I get a ton of comment spam on this site. I find it pretty funny, considering the isn’t a soul out there reading this other than the spam bots.
And technically they aren’t even reading. They are just posting through. I should put in a CAPTCHA or something in the comments area. Maybe with the new theme…
If it weren’t for spam I’d have no friends at all…
Popularity: 33% [?]
You need to read the story on the Best Buy/Geek Squad technician taping someone in the shower. abc7.com: Tech Accused of Videotaping Woman in Her Shower
First, what a sleezeball and an idiot this guy is. I love the fact that the young sister in the article was smart enough to grab the memory card out of the phone to snag the video. Then they tell their mom to stall the tech so the sheriff can show up.
Those are some smart kids…
(Dugg here)
Popularity: 33% [?]
Washington Technology has two good articles regarding proposed contract reporting requirements for small businesses. Primarily, it will require small businesses to report on money spent to subcontractors for government contracts.
One article reviews how proposed changes will expose “trade secrets” of small businesses. This is true, however one of these dirty little secrets for IT contractors is that many of these “small businesses” that win these set-aside contracts subcontract out the majority of the business to larger businesses aren’t supposed to be able to bid on these set-asides.
These set-asides have produced an interesting problem. In order to win the business, often times small companies partner with large companies to use the larger company’s resources and experience to win these contracts. This makes the small company attractive to the Federal Government and they win the contract. The small business then subcontracts much of the work to the larger company. The net effect is that a small business - standing alone - can’t win these set-asides. They often lack the resources of the larger companies and also charge more for their services because they are smaller.
Now I know this isn’t true for all set-asides and not every small business partners with a large company. But having just gone through the recompete process where I work, the smaller companies that won 70% (my estimate) of the business had partnered with a larger company. They even beat out the incumbant, taking their staff and charging the government less.
A difficult problem that needs a better solution.
Popularity: 20% [?]
Even the report from Washington Technology isn’t sure of itself that the DHS wants ‘keys to the Internet’, but it just doesn’t seem like a good idea to share this information with DHS. You don’t even need to get into the privacy aspects of the information; just think of the risk of managing such information and accidentally releasing or losing it.
You shouldn’t need the information just because it is there - you should only need it if there is a specific question/risk/threat that is already being tracked.
Popularity: 19% [?]
From GCN: Who rules the site? Public affairs the CIO — or both?
Just more reading material. Interesting overview and analysis.
Popularity: 11% [?]
This article from GCN, Microsoft industry group wrestle with metrics for software assurance and how to set priorities, is primarily about handling security vulnerabilities (hence - assurance). But the same practice of putting weight to and prioritizing software changes is true throughout all development.
No software is ever perfect, and everyone wants changes. Some are absolutely required for security reasons, some are defect fixes, some are enhancements, etc. But there are only so many resources so all need to be analyzed and prioritized within the scope of the software use itself.
Popularity: 20% [?]