I have not participated in Zoom, for the same reasons I don't participate in Facebook, Twitter, or the like. Micah Lee had some unflattering things to say about Zoom here and here. What I found on Zoom's Privacy and Security page seemed seemed to be largely non-specific fluff, and the term "metadata" is not mentioned at all.
I do find it very refreshing and encouraging that, instead of stonewalling or engaging in double-speak, they have been straight-forward about admitting errors, and, from this article and other things I have read about Zoom, they are indeed trying to "catch up," and that is a very good sign.
I am not at all familiar with the details of HIPPA, but I have always had the impression that it creates a lot of complexity, obstacles, requirements to be met, etc, for not much actual security or privacy. In an effort to educate my self just a bit, so as to make a reasonable comment here, I looked up "hippa summary." The first three results were:
These are some fairly hefty web pages! Well into the tl;dr category, at least for me, right now. But I would have to say that the sheer size of these "summaries" tends to strongly reinforce the first half of my impression regarding complexity, obstacles, and requirements to be met.
Anyway, I then tried Wikipedia. Another long page, but I did some skimming and found this gem:
Per the requirements of Title II, the HHS has promulgated five rules regarding Administrative Simplification: the Privacy Rule, the Transactions and Code Sets Rule, the Security Rule, the Unique Identifiers Rule, and the Enforcement Rule.
Some more skimming and I began to realize just how lol funny the phrase Administrative Simplification is. These bureaucrats have a sense of humor that just won't quit.
A bit more skimming of the Wikipedia article and the following words and phrases came up regarding security and privace, or lack thereof:
the OCR has a long backlog and ignores most complaints
it has not yet taken any enforcement actions against hospitals, doctors, insurers or anyone else for rule violations.
unauthorized employees repeatedly and without legitimate cause looked at the electronic protected health information of numerous UCLAHS patients
"flexibility" may provide too much latitude to covered entities
Misuse and disclosures of PHI
No protection in place of health information
Patient unable to access their health information
Using or disclosing more than the minimum necessary protected health information
No safeguards of electronic protected health information.
All of this tended to reinforce the second half of my impression, that HIPPA does little to enhance security or privacy.
So, while my information isn't much better than it was before, I am still left with the impression that HIPPA is mainly an exercise in bureaucratic BS.
Good point. The relationship between government and unions should be no different than the relationship between the government and a neighborhood bridge club, ie non-existent. The NLRB shouldn't exist.
But there is ballot access to consider. The rules vary (and, of course, can be changed by the "grandfathered" R's and D's), but it generally boils down to either make a "good showing" in the previous election, or spend a huge amount of time, effort, and $$ gathering signatures on ballot access petitions. Similarly for debates, you must have a previous "good showing" to be allowed in the door. This is the "systemic party-ism" of the current government, meant to keep any competition out. If third parties had ballot access, they could spend much more time, effort, and money getting their message out through advertising, candidate campaigning, etc. So voting for a third party candidate in a Presidential election is the cheapest and easiest way for a third party to possibly get a "foot in the door" of national politics. It doesn't cost you or the third party anything for you to cast a vote for the third party candidate. Not to mention that you might be casting your vote for someone with whom you actually agree, to some extent, rather than having to hold your nose and cast your vote for the lesser of two obvious evils.
If all the cases all over the country that hinged largely or completely on the testimony of cops who are "less trustworthy than the public [they are] supposed to protect" were to be dismissed, there would be a mass exodus from the prison system. Unfortunately, the example here is an outlier in that something is being done.
it looks to me to be mainly performative. Hastily written, reactionary legislation is typically bad. "Carve outs" unsubstantiated by legitimate reasons are bad, too. It doesn't have a whizzy backronym for a name. Some would say the only thing it really has going for it is that is not named after a victim (it is not called George's Law).
There is a good case to be made for a change to our system of elections. Some version of a two-party system has existed in the US since shortly after the inception of the country. People who study such things say this situation is the inevitable result of our system of voting, where the winning candidate in each State takes all of that State’s electoral votes. Evidence to support this theory may be found in other countries that have different voting systems, and also have several strong political parties with much greater diversity than our own two.
Re: How does one determine the lesser of two evils?
Third party or not voting only helps one or the other.
This kind of thinking has the R's and D's laughing all the way to the swearing-in ceremony. It is what assures that the status quo will remain the status quo. It has worked for them for generations. Maybe it's time to do something different? Think outside the Punch and Judy box?
Isn't the NYPD the poster child for Orwellian, militaristic, over-the-top overreach for a municipal police department? Stop and frisk = One of the definitions of a police state. Joint Operations Task Force = Pseudo-military whatever. Overseas agents = CIA Lite. Surveillance of five boroughs = Five Eyes Junior. Deputy Commissioner for Intelligence and Counterterrorism = Pretend Cabinet position (or maybe pretend MI6 position). The NYPD seems to be a bit full of itself, or at least full of something.
Very good point. "Defund" is a bad slogan and bad PR. But "Redirect Funds From The Police To More Worthy And Effective Prevention Programs" just doesn't have much zing.
The memo [PDF] notes that the law says the DEA's law enforcement powers are supposed to be limited to drug enforcement activity. But there's always a loophole.
Another example of a law against government bad behavior just being window dressing for a permission slip.
Seems like mostly innocuous stuff, primarily about the IoT device and what it is sending and where it is sending it. This is info they would need to do any research on IoT devices. And it explains how to limit data collection:
You can also manually exclude devices by either powering them down while setting up IoT Inspector, or specifying their MAC addresses.
If you do not want IoT Inspector to collect data from a particular IoT device (e.g., because it collects sensitive medical information), please disconnect it from the network now, before you start running IoT Inspector. If you are unable to disconnect it (e.g., because you need to keep the device running, or because you do not know how to disconnect it), you cannot use IoT Inspector.
Has anyone used this? I don't have Windows 10 or any IoT junk, so I am kind of out of the loop. The website says Linux and macOS versions are due this month, but I am betting they will be delayed.
I once tried to get a dose of naloxone (Narcan) for my vehicle first aid kit. I was told that only "first responders" ie cops, EMTs, and fire department personnel were allowed to have it. Unfortunately, my argument that those people are almost never the first people to respond to an overdose (since they are almost always called by someone else) didn't fly. You provided some good examples of language degenerating to (almost) everyone's detriment.
And it will probably burn again once the justice system is done with what's left of Chauvin and his criminal charges.
This is important to remember. There will likely be several trials coming in the next many months or years of several cops who killed unarmed, non-threatening, blacks.
The protests after the Rodney King beating didn't hold a candle to the literal firestorm aftermath of the trial verdicts.
On the post: Zoom & China: Never Forget That Content Moderation Requests From Government Involve Moral Questions
At least they are trying
I have not participated in Zoom, for the same reasons I don't participate in Facebook, Twitter, or the like. Micah Lee had some unflattering things to say about Zoom here and here. What I found on Zoom's Privacy and Security page seemed seemed to be largely non-specific fluff, and the term "metadata" is not mentioned at all.
I do find it very refreshing and encouraging that, instead of stonewalling or engaging in double-speak, they have been straight-forward about admitting errors, and, from this article and other things I have read about Zoom, they are indeed trying to "catch up," and that is a very good sign.
On the post: The Pandemic And The Evolution Of Health Care Privacy
Complexity much?
I am not at all familiar with the details of HIPPA, but I have always had the impression that it creates a lot of complexity, obstacles, requirements to be met, etc, for not much actual security or privacy. In an effort to educate my self just a bit, so as to make a reasonable comment here, I looked up "hippa summary." The first three results were:
Summary of the HIPPA Security Rule | HHS.gov
Summary of the HIPPA Security Rule | HHS.gov
HIPPA for Dummies - HIPPA Guide
These are some fairly hefty web pages! Well into the tl;dr category, at least for me, right now. But I would have to say that the sheer size of these "summaries" tends to strongly reinforce the first half of my impression regarding complexity, obstacles, and requirements to be met.
Anyway, I then tried Wikipedia. Another long page, but I did some skimming and found this gem:
Some more skimming and I began to realize just how lol funny the phrase Administrative Simplification is. These bureaucrats have a sense of humor that just won't quit.
A bit more skimming of the Wikipedia article and the following words and phrases came up regarding security and privace, or lack thereof:
All of this tended to reinforce the second half of my impression, that HIPPA does little to enhance security or privacy.
So, while my information isn't much better than it was before, I am still left with the impression that HIPPA is mainly an exercise in bureaucratic BS.
On the post: Behind Every Terrible Police Officer Is An Even Worse Police Union Rep
Re: Re: Labor Unions
Good point. The relationship between government and unions should be no different than the relationship between the government and a neighborhood bridge club, ie non-existent. The NLRB shouldn't exist.
On the post: Why Doesn't Joe Biden Have Any Tech Policy Advisors?
Re:
But there is ballot access to consider. The rules vary (and, of course, can be changed by the "grandfathered" R's and D's), but it generally boils down to either make a "good showing" in the previous election, or spend a huge amount of time, effort, and $$ gathering signatures on ballot access petitions. Similarly for debates, you must have a previous "good showing" to be allowed in the door. This is the "systemic party-ism" of the current government, meant to keep any competition out. If third parties had ballot access, they could spend much more time, effort, and money getting their message out through advertising, candidate campaigning, etc. So voting for a third party candidate in a Presidential election is the cheapest and easiest way for a third party to possibly get a "foot in the door" of national politics. It doesn't cost you or the third party anything for you to cast a vote for the third party candidate. Not to mention that you might be casting your vote for someone with whom you actually agree, to some extent, rather than having to hold your nose and cast your vote for the lesser of two obvious evils.
On the post: Another 91 Cases Linked To Lying Houston Cop Involved In A Botched Drug Raid Have Been Dismissed
If all the cases all over the country that hinged largely or completely on the testimony of cops who are "less trustworthy than the public [they are] supposed to protect" were to be dismissed, there would be a mass exodus from the prison system. Unfortunately, the example here is an outlier in that something is being done.
On the post: Hacks Are Always Worse Than Reported: Nintendo's Breached Accounts Magically Double
Try an Internet search on Masnick effect and see what comes up first :)
On the post: Federal Legislators Pitching Massive Police Reform Bill That Would End Qualified Immunity
The bill seems like a nice thought, but . . .
it looks to me to be mainly performative. Hastily written, reactionary legislation is typically bad. "Carve outs" unsubstantiated by legitimate reasons are bad, too. It doesn't have a whizzy backronym for a name. Some would say the only thing it really has going for it is that is not named after a victim (it is not called George's Law).
On the post: Why Doesn't Joe Biden Have Any Tech Policy Advisors?
Re:
There is a good case to be made for a change to our system of elections. Some version of a two-party system has existed in the US since shortly after the inception of the country. People who study such things say this situation is the inevitable result of our system of voting, where the winning candidate in each State takes all of that State’s electoral votes. Evidence to support this theory may be found in other countries that have different voting systems, and also have several strong political parties with much greater diversity than our own two.
On the post: Why Doesn't Joe Biden Have Any Tech Policy Advisors?
Re: How does one determine the lesser of two evils?
This kind of thinking has the R's and D's laughing all the way to the swearing-in ceremony. It is what assures that the status quo will remain the status quo. It has worked for them for generations. Maybe it's time to do something different? Think outside the Punch and Judy box?
On the post: Why Doesn't Joe Biden Have Any Tech Policy Advisors?
Does this mean that Biden recognizes that he is not up to the task, or will not be up to it for very long?
On the post: Interoperability And Privacy: Squaring The Circle
Just to clarify . . .
Adversarial interoperability, protocols, not platforms, whatever you call it, however you slice and dice it, it is good if it includes:
On the post: Interoperability And Privacy: Squaring The Circle
A few points:
On the post: NYPD Counterterrorism Official Worried About 'Anarchists' Who Are 'Good At Using' Encryption
Isn't the NYPD the poster child for Orwellian, militaristic, over-the-top overreach for a municipal police department? Stop and frisk = One of the definitions of a police state. Joint Operations Task Force = Pseudo-military whatever. Overseas agents = CIA Lite. Surveillance of five boroughs = Five Eyes Junior. Deputy Commissioner for Intelligence and Counterterrorism = Pretend Cabinet position (or maybe pretend MI6 position). The NYPD seems to be a bit full of itself, or at least full of something.
On the post: Peaceful Protests Around The Nation Are Being Greeted By Police Violence. Remind Me Again How Peaceful Protests Are Better?
Re: FWIW...
Very good point. "Defund" is a bad slogan and bad PR. But "Redirect Funds From The Police To More Worthy And Effective Prevention Programs" just doesn't have much zing.
On the post: DEA Wants In On The Fun, Asks DOJ To Give It Permission To Surveil George Floyd Protests
Re: Re:
I think this is a greater problem than most people realize. Not many are willing to jump into a cesspool, even if it is for a good cause.
On the post: DEA Wants In On The Fun, Asks DOJ To Give It Permission To Surveil George Floyd Protests
Another example of a law against government bad behavior just being window dressing for a permission slip.
On the post: Carnegie Mellon Researchers Design 'Nutrition Label' For The Internet Of Broken Things
Re: Re: Princeton IoT Inspector ?
Seems like mostly innocuous stuff, primarily about the IoT device and what it is sending and where it is sending it. This is info they would need to do any research on IoT devices. And it explains how to limit data collection:
On the post: Carnegie Mellon Researchers Design 'Nutrition Label' For The Internet Of Broken Things
Princeton IoT Inspector ?
Has anyone used this? I don't have Windows 10 or any IoT junk, so I am kind of out of the loop. The website says Linux and macOS versions are due this month, but I am betting they will be delayed.
On the post: In Response To George Floyd Killing, Minnesota Schools Dump Contracts With Minneapolis PD
Re:
I once tried to get a dose of naloxone (Narcan) for my vehicle first aid kit. I was told that only "first responders" ie cops, EMTs, and fire department personnel were allowed to have it. Unfortunately, my argument that those people are almost never the first people to respond to an overdose (since they are almost always called by someone else) didn't fly. You provided some good examples of language degenerating to (almost) everyone's detriment.
On the post: Peaceful Protests Around The Nation Are Being Greeted By Police Violence. Remind Me Again How Peaceful Protests Are Better?
Will history repeat?
This is important to remember. There will likely be several trials coming in the next many months or years of several cops who killed unarmed, non-threatening, blacks.
The protests after the Rodney King beating didn't hold a candle to the literal firestorm aftermath of the trial verdicts.
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