must accommodate that or they will be sued and lose.
SPED by law will cover a child from the age of 3 to 22. My town's school budget is paying to have 21 year olds bussed to costly day programs an hour away.
Our priorities aren't even as lofty as focusing on the average height poppies. Instead we are razing the flowerbeds so that all children resemble the stunted weeds.
Umm .. while I agree with the sentiment, depending on what aerospace company the person works for, this could be a bad idea. While the kids might get a kick out of a recreation of the Challenger disaster, it is kinda morbid.
Not just Google, but the evil incarnation of Microsoft's failed nontechnical desktop, Google, and a laughing yellow sea creature. Witness Google Sponge Bob!
The great ruse is that the Visa/Mastercard cartel even care about fraud. They don't. All fraud is pushed back to the merchant, or if the merchant is insolvent, back to the merchant's processor. What is even more outrageous is that interchange fees go to Visa/Mastercard - a cartel that really does nothing. The processor and the actual network like Buypass or Paymentech live off something like 3 to 6 cents a transaction. The processor is making money, but they actually don't have the money to change to anything more secure.
Will not happen because credit card companies are NOT The ones on the hook for the losses. The charade of PCI compliance has foisted all responsibility back to the merchant. The Visa/Mastercard cartel actually make MORE money from fraud because there are many more transactions, and they profit from every single transaction. Visa/mastercard took approximately $40 Billion last year in interchange fees, this is in addition to any customer interest or late penalties. They have no incentive to change and teh merchants (other than say Walmart) are in no position to quibble with them.
Being San Francisco he obviously should have been a gang banging pistol packing illegal immigrant - he would have been out in a day on personal recognizance and shielded from any federal authorities.
You are quite right - IMHO THAT is the reason that we don't have a more secure credit card system in place. There is absolutely no incentive for the cartel to do any better. Especially with this illusion of PCI compliance. PCI is just a clever way for Visa/Mastercard to palm off any responsibility whatsoever to the merchant.
Credit card companies couldn't care any less, because THEY are not out any money. Anything that was fraudulently charged on the cards gets charged back top the merchant. The gas station can try and go after the thief, but the police don't always go after that aggressively.
From personal experience Sprint EVDO works in North Truro, MA
That should do the trick, yes?
Especially combined with a PC card router to simplyfy things.
Certainly daycare/nannies are not the ideal people to be raising your own children. But pre-school can help socialize kids who have stayed at home with mom since they were born.
Now the idea of making it nationalized is terrible. There should be choices out there for more or less academic pre-schools, depending on what your kid enjoys.
replace "all but" with "almost" its synonymous phrase according to my Random House dictionary
Oh great, now you just gave them an idea! Except it will probably be misinterpretted and TSA will ban AA batteries or something.
While you may not be advocating the sterilization of the stupid (or at least those who can't read latin) you do indeed seem to be proposing that they walk in front of siege weapons.
Of course, I'm sure that you are aware that PDFs can be edited, but it is a little trickier. This will stop the majority of edits, but if there is a will there is a way. Perhaps the people who will edit a PDF in their favor would end up taking you for a ride anyways, so it probably balances out.
I suppose that you could head to another precinct to vote. All you'd need is the address and name of another registered voter from that precinct and you'd need to make sure that the other person is not going to vote themselves. At least what I have seen done is that the poll worker crosses your name off a list when you come in to vote. That could prove troublesome if you came in and said you were Mr. Smith, but the real Mr. Smith had already voted. Also there is, in my small town at least, some expectation that someone would recognize you, as the precinct is probably a few hundred people all from the same part of town.
But I do agree, it is an imperfect system. All the same, in an age where we need IDs to board a plane, IDs to ride a Greyhound Bus, etc. It is refreshing to me that voting is not on that same list.
Um .. proxy vote - that is a scary scary idea. You could be strongly suggested to leave your vote coupon at your local union hall if you are a teamster or a teacher. You could also just sell your vote. Very scary scenarios.
All Massachusetts does is at every polling place is a list of registered voters for that precinct by street, then house #, then name. You say what street you live on, give your address, verify your name, and then you are handed a ballot. You mark the ballot in private, and then it is scanned into a ballot reader.
The paper trail is the paper ballots themselves, but the count is done by the machine. The only flaw is that you don't need to show proof of identification to vote, but as voting is a right, you shouldn't have to.
Just my two cents on repeat offenders. I don't see the effectiveness of jail time, I fear that harsher jail times would only create a "war on DWI" that might be as effective as our "war on drugs". But I think first offenders should get a two year ignition interlock, a long probation term with very regular visits, weekly drug and alcohol testing, etc. Keep them out of jail so that they can support themselves and then try to get them into some sort of treatment program.
Nothing can bring back dead friends - that includes harsh jail sentences. What you seem to be proposing is harsh jail sentences. Isn't that what we have done with America's illicit drug problem, and look where that has gotten us. The people who are still driving drunk these days obviously have drinking problems, jail won't solve those problems. Slap anyone who gets caught driving drunk with ignition interlock restrictions on their licenses, so that they can't drive drunk again. Impose treatment programs. Heck, make them show up at probation officers every day to swallow antibuse. I don't want to pay to house them in prison, and if we treat them we might just change the behavior rather than just punish.