. . . we have the following two \u201cinconvenient truths\u201d:<\/p>\n
We all remember just how \u201cwonderfully\u201d the rollout of the Federal ObamaCare website went. Because of this debacle \u2013 and fears concerning system security because of the poor initial implementation of that website \u2013 the AP made a FOIA request for documentation regarding the website\u2019s system security plan.<\/p>\n
The Administration is flatly refusing to release any information about the subject<\/a>. They are allegedly doing so for two reasons. First, because the release of system security plan might help attackers circumvent it. And second, because \u201creleasing this information would potentially cause an unwarranted risk to consumers’ private information.\u201d<\/p>\n Sheesh – what a load of crap. First, any competent IT professional will tell you that this is merely an example of what\u2019s called \u201csecurity through obscurity.\u201d They will also tell you that \u201csecurity through obscurity\u201d is merely the illusion of security; a competent attacker can figure out what you\u2019ve done in a reasonable amount of time.<\/p>\n Second: the allegation that releasing the system security plan \u201cwould potentially cause an unwarranted risk to consumers\u2019 private information\u201d is absurd. The plan doesn\u2019t contain a damn bit of PII.\u00a0\u00a0 So releasing the plan doesn\u2019t risk disclosing squat concerning \u201cconsumers\u2019 private information.\u201d<\/p>\n 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 \u201cjust as competently\u201d as the initial website implementation \u2013 and thus would risk further embarrassing the Administration.\u00a0\u00a0 My money\u2019s on that being the real reason behind the refusal.<\/p>\n 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 \u2013 Counsel to the President \u2013 wrote a memo reminding all Federal agencies of the need to consult with the White House if any document was requested that had \u201cWhite House equities\u201d<\/a>. The requirement to consult with the White House involved all types of requests \u2013 including FOIA, Congressional, subpoena, and GAO<\/em>.<\/p>\n You can see an extract of the memo here<\/a>.<\/p>\n Gee. What a wonderful way to prevent the public from finding out what you\u2019re really doing. The late LBJ and Richard Nixon must be smiling in their graves. They\u2019d have heartily approved this!<\/p>\n Transparent? Yeah, right. Just about as transparent as a freaking stone wall.<\/p>\n 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 \u201dcrazies\u201d and \u201cassholes<\/a>\u201d you can be fairly sure that they aren\u2019t really interested in either operating openly or fairly. And when the Attorney General won\u2019t investigate such incidents, you know that a distain for open government goes pretty far \u201cup the chain\u201d.<\/p>\n Like maybe to the very top.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
![extract of the memo here<\/a>.<\/p>\nGee. What a wonderful way to prevent the public from finding out what you\u2019re really doing. The late LBJ and Richard Nixon must be smiling in their graves. They\u2019d have heartily approved this!<\/p>\nTransparent? Yeah, right. Just about as transparent as a freaking stone wall.<\/p>\nBut 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 \u201dcrazies\u201d and \u201cassholes<\/a>\u201d you can be fairly sure that they aren\u2019t really interested in either operating openly or fairly. And when the Attorney General won\u2019t investigate such incidents, you know that a distain for open government goes pretty far \u201cup the chain\u201d.<\/p>\nLike maybe to the very top.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":". . . we have the following two \u201cinconvenient truths\u201d: We all remember just how \u201cwonderfully\u201d … Meanwhile, In the “Government Transparency” Department . . .<\/span>Read more<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":623,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[213,185,15],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-54667","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-your-tax-dollars-at-work","category-crime","category-legal"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.azuse.cloud\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/54667","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.azuse.cloud\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.azuse.cloud\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.azuse.cloud\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/623"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.azuse.cloud\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=54667"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.azuse.cloud\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/54667\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.azuse.cloud\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=54667"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.azuse.cloud\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=54667"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.azuse.cloud\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=54667"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}](\"http:\/\/causeofaction.org\/assets\/uploads\/2013\/06\/White-House-Equities1.png\"){kind=link}