Archive for the ‘Government’ Category

The problem with TSA’s blog

Thursday, July 3rd, 2008

I’ve been reading the TSA’s blog Evolution of Security pretty much since day one. It was a fine idea to try and improve their PR in the minds of the more savvy travelers. However I think I can declare it a failure. It is all PR no conversation. Even when they try to answer reader questions they just selectively pick the questions and answer them in a way that just back’s up their point of view.

2. What will the TSA due if a majority of the states refuse to issue READ ID cards to their respective citizens?

What’s READ ID? :) We’re already reading IDs…

We will be prepared to address that issue if it happens. Thusfar, every state in the union is working with DHS on REAL ID.

While it is true that the DHS has granted all the states an extension for REAL ID compliance it is false to state that every state in the union is working with DHS on REAL ID since several states have passed laws stating they are NOT going to comply with REAL ID. PR spin plain and simple.

Posted in Government, Opinion | 1 Comment »

Security inconsistency

Tuesday, January 8th, 2008

I do a lot of work for a federal agency. I do wrk at both their offices and at their data center. Normally I go in through the same door for their office space. Today I needed to drop off a laptop for someone at the data-center and then go to the office space for a meeting. Among the items I was able to carry into the high security data center were the following: a small digital camera, a Leatherman PST, and a Leatherman Squirt S2. After dropping off the laptop I proceded to the offices but used a different entrance than I normally use. The guards at this entrance took issue with my camera, and the Leatherman Squirt. I was not allowed to bring them into this facility. Mind you the facility is just office space, nothing fancy and certainly not containing anything I didn’t have access to while I was a the data center. I was instructed that they couldn’t hold either item at the front desk for me I would have to return them to my car. Unfortunately I was pressed for time to get to the meeting I was going to and my car was a good 10 minute round trip away [and I walk fast]. So I wasn’t able to attend the meeting. Luckily I was 1 of 4 people from my firm attending and the other 3 could cover the meeting without me.

But what bothers me about this incident is that I had just a short while before be able to enter the data center with the same items and I have always been able to enter the other office space entrance I use with this items. I also suspect if I entered the building at the other entrance I would have walked in with the items. Since security is only as good as your weakest point it would be in the agencies best interest to be consistent about what is allowed in and what isn’t. Also the camera restriction at this point is just plain silly. I mean unless you start to inspect and forbid camera phones. Which they didn’t have any issue with me bringing my phone in with a camera almost as good as the one they wouldn’t let me bring into the building. I should also not that the security I went through is only for non-employees. Employees can bring whatever they want in and don’t have to pass through a metal detector or have their bags x-rayed like I did and how security noticed the prohibited items.

Posted in Government, Opinion | 3 Comments »

MD tax re-assessment

Friday, January 4th, 2008

On Monday my new MD property tax assessment arrived in the mail (as did a LOT of other peoples).

In MD’s opinion my house in Hampden is worth $253,260 ($100K for the land [which I don't own but am liable for taxes on) and $153,260 for the house on the land). From what I have been reading this is based on sales figures from 2005.

Here's some data on sales in my part of the neighborhood:

Year Median Sale Price Average Sale Price Number of sales
Average sale price 2004 $155,000 $275,900 54
Average sale price 2005 $200,250 $192,787 74
Average sale price 2006 $210,000 $206,493 72
Average sale price 2007 $213,000 $209,177 32

That's just some rough crunching. [I still need to look at square foot for properties, amenities like bedrooms and baths] But at first glance it looks like my assessment is high based on actual sales data for the immediate area.

Posted in Baltimore, Government, Maryland, Opinion | No Comments »

Baltimore City recycling gets easier…..

Thursday, November 8th, 2007

As anyone who lives in Baltimore City knows if you want to re-cycle you need to make an effort. A SERIOUS effort. And that’s just to keep track of when you can ut which recyclables out for collection. Thanksfully the city’s sanitation department has figured out this is a problem and more people would recycle if it was easier. (duh!)

The current system:

Baltimore collects about 12,000 tons of recyclable material a year under a complex schedule that requires residents to put out cans, bottles and certain plastics on the second and fourth Monday of the month and magazines, and newsprint and cardboard on another day, which varies by regions.

In the new system, which comes into effect Jan 8, 2008,

the city will begin collecting all recyclable material - bottles, cans, paper and cardboard - in a single container, eliminating the complicated schedule in which residents place bottles and cans at the curb on one day, and paper and cardboard on another.

One problem the new system shares with the old is it still relies on you knowing what zone you live in:

Under the new system, residents would dispose of all recyclables on the same day - the day they now put out paper. In Northeast Baltimore, for example, that would be the second and fourth Thursdays of each month. In West and South Baltimore, the material will be collected on the second and fourth Tuesdays.

And it still isn’t the ideal I would like to see, which is to put your garbage and recyclables out at the same time.

more details are in the Sun article Simpler recycling schedule in store

Posted in Baltimore, Customer Service, Government | No Comments »

Jury Duty

Wednesday, October 3rd, 2007

So I did my civic duty and showed up for jury duty at the Clarence M. Mitchell, Jr. Courthouse. This involved me catching a bus in the morning to get to the courthouse on time. This wasn’t a problem I caught the #27 which dropped me off at Lexington Market from there I walks the four blocks over to the courthouse. I arrived in plenty of time for the 8:15 arrival time printed on my summons. After watching an inspirational video on jury duty and why we were there we were called up by number and given out $15 payment for our day.

After that the day was pretty much spent sitting around. I was in the normal jury waiting room for the the first part of the day. In this room talking is permitted and they show a couple movies during the day. I mostly sat there and read a book. I was called into one courtroom but wast not chosen for duty as my number was too high. It was just a civil case involving a traffic accident and personnel injury from what I we were told and what I inferred from that.

During the last part of the afternoon I retired to the quiet room and decided to spend some of my money on paid wifi (~$6 for a day). It was usable and let me play with setting up a PPTP connection to back-end network for where this machine is hosted. Pretty promptly at 4pm we were dismissed from our civic duty and I made my way home.

A couple things I learned in my time at the courthouse. 1) The quiet room is the better place to spend the day unless you want to take your chances and watch whatever movie the city has lined up for you; 2) the staff has a certain sense of humor making announcements which helped make it a bit nicer day 3) the $6 for wifi is worth it, if like me you need you fix of internet during the day. 4) I can smuggle in a firearm to the building with ease. The guard inspected my laptop bag when I entered but it wasn’t very thorough and certainly didn’t look at all the pockets, if I was motivated I could have smuggled a gun or anything else in.

A further note on #4 this isn’t unique to this Baltimore City building I’ve found the same to be true in other government office buildings.

Overall I think my day was not a negative experience nd I won’t dread going back when called again….in about a year if I believe what others have written on the internet.

Posted in Baltimore, Government | No Comments »

Pay your speeding ticket online

Monday, October 1st, 2007

I just read in the Baltimore Sun article Maryland District Court tickets now payable online. This applies to a subset of all traffic tickets you might receive but will cover a majority of the ones issued (i.e. speeding tickets are covered and payable online).

However what this article fails to mention and it is somewhat buried on the MD Courts website is the fact if you choose to pay with plastic you will be paying an extra 5% on top of the fine for the convenience of paying online. This is just what the city does if you want to pay your bills or fines online.

Posted in Baltimore, Customer Service, Government, Maryland, Technical | No Comments »

Don’t worry it is password protected

Thursday, August 30th, 2007

Today’s government lost/stolen laptop report comes to you from the Maryland Department of the Environment. Here’s what the Sun printed off the AP wires:

A laptop computer containing personal information on people with state licenses has been stolen, Maryland officials said.

The Maryland Department of the Environment said the laptop was stolen from a vehicle. It contains four databases that include personal information related to licenses issued by four state boards.

The data is password-protected and therefore unlikely to be accessed, state officials said. However, the department released a statement calling the theft a “significant breach of security.”

An investigation is underway, and in the meantime, state officials say they have notification letters to people who may be affected. The state has also alerted major credit bureaus.

Who is this moron thinking a password will protect that data?!?!?!

Luckily for everyone who’s information is contained in that database the most likely motivation for the thief was to steal the laptop and pawn it for quick cash. So they won’t be trying to crack the password….however whomever buys it next might, especially since they now know it contains personally identifiable information.

(Oh and wtf isn’t the Sun reporting on this or adding to it with their own reporting?)

Posted in Government, Opinion, Technical | 2 Comments »

Called to do my civic duty

Sunday, August 19th, 2007

Saturday’s mail arrived with not one but two official pieces of mail from the city. The first was the regular water bill. The second was to inform me that on October 2nd I have been called to my civic duty of jury duty. Based on what I’ve read of other’s have to say on the subject I’m wondering what my experience will be. I highly doubt I’ll actually sit on any jury and will most likely just waste my time.

Posted in Baltimore, Government | No Comments »

What’s the point of TSA screenings if…..

Tuesday, July 10th, 2007


“The tests are designed to be incredibly difficult and TSA does anticipate a fair level of failure.”

This is in an article about security failures at the Albany NY airport. (Fake bomb eludes airport test)

So the fact that the testers are successful in sneaking bombs onto a plane shouldn’t concern us because the are really good at it and expect your average screener to miss most of these?

Posted in Government, Opinion | No Comments »