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Computing Technology | Public Policy | Privacy and Security

Tuesday, January 26, 2010 - Pinning Down Accidents Caused by Cell Phones

Category: Public Policy

The National Safety Council (NSC) estimates that 25% of all crashes are caused by cell phones. The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) estimates that driver distraction from all sources (including cell phones) contributes to 19 percent of all crashes (2008). Even then, this is not necessarily the cause of the crash.

Both cannot be true, someone here is wrong. The NSC report is merely a statistical extrapolation of what might have happened, heavily based on averages. More real world data to corroborate their numbers is needed. The NHTSA has the opposite problem. Their numbers are based on real world reports. These suffer from reporting errors, often because those involved in a crash might not report being distracted while driving.

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Monday, December 7, 2009 - IPv6 Quirks

Category: Computing Technology

After playing with IPv6 extensively over the weekend, I discovered a number of oddities about the protocol.

First, autoconfiguration only works with /64 subnets. Anything more or less, even if the router advertises the prefix, clients will not add the prefix to its own interface. This seems like it can problematic as users cannot easily break down these prefixes into smaller subnets. This could be a key area for using DHCPv6 as a replacement.

Second, autoconfiguration will not work if the computer is configured as a router for IP forwarding. This means that additional work for defining routes needs to be done even if you only plan on using the default gateway on a network. This can either be in the form of static routes or a full blown routing protocol.

Third, 2002::/16 (IPv4 transition addresses) doesn't count as a real IPv6 address when source address selection occurs. Instead it is considered a separate scope, similar to an IPv4 address. This means when websites have both a 2001::/16 IPv6 address and a IPv4 address, the IPv4 address is used by default. If the website has a 2002::/16 IPv6 address and a IPv4 address the 2002::/16 IPv6 address is used to connect. This seems very odd and inconsistent and can lead to confusion.

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Saturday, August 29, 2009 - Standing Room only at Town Hall, Angry Groups from Both Right and Left

Category: Public Policy, Law

If Rep. Susan Davis' (D-CA) office can't plan a town hall correctly I don't know how we expect her to do any better with larger government programs like health care. The parking lot wasn't large enough to accommodate over 1,000 citizens, some constituents ended up walking several blocks into order to park their cars only to get denied entry. The facility was full with standing room only for nearly 1,000 concerned citizens.

In her defense the question and answer session was handled rather well. Every got to put their name "in a hat" and they were randomly drawn through the Q&A session. Each person had one minute and thirty seconds to make a statement or ask a question. Susan Davis would then respond, usually with a shorter answer than the question given. Also to her credit, even though the event was only scheduled from 1 to 2 PM she took questions well past 2 until about 2:30.

Some highlights:

To answer the question before it was asked, Rep. Davis stated, "I just want you to know that, yes, I have read the health bill, it is over 1,000 pages..." (14:35)

"We rank 45th in infant mortality rates, behind Cuba," said Davis (18:10) before the crowd uproared.

In response to a question about hate crime legislation (HR 1913) only protecting certain groups, she stated, "I think that when you are discriminating against one group, you're really discriminating against all groups." (34:50) That sounds like an oxymoron to me, if you discriminate against all groups then its not discrimination is it? That's just "the way it is."

One person asked, "I know that you are supposed to represent your constituents and I happened to look at the poll you have on your website and its says that 'the health care reform should include a government managed public option,' 85% of respondents said no." (1:10:05) After an uproar, Davis responded, "I would like to see a public option...I think you have to stick to your principles." (1:13:30)

[UPDATE: 09-03-2009]

Rep. Susan Davis' office also provided handouts with some "facts" about health care. The exact straight line increase chart called "The Cost of Doing Nothing" struck me as odd so I did some research. I spent a few hours looking at the Kaiser Family Foundation's website trying to find this $1,800 increase every year through 2023 since that is what the slide cited as the source. I couldn't find it. I couldn't find any Kaiser Family Foundation research that projects costs into the future. I could find a figure close to the $12,500 starting point for 2008, so at least that checks out. So I called Susan Davis' office and inquired about what publication I could find this statistic in. After a couple of days I got a response that mentioned a few sources.

[UPDATE: 09-23-2009]

I got another call from Susan Davis' office specifically citing a New York Times Economics blog as the source for the $1,800/year figure. This is sort of true since it suggests $18,000 over ten years starting in 2010, but this is more likely to be distributed unevenly, less than $1,800 in the early years and more in the later part of the decade due to inflation. I do not know why the lower KFF estimates were used except to mislead. When using the starting point of $12,500, $1,800 is a 14.4% increase, compared to 10% when starting at $18,000.

Analysis of blog post shows that this number it an expert opinion and not a fact, it has not been peer reviewed and assumes the current defunding trend for existing government health programs continues. In fact when considering an inflation rate on average of 3% this is exactly canceled by 3% wage increases as stated on the blog. That only leaves a true cost increase of about 4% per year. Much of this 4% is not due to an increased cost of care, it is because government programs are paying out less than in the past and service providers need to recover those costs. A quick table of costs at a 7% annual growth rate.

2010 - $18,000
2011 - $19,260
2012 - $20,608
2013 - $22,050
2014 - $23,594
2015 - $25,245
2016 - $27,013
2017 - $28,904
2018 - $30,927
2019 - $33,092
2020 - $35,408

Another government program is NOT a solution based on testimony by John M. Pickering of Milliman, Inc., to the House Committee on Ways and Means. Analysis of this testimony is UNBELIEVABLE. What it says is that in 2007, $1,788 (10.7%) of the total health care cost for a family of four went to COVERING THE COSTS OF THOSE ON MEDICAID AND MEDICARE and the uninsured. So because the government does not pay out market rate for services rendered, its costs the average family $1,788 every year. If the existing government programs paid out at market rates, costs for these families would drop by $1,788. The additional cost for government programs would likely be spread across the tax base because this is a zero sum game.

Full Town Hall Audio (MP3)

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Monday, July 13, 2009 - What Kind of Website Does $9.5 Million (USD) Get You?

Category: Public Policy, Computing Technology

On July 9th, the Recovery Accountability and Transparency Board announced the task order awarded to redesign the Recovery.gov website, creating version 2.0. So what exactly will $9.5 Million (USD) get us?

According to the government's Statement of Objectives (SOO) for Recovery.gov, here is a brief breakdown.

Included:
- Hardware for Servers
- Software for Servers
- XML Proxy
- Continuity of Operations (COOP) Site (optional)
- Documentation
- Information Assurance Protections
- Section 508 Compliance
- 24x7 Operations and Maintenance
- Security Maintenance and Patching
- Web Interface and Design (HTML)
- VPN Between Sites
- IDS/Firewall
- Web Based Reports
- Web Content Management System

NOT Included (Government Provided):
- Database Services
- Uninterrupted Power Supply (UPS)
- Internet Access/Bandwidth
- Facilities
- Storage Area Network (SAN)
- Power/Cooling
- Data Collection

The initial launch is proposed for August 27, 2009. Does anyone else out there think they can possibly do this for any cheaper than $9.5 Million? Anyone?!

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Friday, April 10, 2009 - FairTax Response from Rep. Susan Davis (D-CA)

Category: Public Policy, Economics, Law

In January, I wrote a letter to my Representative, Susan Davis, in support of the FairTax and asking her to co-sponsor H.R. 25. I received her response today. While I was not expecting her to become a co-sponsor, or even support the H.R. 25 (FairTax), I am amazed at her response.

First, she defends the current tax system of over 70,000 pages and counting. Apparently her most important concerns are NOT its complexity or even how some of our presidential appointees are either not smart enough to understand the current system or are cheating it. First and foremost, she cites the need to 1) eliminate the marriage penalty and 2) increase the child tax credit. Yes, because these are the biggest problems with our tax code?

Secondly, she and her staff have apparently not read H.R. 25 and are in serious need of education on the FairTax. She claims that under a national sales tax "the vast majority of the tax burden would fall on the poor." Normally this statement is true, but NOT as implemented in H.R. 25. The FairTax calls for a prebate which means that anyone at the poverty level pays exactly $0, that is ZERO DOLLARS in federal taxes. This actually ends up being less taxes than what a person at the poverty level pays today, considering that the 7.65% payroll tax rate will be repealed as part of H.R.25.

She also claims that this would "make our goods and services prohibitively expensive" to sell in other countries. This is just plain false. The FairTax is charged at the point of sale to the consumer. Any good shipped overseas would be sold completely free of US taxes, allowing us to become an exporting powerhouse.

Please contact Susan Davis' office using one of the methods below and straighten them out about the FairTax:

Congressional Website

U.S. House of Representatives
1526 Longworth House Office Building
Washington, DC 20515
Phone: (202) 225-2040
Fax: (202) 225-2948

4305 University Avenue
Suite 515
San Diego, CA 92105
Phone: (619) 280-5353
Fax: (619) 280-5311

[UPDATE 04-13-2009] I also forgot to include the repeal of any income taxes at the poverty level. That could be another 10% or so more in taxes under the current system as compared to the FairTax.

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Wednesday, March 18, 2009 - US Treasury: National Debt Hits $11 Million Millions Today

Category: Public Policy

According to the US Treasury, today the national debt hit $11 trillion for the first time in history. That is over $36,000 per person. Or 190 times Bill Gate's net worth, the richest man in the world. It averages to about $1,500 overspent every single second since this nation was founded in 1776. You can get even more details about how this math comes out in real time on my US National Debt Counter website. Ever wonder how many "bridges to nowhere" $11 trillion can buy?

So why the goofy headline of $11 million millions? I don't think the public really understands how much a trillion of anything is. Downloaded a trillion songs lately? How long is a trillion seconds? (about 32,000 years) Now how about a million seconds? 12 days. Much easier to comprehend. Now take that million and square it. And if that isn't enough for you, multiply that by 11. That's the national debt. Its really, really, really big.

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Wednesday, February 11, 2009 - TSA Non-compliant with Congressional Mandate

Category: Public Policy, Law

In response to a Freedom Of Information Act (FOIA) request for documentation regarding the Information (Data) Quality Act, the Transportation Security Administration (TSA) stated that it doesn't even have the required administrative guidelines on how to implement such a policy. This is in violation of both the law passed by Congress and Office of Management and Budget (OMB) mandate.

Many, if not most federal agencies have such a policy publicly available on their websites, whereas TSA does not have one at all. And as for the report that is supposed to go to OMB every year? They haven't created one of those, ever.

Public Law 106-554, Section 515, passed in December of 2000, states that Executive Branch Agencies shall:

(A) issue guidelines ensuring and maximizing the quality, objectivity, utility, and integrity of information (including statistical information) disseminated by the agency, by not later than 1 year after the date of issuance of the guidelines...

(B) establish administrative mechanisms allowing affected persons to seek and obtain correction of information maintained and disseminated by the agency that does not comply with the guidelines...

(C) report periodically to the Director--(i) the number and nature of complaints received by the agency regarding the accuracy of information disseminated by the agency; and (ii) how such complaints were handled by the agency.

As far as I can determine, TSA has never done any of these.

And an interesting note for anyone that has not tried submitting a FOIA request before, I received a letter postmarked on December 22 letting me know that my email was received on December 15. I sent the email the night of December 9. First, that means it took them nearly one week to acknowledge that they received my email. Note that this did not include processing of any kind besides giving me a tracking number. Second, this means it took them an entire week to get the letter from the FOIA office and into the mail. The entire process, from start to finish, took nearly two months, just to tell me that they did not actually have any records for me. I can't imagine how long an actual document would take to get out of them.

[UPDATE 02-22-2009] OMB Guidelines require that each agency publish their Information Quality Guidelines on their website and also a notice in the Federal Register.

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Saturday, January 24, 2009 - New Red Light Cameras in San Diego

Category: Public Policy, Hardware, Privacy

Since November, the city of San Diego has activated 7 red light cameras. The city's website also has descriptions of which directions are being targeted. Intersections include:

10th Avenue at "A" Street
10th Avenue at "F" Street
Aero Drive at Murphy Canyon Road
Camino Del Rio North at Mission Center Road
Camino De La Reina / Camino Del Rio North at Qualcomm Way
Clairemont Mesa Boulevard at Convoy Street
Cleveland Avenue at Washington Street
Del Mar Heights Road at El Camino Real
Grape Street at North Harbor Drive
Mira Mesa Boulevard at Scranton Road
Mission Bay Drive at Garnet Avenue

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Wednesday, January 21, 2009 - US Government Digitally Signs .gov TLD

Category: Public Policy, Software, Security

Using my own DNS Check tool I noticed that the .gov is now signed using DNSSEC. This means that the government has actually met its schedule on this one. But there are a few issues:

1. Who actually signs it? NIST? DHS? Some other agency? This is important for answering #2.

2. How do we validate this key? How do we know this isn't a hacker's key? The agency that maintains the key should distribute a hash of the public key so that we know its the real deal.

I'm hoping in the near future all of this information will come out, but until it does, .gov isn't really any better off than it was before.

UPDATE [2-18-2009]: Apparently GSA is responsible for .gov and DNSSEC. It is still considered in experimental stages and keys may change, therefore no final key information is available for validation yet.

UPDATE [3-1-2009]: GSA has posted the .gov public key on their website.

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Computing Technology | Public Policy | Privacy and Security