There's a game out there that is not a videogame but is definitely along this topic - the National Security Decision Making Game; played at U.S. game conventions. I've heard from participants and it is supposed to be very good.
They're trying to prevent the vulnerabilities in Windows from being exploited over the network, by isolating the Windows-platform software from the rest of the network. I've seen it before; and its costly. I've also watched the users themselves not bother with anything on the Linux box except to launch VMware and bridge it onto the internet; and in rarer cases never launch the Windows at all once they were taught - that's right someone spent money to teach them - Linux and they learned how to use the software that already came with the system instead of buying anything new.
Sure, it's easy to say that moving physical media via any of a variety of shipment methods would be faster than sending it over the wire. But what about accumulating or preparing the tape, disk, flash drive, etc.? How much time is factored in for that?
It's *not* hard-nosed security; or we would not have so many high-profile intrusions and credit card database thievery and the like. The companies are controlling their employees' access to the internet, and since they do not want to make the effort to come back after you if you access something "inappropriate" or that they paranoically deem could get them sued; they won't go to the trouble of allowing you a password through their proxy/gateway.
I want more advancements in how I manage and organize my information; and how what is personal and private to me is kept personal and private - and secure. I want greater data storage in smaller spaces; I want keyboards and other user interfaces that are more comfortable and intuitive and not just gimmicky or requiring a learning curve to adapt to - like the displays and user interfaces in "Minority Report".
[I also want a "Girl Friday" since I can't seem to get my wife to help me cook, clean, pick up dry cleaning and run other errands, etc. - but that's just as unlikely as any of these 'office innovations' ever improving the quality of the workplace for the everyday user.]
except for documentation I've written; and places where I've built/repackaged installers that I *had* to put my name on; I've left as little behind as possible. Two good reasons: the environments I worked in left little room for originality and often wanted to make sure that you could not be directly linked to the project(s) or would be relied upon in the future for it; and I also wanted to leave as little behind that might incriminate me in some shape or form in the future. Better to be forgotten than to have someone go; "that... whatisname... oh yeah, Kevin... what a jerk..." etc.
Huge cable package it is not; I just get a deal with the cable modem (until DSL becomes available here)... but the 'Action' channel, I believe in the same string as Encore (with Mystery/Love/Western/and a couple others) airs both V miniseries either one clip a day or all in a row every so often.
"Responsible for maintaining systems... and knowledge transfer". Most of these guys are into management now and don't want or need to get paid, even six plus figures, to maintain these machines. And why would I want to provide "knowledge transfer"? For one; how many computer engineers do you know are eager to teach - and why, if I had these skills, would I want to give my employer an opportunity to get rid of me and keep the person I just taught - especially when they'll get paid far far less than me, a double insult?
and they fall further and further behind with less access; yes I know... but in my observation I find it is less the poor and more those that refuse to learn the technology at all that fall behind.
Since the government has a hard time handing out clearances to foreign nationals; at least while they remain in their respective countries; and there's a big push by big government to secure all their systems, if you don't mind working for 'the man', then I guess you have a future as a contractor instead of a consultant...
Imitation is the sincerest form of flattery. There are a lot of 'distortions' of childhood imagery; not all of which is on the Internet. There are also very likely a lot of examples that aren't pornography or satire or caricatures. All these types of treatments - mundane or otherwise do not necessarily mean people are insulting these things from our past.
Well, that is a pretty good point. The person creating the standards should be a Configuration Manager/CM Level III type; or a similar position, whose job no longer includes coding - a strong technical writing background is likely a job requirement here. I once worked for a very senior programmer and my duties consisted only of testing software; putting together installers and distribution media; and documentation - which included coding practices for the junior developers. Nice thing was the senior developer not only gave guidance but followed a lot of my suggestions.
I'm certainly not against blocking child pornography; but I still disagree that anything for public ISP users should be blocked by an ISP unless it is hostile traffic such as malicious code/viruses, etc. And I'm very offended that they will make a list of sites to ban and not give the owners of any of those sites any chance to make sure they aren't on that list because of a 'keyword' or some other mistake.
And in the case of cable and DSL providers I guess they'll have to ban a significant majority of their own users, eh?
I'm in West Virginia and Adelphia's internet provisioning is in PA. I wonder how this affects me; especially if they ban anything legitimate?
Could the ISPs themselves share the 'banned list'?
I don't think it is always appropriate to send emails about what is happening at my work site to my employers who are not at the work site. It is not negative about particular activity nor is it detailing things I should not share; but I find it hard to remember to tell them things until I get to my home office.
I also have a *real* home office with high-end printer, fax machine, nice desks and chairs, and a small home network that I have worked in before when telecommuting or consulting so I fall back into that pattern.
Last but not least, there is a lot of "inappropriate filtering" done at work. I need access to certain technical bulletin boards and just because they run bulletin board software they are filtered to prevent posting by employees. I literally print certain threads into PDFs at home so that I can read them at work. Another example; what good is it to filter security and hacker sites when your unit is responsible for network security and anti-hacking? It is not always prudent to read only the 'approved' sites (which are generally corporate partners or particular vendors and often less technical than you require in order to get your work done!!! you can't just look at the whitehat party line stuff to stay on top of your game) for information that you need.
I know of several reasons this did not sell well.
on
Sim-Dud?
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· Score: 1
First - overall retail sales were not as expected for December. As far as I can tell; there was no "must have" or "hot" toy this season. There are a number of factors that contributed to this and I'll leave them to your own knowledge of current events and the economy.
Second, note the person that said "my wife plays it nonstop". Yes, I bet any wife whose husband lets her pay monthly money for a game is playing it instead of playing Medievia; JediMUD, etc. - some of those bored housewives had to move from free text games to an online game at some point. BUT IT IS ONLY THE WIVES PLAYING IT, and there are few in the online-game-playing demographic that can likely afford it. That 10 bucks usually pays for their husband's chew.
Third, I very much doubt the community and roleplaying aspects touted in many magazines (Wired, for example) really appealed to anyone. I have played many online games - several MUDS, a few multiplayer combats like SW:GB, HomeWorld (I still enjoy HW), WarCraft, etc. and Earth and Beyond and Dark Age of Camelot - and the "community" is not there unless you are younger and have time to participate in it. Battle games are a brief interaction; and I don't see the roleplaying and interaction in the graphic MMORPGs that I expected. In fact, Earth and Beyond strikes me as a game that requires little interaction with the environment at all. If a game in unpopular or becomes unpopular - or if, for example, the updates and the content don't get added for the higher-level players or the lower-level ones feel left out -- there is little incentive to continue playing thus there is little interaction. I also see far less interaction in MUDs I play regularly than I have before; thus I play them less regularly even though they are free. A lot of those players know each other or know of each other and have real life communications and even relationships outside of the games and like any soap opera [or message board filled with precocious princesses seeking romance where they should not like bianca.com]; the relationships change and even become nonexistent. This trend has been experienced by potential customers of this game and they don't intend to repeat it.
Third, I see two categories of people playing MMORPGs - the hardcore, who can spend 20-30 hours a week playing. Whether they are die-hard gamers [and they are busy levelling not talking with other players] or do little else but play is a moot point. Then you have the casual player; and forming online relationships or investing a considerable amount of time in a game are completely inconceivable. I, personally, have shut down my subscriptions to games because if i cannot but play them once every few weeks - even if it is for four or more hours at that time - I feel I'm wasting my money paying a monthly fee for a game that in some cases I don't enjoy because I may be getting nowhere with such little time to invest in the game. Even if you do advance quickly; if you don't feel you are getting your money's worth regardless of the reason you will quit playing.
Finally -- Star Wars Galaxies comes out very soon and ALL of the gamers I know have not bought a game since November and have started shutting down their online game accounts or reducing their participation in anticipation of this game. Watch EverQuest start seeing a drop in accounts; watch other online games with intent for a large market start to falter or even fail. Even those interested in Star Wars Galaxies are skeptical about whether they should play or not because they will not be able to invest time in it (see number three).
I am glad there is a product out there that will let me do this. I've been trying to encourage electronic privacy among my friends and family for a couple years; and they cannot afford or are unwilling to pay for products. If they can use this to learn and expose themselves to encryption; that is great!
I believe she and her 'partner' adopted or one of them was artificially inseminated. Wired did a puff piece on her in their most recent magazine.
My take on the matter is that if you chose to lead an organization that is reviled by the general public; then you are tainted by its policies and vision (or lack thereof). I will hold to that until I see her new venture. I'm also very surprised that other activist groups - her fellow lesbians for example - haven't risen up in her defense as they tend to do for purportedly persecuted individuals. I'm still surprised that someone with such obvious liberal leanings would work for such apparently conservative executives.
There are a lot of manufacturing and transporation companies that use COBOL and RPG and I'm pretty certain the Army still has a lot of RPG in some places... you may not like the idea of a job maintaining or porting code; but it could be an easy six-figure salary like many mainframe and VMS jobs [look at Geekfinder; they ARE out there] can be. I know that the IRS has a hard time finding certain older and more obscure systems knowledge though that kind of contract work can be risky - their favorite phrase is "knowledge transfer" in the job description.
They may not be Level-1 support, but serious or techinically-involved problems are best solved by the developers.
I'm sorry, but having managed a helpdesk; the guy in charge of the developers gets quite pissed when his golden children must stoop to provide support to lowly line employees. "Don't ever bother my developers by sending a client to them" is a common phrase.
However, bidirectional communication; regular comingling sessions and even formal training/feedback between the helpdesk staff themselves and the developers should be encouraged or specifically implemented in policy. The only people talking directly to customers should be the first-tier folks.
You need to improve the Customer Service mentality of the helpdesk staff. This sounds very much like a call center, with scripted answers and problem escalation where level 2 does the 'real' technical support, rather than a help desk in the traditional sense of the word.
I'm assuming these are entry-level, average-salaried folks that are not required to have an A+ or MOUS certificate - typical of your standard-issue helpdesk. The problem is not technical, but motivational. They are there to collect a check. I bet the helpdesk isn't even a part of the company's IRM department - it's probably attached to marketing, as many managers feel it should be. You, after all, mentioned that you needed to go to the 'help desk manager' - not a division head or team leader; but a specific manager - to offer suggestions on how to improve the helpdesk process.
First, fire your "burger boys". You know who they are; and what I mean - if everything else going on is more important than taking a call, then drop them. I don't care if they did answer more than anyone else it is attitude that counts. Second, get them all to a Fred Pryor seminar on customer service. I bet they'll be the only tech helpdesk there; but the information they get there needs to be applied immediately upon return to the cube farm. Third, get the most technically competent on that helpdesk to write your scripts, or have the 2nd-tier folks get them together; and have them ready when your helpdesk staff get back from their customer service training.
You probably have a lot of turnover on this helpdesk already from my perception that there is little morale or ambition inside the helpdesk as is; and you are going to get more turnover if and when people develop their technical aptitude when you start encouraging them to use FAQs and technical resources on their own instead of just scripting them out for them - but these are my suggestions; your mileage may vary. If they are as ill-suited to customer service - not technical skill but interpersonal, customer service service skills - as they seem to be right now, then they may be very resistant to change.
I read a book over the summer, loaned to me by the guy who created the FBI fingerprint database. I don't remember the title; but the first 3/4 was from Mr. Rowlett's own notes and autobiographical content and the remainder was biography taken from his notes. Apparently Mr. Rowlett wrote considerable, detailed notes and was at one point awarded a cash prize for secret and not-so-secret inventions of his in lieu of getting to patent them himself or apply them to a commercial enterprise. You should definitely look that name up.
I have read the first couple chapters of Applied Cryptography - I don't have $60 for it right now and there are other topics I need to work on before I get to crypto - but heed others' recommendations and get it if you are interested in crypto itself and not just the NSA in general. It's very interesting and at once overwhelming.
I have been 'clicking' with these folks for about two years now; and was lucky to get an advance reader copy of one book about a year ago. To me it hearkens back to the pulpy sci-fi and 'Writers of the Future' anthologies; as well as this one magazine published somewhere in Norther Virginia that I religiously subscribed to for about three years before I realized I just couldn't keep up with all the great short stories in them and had to give it up much like I did Warhammer and other hobbies from my youth.
"You can't enter somebody's house just to close an open window."
EXACTLY. So, what happens when you enter someone's house to close that window? You've entered without their permission; without their supervision, etc. If they blow your head off with their home security device because you have entered their home; then they have not violated any law themselves because *you* have broken laws yourself by violating their personal property.
Law Enforcement, privacy, court-granted warrants - these are in place to prevent a vicious cycle that something like this would cause.
I would give him credit given the nature of his site that when he says deleted, he means deleted, as in the logfile location is wiped with something like the tool I remember Norton providing a couple years ago that overwrote the deleted/empty areas of the drive with strings of zeros 99 times over or something similar so that nothing could ever be retrieved from them. Out on a limb here, but he probably takes this and other similar actions (like the uber-electromagnet doorway in Neal Stephenson's Cryptonomicon) to protect the site's overall integrity.
Slashdot Mirror
There's a game out there that is not a videogame but is definitely along this topic - the National Security Decision Making Game; played at U.S. game conventions. I've heard from participants and it is supposed to be very good.
They're trying to prevent the vulnerabilities in Windows from being exploited over the network, by isolating the Windows-platform software from the rest of the network. I've seen it before; and its costly. I've also watched the users themselves not bother with anything on the Linux box except to launch VMware and bridge it onto the internet; and in rarer cases never launch the Windows at all once they were taught - that's right someone spent money to teach them - Linux and they learned how to use the software that already came with the system instead of buying anything new.
Sure, it's easy to say that moving physical media via any of a variety of shipment methods would be faster than sending it over the wire. But what about accumulating or preparing the tape, disk, flash drive, etc.? How much time is factored in for that?
It's *not* hard-nosed security; or we would not have so many high-profile intrusions and credit card database thievery and the like. The companies are controlling their employees' access to the internet, and since they do not want to make the effort to come back after you if you access something "inappropriate" or that they paranoically deem could get them sued; they won't go to the trouble of allowing you a password through their proxy/gateway.
I want more advancements in how I manage and organize my information; and how what is personal and private to me is kept personal and private - and secure. I want greater data storage in smaller spaces; I want keyboards and other user interfaces that are more comfortable and intuitive and not just gimmicky or requiring a learning curve to adapt to - like the displays and user interfaces in "Minority Report". [I also want a "Girl Friday" since I can't seem to get my wife to help me cook, clean, pick up dry cleaning and run other errands, etc. - but that's just as unlikely as any of these 'office innovations' ever improving the quality of the workplace for the everyday user.]
except for documentation I've written; and places where I've built/repackaged installers that I *had* to put my name on; I've left as little behind as possible. Two good reasons: the environments I worked in left little room for originality and often wanted to make sure that you could not be directly linked to the project(s) or would be relied upon in the future for it; and I also wanted to leave as little behind that might incriminate me in some shape or form in the future. Better to be forgotten than to have someone go; "that... whatisname... oh yeah, Kevin... what a jerk..." etc.
Huge cable package it is not; I just get a deal with the cable modem (until DSL becomes available here)... but the 'Action' channel, I believe in the same string as Encore (with Mystery/Love/Western/and a couple others) airs both V miniseries either one clip a day or all in a row every so often.
"Responsible for maintaining systems... and knowledge transfer". Most of these guys are into management now and don't want or need to get paid, even six plus figures, to maintain these machines. And why would I want to provide "knowledge transfer"? For one; how many computer engineers do you know are eager to teach - and why, if I had these skills, would I want to give my employer an opportunity to get rid of me and keep the person I just taught - especially when they'll get paid far far less than me, a double insult?
and they fall further and further behind with less access; yes I know... but in my observation I find it is less the poor and more those that refuse to learn the technology at all that fall behind.
Since the government has a hard time handing out clearances to foreign nationals; at least while they remain in their respective countries; and there's a big push by big government to secure all their systems, if you don't mind working for 'the man', then I guess you have a future as a contractor instead of a consultant...
Imitation is the sincerest form of flattery. There are a lot of 'distortions' of childhood imagery; not all of which is on the Internet. There are also very likely a lot of examples that aren't pornography or satire or caricatures. All these types of treatments - mundane or otherwise do not necessarily mean people are insulting these things from our past.
It is VERY nice to see people being helpful; and not just making cracks because C# is a Microsoft product.
Well, that is a pretty good point. The person creating the standards should be a Configuration Manager/CM Level III type; or a similar position, whose job no longer includes coding - a strong technical writing background is likely a job requirement here. I once worked for a very senior programmer and my duties consisted only of testing software; putting together installers and distribution media; and documentation - which included coding practices for the junior developers. Nice thing was the senior developer not only gave guidance but followed a lot of my suggestions.
I'm certainly not against blocking child pornography; but I still disagree that anything for public ISP users should be blocked by an ISP unless it is hostile traffic such as malicious code/viruses, etc. And I'm very offended that they will make a list of sites to ban and not give the owners of any of those sites any chance to make sure they aren't on that list because of a 'keyword' or some other mistake. And in the case of cable and DSL providers I guess they'll have to ban a significant majority of their own users, eh? I'm in West Virginia and Adelphia's internet provisioning is in PA. I wonder how this affects me; especially if they ban anything legitimate? Could the ISPs themselves share the 'banned list'?
I don't think it is always appropriate to send emails about what is happening at my work site to my employers who are not at the work site. It is not negative about particular activity nor is it detailing things I should not share; but I find it hard to remember to tell them things until I get to my home office.
I also have a *real* home office with high-end printer, fax machine, nice desks and chairs, and a small home network that I have worked in before when telecommuting or consulting so I fall back into that pattern.
Last but not least, there is a lot of "inappropriate filtering" done at work. I need access to certain technical bulletin boards and just because they run bulletin board software they are filtered to prevent posting by employees. I literally print certain threads into PDFs at home so that I can read them at work. Another example; what good is it to filter security and hacker sites when your unit is responsible for network security and anti-hacking? It is not always prudent to read only the 'approved' sites (which are generally corporate partners or particular vendors and often less technical than you require in order to get your work done!!! you can't just look at the whitehat party line stuff to stay on top of your game) for information that you need.
First - overall retail sales were not as expected for December. As far as I can tell; there was no "must have" or "hot" toy this season. There are a number of factors that contributed to this and I'll leave them to your own knowledge of current events and the economy.
Second, note the person that said "my wife plays it nonstop". Yes, I bet any wife whose husband lets her pay monthly money for a game is playing it instead of playing Medievia; JediMUD, etc. - some of those bored housewives had to move from free text games to an online game at some point. BUT IT IS ONLY THE WIVES PLAYING IT, and there are few in the online-game-playing demographic that can likely afford it. That 10 bucks usually pays for their husband's chew.
Third, I very much doubt the community and roleplaying aspects touted in many magazines (Wired, for example) really appealed to anyone. I have played many online games - several MUDS, a few multiplayer combats like SW:GB, HomeWorld (I still enjoy HW), WarCraft, etc. and Earth and Beyond and Dark Age of Camelot - and the "community" is not there unless you are younger and have time to participate in it. Battle games are a brief interaction; and I don't see the roleplaying and interaction in the graphic MMORPGs that I expected. In fact, Earth and Beyond strikes me as a game that requires little interaction with the environment at all. If a game in unpopular or becomes unpopular - or if, for example, the updates and the content don't get added for the higher-level players or the lower-level ones feel left out -- there is little incentive to continue playing thus there is little interaction. I also see far less interaction in MUDs I play regularly than I have before; thus I play them less regularly even though they are free. A lot of those players know each other or know of each other and have real life communications and even relationships outside of the games and like any soap opera [or message board filled with precocious princesses seeking romance where they should not like bianca.com]; the relationships change and even become nonexistent. This trend has been experienced by potential customers of this game and they don't intend to repeat it.
Third, I see two categories of people playing MMORPGs - the hardcore, who can spend 20-30 hours a week playing. Whether they are die-hard gamers [and they are busy levelling not talking with other players] or do little else but play is a moot point. Then you have the casual player; and forming online relationships or investing a considerable amount of time in a game are completely inconceivable. I, personally, have shut down my subscriptions to games because if i cannot but play them once every few weeks - even if it is for four or more hours at that time - I feel I'm wasting my money paying a monthly fee for a game that in some cases I don't enjoy because I may be getting nowhere with such little time to invest in the game. Even if you do advance quickly; if you don't feel you are getting your money's worth regardless of the reason you will quit playing.
Finally -- Star Wars Galaxies comes out very soon and ALL of the gamers I know have not bought a game since November and have started shutting down their online game accounts or reducing their participation in anticipation of this game. Watch EverQuest start seeing a drop in accounts; watch other online games with intent for a large market start to falter or even fail. Even those interested in Star Wars Galaxies are skeptical about whether they should play or not because they will not be able to invest time in it (see number three).
I am glad there is a product out there that will let me do this. I've been trying to encourage electronic privacy among my friends and family for a couple years; and they cannot afford or are unwilling to pay for products. If they can use this to learn and expose themselves to encryption; that is great!
I believe she and her 'partner' adopted or one of them was artificially inseminated. Wired did a puff piece on her in their most recent magazine.
My take on the matter is that if you chose to lead an organization that is reviled by the general public; then you are tainted by its policies and vision (or lack thereof). I will hold to that until I see her new venture. I'm also very surprised that other activist groups - her fellow lesbians for example - haven't risen up in her defense as they tend to do for purportedly persecuted individuals. I'm still surprised that someone with such obvious liberal leanings would work for such apparently conservative executives.
There are a lot of manufacturing and transporation companies that use COBOL and RPG and I'm pretty certain the Army still has a lot of RPG in some places... you may not like the idea of a job maintaining or porting code; but it could be an easy six-figure salary like many mainframe and VMS jobs [look at Geekfinder; they ARE out there] can be. I know that the IRS has a hard time finding certain older and more obscure systems knowledge though that kind of contract work can be risky - their favorite phrase is "knowledge transfer" in the job description.
They may not be Level-1 support, but serious or techinically-involved problems are best solved by the developers.
I'm sorry, but having managed a helpdesk; the guy in charge of the developers gets quite pissed when his golden children must stoop to provide support to lowly line employees. "Don't ever bother my developers by sending a client to them" is a common phrase.
However, bidirectional communication; regular comingling sessions and even formal training/feedback between the helpdesk staff themselves and the developers should be encouraged or specifically implemented in policy. The only people talking directly to customers should be the first-tier folks.
You need to improve the Customer Service mentality of the helpdesk staff. This sounds very much like a call center, with scripted answers and problem escalation where level 2 does the 'real' technical support, rather than a help desk in the traditional sense of the word.
I'm assuming these are entry-level, average-salaried folks that are not required to have an A+ or MOUS certificate - typical of your standard-issue helpdesk. The problem is not technical, but motivational. They are there to collect a check. I bet the helpdesk isn't even a part of the company's IRM department - it's probably attached to marketing, as many managers feel it should be. You, after all, mentioned that you needed to go to the 'help desk manager' - not a division head or team leader; but a specific manager - to offer suggestions on how to improve the helpdesk process.
First, fire your "burger boys". You know who they are; and what I mean - if everything else going on is more important than taking a call, then drop them. I don't care if they did answer more than anyone else it is attitude that counts. Second, get them all to a Fred Pryor seminar on customer service. I bet they'll be the only tech helpdesk there; but the information they get there needs to be applied immediately upon return to the cube farm. Third, get the most technically competent on that helpdesk to write your scripts, or have the 2nd-tier folks get them together; and have them ready when your helpdesk staff get back from their customer service training.
You probably have a lot of turnover on this helpdesk already from my perception that there is little morale or ambition inside the helpdesk as is; and you are going to get more turnover if and when people develop their technical aptitude when you start encouraging them to use FAQs and technical resources on their own instead of just scripting them out for them - but these are my suggestions; your mileage may vary. If they are as ill-suited to customer service - not technical skill but interpersonal, customer service service skills - as they seem to be right now, then they may be very resistant to change.
I read a book over the summer, loaned to me by the guy who created the FBI fingerprint database. I don't remember the title; but the first 3/4 was from Mr. Rowlett's own notes and autobiographical content and the remainder was biography taken from his notes. Apparently Mr. Rowlett wrote considerable, detailed notes and was at one point awarded a cash prize for secret and not-so-secret inventions of his in lieu of getting to patent them himself or apply them to a commercial enterprise. You should definitely look that name up.
I have read the first couple chapters of Applied Cryptography - I don't have $60 for it right now and there are other topics I need to work on before I get to crypto - but heed others' recommendations and get it if you are interested in crypto itself and not just the NSA in general. It's very interesting and at once overwhelming.
I have been 'clicking' with these folks for about two years now; and was lucky to get an advance reader copy of one book about a year ago. To me it hearkens back to the pulpy sci-fi and 'Writers of the Future' anthologies; as well as this one magazine published somewhere in Norther Virginia that I religiously subscribed to for about three years before I realized I just couldn't keep up with all the great short stories in them and had to give it up much like I did Warhammer and other hobbies from my youth.
"You can't enter somebody's house just to close an open window." EXACTLY. So, what happens when you enter someone's house to close that window? You've entered without their permission; without their supervision, etc. If they blow your head off with their home security device because you have entered their home; then they have not violated any law themselves because *you* have broken laws yourself by violating their personal property. Law Enforcement, privacy, court-granted warrants - these are in place to prevent a vicious cycle that something like this would cause.
I would give him credit given the nature of his site that when he says deleted, he means deleted, as in the logfile location is wiped with something like the tool I remember Norton providing a couple years ago that overwrote the deleted/empty areas of the drive with strings of zeros 99 times over or something similar so that nothing could ever be retrieved from them. Out on a limb here, but he probably takes this and other similar actions (like the uber-electromagnet doorway in Neal Stephenson's Cryptonomicon) to protect the site's overall integrity.