Re: Another RepubliCANT destroying govt. records

Post #351,049 by beepster 11/22/11 1:33:15 PM Reply	Re: Another RepubliCANT destroying govt. records hard drive buyback is a pretty garden variety security protocol. Sure, understanding today's complex world of the future is a little like having bees live in your head. But...there they are.
Post #351,051 by lincoln 11/22/11 2:01:40 PM Reply	read the last paragraph that I posted again this has nothing to do with security and everything to do with Mittens covering his political ass. "Chicago to my mind was the only place to be. ... I above all liked the city because it was filled with people all a-bustle, and the clatter of hooves and carriages, and with delivery wagons and drays and peddlers and the boom and clank of freight trains. And when those black clouds came sailing in from the west, pouring thunderstorms upon us so that you couldn't hear the cries or curses of humankind, I liked that best of all. Chicago could stand up to the worst God had to offer. I understood why it was built--a place for trade, of course, with railroads and ships and so on, but mostly to give all of us a magnitude of defiance that is not provided by one house on the plains. And the plains is where those storms come from." -- E.L. Doctorow
Post #351,056 by beepster 11/22/11 2:42:19 PM Reply	Re: read the last paragraph that I posted again Whatever. Just saying that buyback is a SOP for data security. I know it doesn't fit with your conspiracy theory. Sure, understanding today's complex world of the future is a little like having bees live in your head. But...there they are.
Post #351,059 by lincoln 11/22/11 2:56:18 PM Reply	Well, if it's SOP for politicians leaving office to allow their employees to buy their PC's hard drives, then you should have no problem posting links to articles to support this theory. I'm on Google right now and have yet to find EVEN ONE article to support your viewpoint. "Chicago to my mind was the only place to be. ... I above all liked the city because it was filled with people all a-bustle, and the clatter of hooves and carriages, and with delivery wagons and drays and peddlers and the boom and clank of freight trains. And when those black clouds came sailing in from the west, pouring thunderstorms upon us so that you couldn't hear the cries or curses of humankind, I liked that best of all. Chicago could stand up to the worst God had to offer. I understood why it was built--a place for trade, of course, with railroads and ships and so on, but mostly to give all of us a magnitude of defiance that is not provided by one house on the plains. And the plains is where those storms come from." -- E.L. Doctorow
Post #351,061 by beepster 11/22/11 3:35:16 PM Reply	Re: Well, if it's SOP Didn't say anything about specificity to politicians. I said hard drive buyback is part of info security. Any leased or shared machine that may have sensitive info has the drive removed (bought back) and destroyed. Also done with photocopiers and large printers. Our high-sec machines have removables that are placed in locked vaults when not in use. Romney could very well have been doing it only to hide something...don't know and don't care. Sure, understanding today's complex world of the future is a little like having bees live in your head. But...there they are.
Post #351,080 by crazy 11/23/11 5:24:40 AM 11/23/11 5:31:15 AM Reply	Whoa Individual employees do NOT get the hard disk when it is a security issue. The organization gets them, and then wipes / shreds them via a professional approved method. End users are NOT left with this responsibility. Cut that shit out, you attempted to paint a blatant INSECURE action (wide insecure dispersal of various information, probably including their email history) with a sheen of security. There is a difference between hiding something (both what they were doing and how they were doing it) and securely destroying something. And they didn't want to be seen as destroying them. This was NOT security related then (except to hide their history that SHOULD have been in the public eye), and it certainly doesn't pass the laugh test now. Give me one security guy (you ain't) who will agree with you. Not happening. BTW: You watching the various SCADA blowups happening lately? Can't be secured. Edited by crazy Nov. 23, 2011, 05:31:15 AM EST Expand All History
Post #351,099 by beepster 11/23/11 11:36:44 AM Reply	Re: Whoa Read the article. Says the administration, not the individuals. Sure, understanding today's complex world of the future is a little like having bees live in your head. But...there they are.
Post #351,131 by crazy 11/23/11 4:44:41 PM Reply	I did. You're wrong. Sorry. http://bostonglobe.c...bhwk1K/story.html
Post #351,153 by beepster 11/23/11 10:35:47 PM Reply	Not the same article that one talks about individuals buying, and yep, thats different. Doesn't really change my opinion on the matter..but you are correct that this would not be security procedure of the administration. Sure, understanding today's complex world of the future is a little like having bees live in your head. But...there they are.
Post #351,155 by S1mon_Jester 11/23/11 10:53:00 PM Reply	Actually you're wrong two ways Buy backs are acceptable (and SOP) if the administration is buying equipment from individuals for security. However, 1) Individuals buying hard-drives from governments (for security) is very unusual. Assuming it's purely security related, the other problem... 2) How is this NOT favoritism? These drives weren't auctioned off. They did NOT belong to Romney personally, they belonged to the state. If I can buy a drive, can I buy a computer? A boat? A plane? What price was paid? When I worked as a Government Contractor, I was not allowed to buy ANYTHING except through an action. But then again, Romney is a Republican. If Obama did this, you can bet people would yell. (Hell, they yelled about Clinton's administration walking off with 'W' keys from the keyboards!)
Post #351,173 by beepster 11/24/11 9:43:04 AM Reply	As I said, if you would read the initial article mentioned nothing of individuals, it was said "the administration"..which, btw, is the government. If it was individuals, then it is NOT SOP. I know this. And said as much. The opinion that doesn't change is the one where I said "I don't care". The W key thing was stupid too, but also destruction of property, not hiding anything. Sure, understanding today's complex world of the future is a little like having bees live in your head. But...there they are.
Post #351,176 by Another Scott 11/24/11 10:04:32 AM Reply	GAO report. http://www.gao.gov/new.items/d02360.pdf (220 page .PDF): Â Twenty-six EOP staff said that they observed a total of 30 to 64 computer keyboards with missing or damaged ÂWÂ keys. Two former Clinton administration staff said that they saw a total of 3 or 4 keyboards with missing ÂWÂ keys. Â Purchase records indicated that the EOP bought 62 computer keyboards on January 23 and 24, 2001. The January 23 purchase request for 31 keyboards indicated that the keyboards were Âneeded to support the transition,Â and the January 24 purchase request for another 31 keyboards indicated that it was a Âsecond request for the letter ÂWÂ problem.Â The purchase requests were approved by an OA financial manager who, in April 2001, sent an E-mail to an OA branch chief indicating that the 62 keyboards purchased in January 2001 were approximately the number that were defective because ÂWÂ keys were missing or inoperable during the transition. (The actual number of keyboards that were damaged during the transition is uncertain because of different statements provided by EOP staff regarding the number of damaged keyboards that had to be replaced.) There were 518 people working for the EOP the first few weeks of 2001. Interesting that it seemingly took 3 months for the keyboard purchases to be approved. I guess they hadn't heard of the GSA yet. Cheers, Scott.
Post #351,181 by beepster 11/24/11 10:44:41 AM Reply	Interesting? That's pretty quick for gov procurement Sure, understanding today's complex world of the future is a little like having bees live in your head. But...there they are.
Post #351,184 by Another Scott 11/24/11 11:14:21 AM Reply	Heh. Don't think so.
Post #351,191 by S1mon_Jester 11/24/11 12:08:06 PM Reply	Destruction? Really? I don't know about you, but if a computer won't work with a keyboard, it certainly won't work if the hard drive is taken. Then it becomes a matter of semantics: If I take a 'W' and leave a quarter, is that better or worse than taking a hard drive and leaving $100 bill? You could argue that Romney's aides had permission...I'd argue from whom. Then I'd question if the Clinton administration officials had permission. :-) And the follow-up is still on the table - who gave Romney's aides permission to "buy" the hard drives and at what price? That question isn't insignificant.
Post #351,081 by crazy 11/23/11 5:29:00 AM Reply	Why don't you care? He could be 1 of 2 choices in your future. Or are you just going to go with the flow, and not look too deep? Or it simply won't matter, and you've already made your decision. I wanna know. I don't know what I don't know. I wanna know everything I can on both sides.
Post #351,088 by boxley 11/23/11 8:48:10 AM Reply	between useless fek and a white useless fek? depends on who looks like they will win the senate and keep the house, if its the repos Im voting for Obama Any opinions expressed by me are mine alone, posted from my home computer, on my own time as a free American and do not reflect the opinions of any person or company that I have had professional relations with in the past 55 years. meep
Post #351,094 by beepster 11/23/11 9:46:16 AM Reply	Very simple I have no expectation of ownership over email correspondence. I don't see this as fodder for conspiracy. Period. For some, they seem to think it makes things more " transparent" . I think it's a terrible waste of hard disk space. If someone really wants to keep a secret in gov. It will be kept. Sure, understanding today's complex world of the future is a little like having bees live in your head. But...there they are.
Post #351,065 by folkert 11/22/11 8:19:17 PM Reply	I worked as a contractor/vendor for... Governmental Agencies. The stuff I worked on were Labeling machines. If it was in a governmental facility (USPS, Federal Mint, DOJ were a few I was in), and it had a hard drive in it, the drive either stayed in the facility and was permanently kept by them or the drive was shredded (yes, shredded in physical terms) first and then returned in a plastic baggy with the machine. This was back in the early 90s. Its just gotten worse since then.

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