Meanwhile, In the “Government Transparency” Department . . .
. . . we have the following two “inconvenient truths”:
We all remember just how “wonderfully” the rollout of the Federal ObamaCare website went. Because of this debacle – and fears concerning system security because of the poor initial implementation of that website – the AP made a FOIA request for documentation regarding the website’s system security plan.
The Administration is flatly refusing to release any information about the subject. They are allegedly doing so for two reasons. First, because the release of system security plan might help attackers circumvent it. And second, because “releasing this information would potentially cause an unwarranted risk to consumers’ private information.”
Sheesh – what a load of crap. First, any competent IT professional will tell you that this is merely an example of what’s called “security through obscurity.” They will also tell you that “security through obscurity” is merely the illusion of security; a competent attacker can figure out what you’ve done in a reasonable amount of time.
Second: the allegation that releasing the system security plan “would potentially cause an unwarranted risk to consumers’ private information” is absurd. The plan doesn’t contain a damn bit of PII. So releasing the plan doesn’t risk disclosing squat concerning “consumers’ private information.”
What a release of the plan would do is allow 3rd-party review and validation of the plan. It would also show if the job was done “just as competently” as the initial website implementation – and thus would risk further embarrassing the Administration. My money’s on that being the real reason behind the refusal.
And then, we have this. It seems that on 15 April 2009, the Administration decided to get a handle on FOIA requests throughout the Federal government. On that date, Gregory Craig – Counsel to the President – wrote a memo reminding all Federal agencies of the need to consult with the White House if any document was requested that had “White House equities”. The requirement to consult with the White House involved all types of requests – including FOIA, Congressional, subpoena, and GAO.
You can see an extract of the memo here.
Gee. What a wonderful way to prevent the public from finding out what you’re really doing. The late LBJ and Richard Nixon must be smiling in their graves. They’d have heartily approved this!
Transparent? Yeah, right. Just about as transparent as a freaking stone wall.
But this should be no surprise. I mean, when the person in charge of making nonprofit group determinations tells a subordinate in e-mail they think conservatives are ”crazies” and “assholes” you can be fairly sure that they aren’t really interested in either operating openly or fairly. And when the Attorney General won’t investigate such incidents, you know that a distain for open government goes pretty far “up the chain”.
Like maybe to the very top.
Category: "Your Tax Dollars At Work", Crime, Legal
No surprise there. Early in this administration it became clear that the only transparency in the Obama White House would be the transparent lies that bunch told.
Only thing transparent about the Obama White House is the windows, and even then the curtains are closed most of the time.
Typical Obama run government ass covering. They don’t want the truth of any of their debacles uncovered. Fast and Furious, Obamacare, the IRS targeting conservative groups and subsequent “loss” of all emails, Benghazi, you name it, they’ll cover it up and/or lie through their teeth about it. Why? Because the ass holes who voted them in, the leftist, die hard liberals and the ill-informed voters could care less what Obama does or doesn’t do. I remember the platform he ran on of being, “the most transparent administration in history” (paraphrased). The ones who elected him twice, could care less about truth and transparency and Obama knew that when he hung it out there as a “must have” in America. As long as their guy is in the Oval Office, they are good to go. He can do no wrong in his own estimation as well as in theirs.
‘Power corrupts, and absolute power…’
You know the rest.
Actually, Pinto Nag, I think noted biographer Robert Caro has a more accurate observation on power and its effects (emphasis added):
Feel free to explain the fine points in your argument, Hondo, because I fail to see the difference between the original quote and what Caro said.
The original quote attributed to Acton implies that power always corrupts. I do not believe that to be accurate. A good man (or woman) is not always corrupted by wealth or power. Caro’s observation is that rather than being a corrupting force, attaining power reveals an individual’s underlying base character. If the individual is at his/her core venal and corruptible, attaining power will allow them full reign to further that already-present corruption and venality. In contrast, if the individual is of upright character, they will use that power appropriately and with restraint vice indiscriminately and for self-enrichment. Looking at US Presidents from Eisenhower to Carter, I find much to support Cato’s thesis. 1. Eisenhower was known as a rarity (a politician who was also a “straight shooter”) while still in uniform. That was borne out in his Administration. 2. JFK – though perhaps as big a horndog as ever existed – was not personally venal and put the nation’s best interests first. That was apparent in his administration. 3. LBJ was perhaps the most reprehensible individual to ever hold the Presidency – not only was he as personally immoral as JFK, he also appears to have been a congenital liar and a venal, money-grubbing bastard. His entire political career – including his Administration – echoed that. 4. Nixon was much like LBJ in the honesty department, and was also vindictive and paranoid. However, he was not personally venal, and he apparently had more admirable personal morals than did LBJ (an attractive married woman was probably safe around him). His administration echoed that. 5. Ford was regarded as an honest and trustworthy man in Congress. His administration was likewise. 6. Carter was less than resolute, somewhat two-faced, and marginally competent in business and in Georgia politics prior to running for President. He was elected due to being in the right place at the right time and lucking into the Presidency while being nearly singularly unqualified to hold that office. His Administration echoed that. I’ll cut it off there. Suffice it to say that I could make much the same points about… Read more »
So as not to ‘jack the bandwidth, I’ll leave this link for you to read at your leisure, Hondo. It seems to pertain to your answer, to some extent.
http://www.studymode.com/essays/Morality-And-Power-34072.html
The Mytilenian Dialog supports my argument, Pinto Nag. In the former, Cleon (proponent of putting the population of Mytilene to the sword) was reputedly the most violent man in Athens, a foe of democracy, and a dictator at heart. His attainment of power as a factional leader within the Athenian counsel allowed him to express those characteristics openly. In contrast, Diodotus was not appreciably by attaining power. His character was not corrupted by being a leading member of the Athenian council.
The Melian Debate is not relevant to this discussion. That account concerns an ultimatum given by one state to another, and that second state’s response to same. It does not address the corrupting influence of power on the individuals making those decisions. Indeed, it is unclear whether the individuals speaking on behalf of Athens during the Melian Debate were the same people that had made the decision to give Melos the “cooperate or die” ultimatum they delivered.
If you think the Ford administration was considered open and honest, you obviously have forgotten all the hooraw over Nixon’s pardon. There was talk of impeachment over that. Reaction to that effectively locked Carter in. (Dave’s Law: After 2 to 3 terms of either party, the electorate would elect the Devil Incarnate if from the other party.)
David: I didn’t say his Administration was universally perceived to be a paragon of honesty, David. What I said was that his Administration mirrored Ford, who was indeed honest and trustworthy.
It was indeed open and trustworthy – just like Ford himself.
While the Ford Administration may have been viewed skeptically by those of the opposing party (and journalists, who’d just endured two of the most devious administrations in our history back-to-back), history proves the Ford Administration was unfairly slandered by them. It was indeed honest, open, and trustworthy. The reputed “secret deal” for the Nixon pardon – and other accusations of chicanery – turned out on further examination to be absolute bull.
Public perception is not always correct. Neither are the press.
Ignorance is curable, stupid is forever.
It should be remembered that these types of denials may be a part of the administration’s job program. After wall, we need to hire people that are “FOIA Denial Officers.”
http://raisedonhoecakes.com/ROH/2014/08/21/apply-for-a-position-in-the-most-transparent-administration-ever/
(And I am not making this up.)
FWIW, I used a commonly available technique to record me logging into Healthcare.gov. I can see my user ID and password in the capture.
FWIW, my PII data is in the request formdata. It is encrypted but for this particular technique that should pose no obstacle.
I used a very basic attack requiring minimal browser and moderate OS and network familiarity. This method does not require mad computer skilz.
I invite anyone to try to capture their own login. If you see your user ID and password in the clear then you win a kewpie doll. Or something.
A hint, if you use wireshark you have to see your PII in the clear. Just knowing where it is doesn’t count. I suppose that you could just use Fiddler or HTTPWatch but that seems to miss the spirit of the thing. Try for a technique that isn’t quite so obvious to the user.
A technique to collect a few dozen user IDs and passwords is left as an exercise for the reader.
BTW, don’t post your information or method or the collection technique. The fact that it is easy does not justify making it easier for the script kiddies or whatever they are calling computer hooligans these days. Maybe the government will fix it before EVERYONE knows how to do it.
If anyone thinks that it is unethical to do this sort of thing, consider that the criminal types started doing this the day the app was released. Mr. Putin may be the only Russian in his entire country who doesn’t know how to do this. If we show how easy it is, maybe someone will do something.
Ya know sometimes it feels like that living under this current administration is similar to perpetually traveling on the Assinine Pacific RailRoad. Whoo Whoo! All Aboard! Next stop Idiotstown, Moronsville, Cluelessburg with connections to Incompetentapolis and Dumbasston.