Today's Slashdot Dosage

Alright, so I have four links I'd like to wander over, though really only three discussions. Ready for context-heavy chatter? No? Not waaaiiiting!

From the Slashdot bin:
'Government-aided Phishing'
Well, the name isn't quite correct, but it is much harder to term something worse on a Slashdot posting of this type. I absolutely can not believe what these Broward County, FL folks are doing though. Somehow, posting all these 'public' documents with -private- information on them just doesn't strike the auditors as inherently wrong.

On the County website, they are posting birth certificates, SSNs, banking records and a host of other personally-identifiable information (signatures!) which is basically completely accessible. And of course, by some twisted logic, the state of Florida requires this. That is entirely bollocksed. Of course, on January 1, 2007, they're required to redact (think of FBI documents with blackbars over 'sensitive information') the information out, but that hardly helps the people who will be undoubtedly screwed over by their public information being available to any curious felon looking for their next source of credit and cash.

You go Broward County and Florida! As one comment on the Slashdot post says, "Spain, you can take them back now." Please do.

Now, links related to the above Slashdot post:
Police Officers w/ Bones to Pick (Complaint Forms)
Retaliation of the Police Officers!

I'm really sorry about the second link's title, it sounds totally like a 'Revenge of the Nerds' title rip-off (which isn't what I was thinking of at the time, I swear!). Anywho, there are two videos to watch under the first link, the first of which is pretty disturbing.

You see, the first video is about how this operative for a national police complaint group that goes around various stations in Southern Florida, asking for a basic complaint form. Some officers respond nicely, though the majority of those shown aren't all that nice. The first officer to be shown (I believe it is), just after placing his hand on his gun, threatens the guy. It looks like the officer was readying the gun for quick withdrawal, but it can be sort of hard to see in the video.

Of course, this brings up the fact that Complaint Forms inside your local police stations aren't required by law, though a group of Police Chiefs (who you'll hear about several times) do advocate for every station across the country to have the forms available (and many do). The video states that, out of something like 39 stations visited, only 3 had forms available. I specifically like the Miami station that had the forms, they had it in: English, Spanish and Creole(/Kreole). That's what I call being aware of your citizens!

--Now, the second link: An association of police officers in Broward County, the Broward Police Benevolent Association, put up an item on their website (called a BOLO (Be on the Lookout)) against the reporter that broke the case on CBS 4, where the links refer to. Now, that is just unacceptable. A BOLO is meant for the purposes of looking out for alleged criminals, but this was entirely retaliatory. The original posting on the website had information from the reporter's drivers license listed, including his home address! That is just egregious.

Back to the Slashdot Bin:
Apple vs. Bloggers

Ah, lovey-dovey Apple in the news again...but wait, that's not a new size for the iPod nano announced! No, this is about a ZDnet reporter/blogger being sued for posting information he received from various sources back in 2004 about a possible product that Apple was developing, for which he wasn't told whether to be secretive about. Ah, but the catcher? It was a FireWire box for some GarageBand line. Can anybody say "Waaaaah!"? I think it should be said to Apple.

A paraphrased comment on the article from Slashdot, "The nice company isn't so nice now that it has lots of cash to burn from its iPod successes." I won't deny that Apple machines are nice, but they definately aren't my style. I'd much rather build my own machines and Apple just does not provide me with that choice (besides the fact that I'm an AMD64 fanboy). Of course, Apple machines are pricey as well, though I have been taken by their slick, pure white charms...at times...*slaps self*

What it comes down to is: The nice company can instantly become an evil company with a sudden influx of cash. With that said, lots of people have been pointing at Google in the same sort of way, what with the controversy in China. But, considering they resisted a subpoena from the US gov't to turn over lots and lots of search records, I'd rather give Google the benefit of the doubt. Afterall, they want to try and expand in China, and who knows how they'll make the PRC a better place; even with filtered searches.