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The entire US Social Security database was uploaded on a random cloud server, Whistle-Blower Says

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  • Protests must be more sustained instead of the bursts of activity we've seen. Even direct action will fail if it's not combined with large scale protest methods. Unfortunately, people get worn down doing constant protesting.

    Trump won't be around in another 10 years one way or another. It's rare to find cults of personality that outlive their leader. But if we use Nazi Germany as an example of what happens next, it's basically a return to liberalism. Half the country went to that almost immediately, and the other half just took longer. Granted, Germany has a better social safety net than America does now, but it's hardly anti-capitalist.

    TBH, I don't have a good answer. I'm mostly doing the anarchist thing of using social groups to get people to rely less on capitalism and more on each other. That's more of a long term thing, though.

    I appreciate the honest reply, I agree with most things, I think large scale protests must include a general strike. This administration is all about the bottom line, and a sustained general strike will hit them hard.
    I'm well aware of the argument of people living paycheck to paycheck seemingly unable to do that, however the alternative is very bleak.
    I wish you luck and keep it up

  • Protests must be more sustained instead of the bursts of activity we've seen. Even direct action will fail if it's not combined with large scale protest methods. Unfortunately, people get worn down doing constant protesting.

    Trump won't be around in another 10 years one way or another. It's rare to find cults of personality that outlive their leader. But if we use Nazi Germany as an example of what happens next, it's basically a return to liberalism. Half the country went to that almost immediately, and the other half just took longer. Granted, Germany has a better social safety net than America does now, but it's hardly anti-capitalist.

    TBH, I don't have a good answer. I'm mostly doing the anarchist thing of using social groups to get people to rely less on capitalism and more on each other. That's more of a long term thing, though.

    Yeah, more protests that aren't just like once a month. But I don't know how to organize that, and most of the platforms that people communicate on are owned by the worst people.

  • I appreciate the honest reply, I agree with most things, I think large scale protests must include a general strike. This administration is all about the bottom line, and a sustained general strike will hit them hard.
    I'm well aware of the argument of people living paycheck to paycheck seemingly unable to do that, however the alternative is very bleak.
    I wish you luck and keep it up

    Just to address the idea of a general strike, you pretty much have to get sustained protests going first. More specifically, they have to encourage people from different backgrounds to work together outside of capitalist structures.

    I forget the exact example, but I think it was the 1934 San Fransisco general strike. Whole city shut down, including restaurants. One problem was that there were a lot of young men who worked in the factories and lived in small apartments with no kitchens at all. They went to the general strike committee and made it known that they rely on the restaurants for their daily meals. The committee understood and had some restaurants approved for opening along with delivery trucks so they could operate. Problem solved.

    Point is that you need organization around that sort of thing where even marginal groups can have their problems heard. Without getting people into organized groups, it's going to fail. If nobody listened to those young men and did something, then they would have had the choice of starving or crossing the picket line.

  • Just to address the idea of a general strike, you pretty much have to get sustained protests going first. More specifically, they have to encourage people from different backgrounds to work together outside of capitalist structures.

    I forget the exact example, but I think it was the 1934 San Fransisco general strike. Whole city shut down, including restaurants. One problem was that there were a lot of young men who worked in the factories and lived in small apartments with no kitchens at all. They went to the general strike committee and made it known that they rely on the restaurants for their daily meals. The committee understood and had some restaurants approved for opening along with delivery trucks so they could operate. Problem solved.

    Point is that you need organization around that sort of thing where even marginal groups can have their problems heard. Without getting people into organized groups, it's going to fail. If nobody listened to those young men and did something, then they would have had the choice of starving or crossing the picket line.

    Those are all excellent and valid points, do you think normal thinking Americans will manage that, sustained protests followed by strike action. I completely understand the point made about the young men, the elderly and most vulnerable groups will need support. Right now all I see is some protests in some states but nothing indicates this will evolve.

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    DOGE employees should be executed by firing squad. In fact, we should bring back a whole bunch of capital punishments- hanging, beheading, drawing and quartering, burning at the stake; unless you meet the fascists at their level you’ll never scare them enough to keep their political views private. Like what happened to Mussolini was TOO GOOD for every single person involved in the executive branch right now.

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    I’ve said for a while that the SSA should do basically this exact thing. In a more controlled manner, but still the same result. Announce something like “in two years, we’ll make our database public. Every single name, DOB, and SSN will be publicly searchable.

    It sounds radical, but SSNs were never meant to be a secure form of ID. Old cards even said something like “do not use this as ID” on them. But organizations quickly latched onto it because they wanted to have a way to identify individuals with the same name and DOB. And SSNs were convenient because people already had them.

    It would force organizations to develop their own way to ID people. It would be a huge step towards making an actual secure form of ID. And the warning time would give people enough time to design the new system and roll it out, while still giving a hard deadline for when it needs to be done.

  • Those are all excellent and valid points, do you think normal thinking Americans will manage that, sustained protests followed by strike action. I completely understand the point made about the young men, the elderly and most vulnerable groups will need support. Right now all I see is some protests in some states but nothing indicates this will evolve.

    Honestly, no. US infrastructure for this stuff is scaffolding, at best.

  • Honestly, no. US infrastructure for this stuff is scaffolding, at best.

    It's looking very bad eh...

  • OP, please revise your title to match the article, it is currently misinformation.

    The complaint is about where the oversight comes from. This is not some random cloud server.

    “S.S.A. stores all personal data in secure environments that have robust safeguards in place to protect vital information,” he said. “The data referenced in the complaint is stored in a longstanding environment used by S.S.A. and walled off from the internet. High-level career S.S.A. officials have administrative access to this system with oversight by S.S.A.’s information security team.”

    I agree that "random server" is a bad choice of words, but do want to add additional information context as the concern isn't necessarily unwarranted. Another qoute from the article:

    “I have determined the business need is higher than the security risk associated with this implementation and I accept all risks,” wrote Aram Moghaddassi, who worked at two of Mr. Musk’s companies, X and Neuralink, before becoming Social Security’s chief information officer, in a July 15 memo.

    Its also sounds like they did spin up a new database with limited security/oversight to "move" faster. Why that's worrisome is they aren't denying there is a risk or lack of security, they are just saying it's justified.

  • Zero details or sources other than one disgruntled employee, yeh I’m not buying this at all. They probably count azure or AWS as a “random cloud server”.

    Really scraping the bottom of the barrel for anti-doge/elon content these days.

    If you read the article, the current head of the SSA acknowledges they did set up the system being discussed and that he's accepted the increased risk of the implementation as there is a "business need".

  • DOGE employees should be executed by firing squad. In fact, we should bring back a whole bunch of capital punishments- hanging, beheading, drawing and quartering, burning at the stake; unless you meet the fascists at their level you’ll never scare them enough to keep their political views private. Like what happened to Mussolini was TOO GOOD for every single person involved in the executive branch right now.

    Do this to everyone Trump hired or part of his cohort including him. They are all evil gangster criminals.

  • I’ve said for a while that the SSA should do basically this exact thing. In a more controlled manner, but still the same result. Announce something like “in two years, we’ll make our database public. Every single name, DOB, and SSN will be publicly searchable.

    It sounds radical, but SSNs were never meant to be a secure form of ID. Old cards even said something like “do not use this as ID” on them. But organizations quickly latched onto it because they wanted to have a way to identify individuals with the same name and DOB. And SSNs were convenient because people already had them.

    It would force organizations to develop their own way to ID people. It would be a huge step towards making an actual secure form of ID. And the warning time would give people enough time to design the new system and roll it out, while still giving a hard deadline for when it needs to be done.

    Exactly who I trust to create a logically organized database of all peoples within the United States. The current administration..

  • Do this to everyone Trump hired or part of his cohort including him. They are all evil gangster criminals.

    Drain the swamp by filling the capital buildings Miyazaki style.

  • I’ve said for a while that the SSA should do basically this exact thing. In a more controlled manner, but still the same result. Announce something like “in two years, we’ll make our database public. Every single name, DOB, and SSN will be publicly searchable.

    It sounds radical, but SSNs were never meant to be a secure form of ID. Old cards even said something like “do not use this as ID” on them. But organizations quickly latched onto it because they wanted to have a way to identify individuals with the same name and DOB. And SSNs were convenient because people already had them.

    It would force organizations to develop their own way to ID people. It would be a huge step towards making an actual secure form of ID. And the warning time would give people enough time to design the new system and roll it out, while still giving a hard deadline for when it needs to be done.

    I dont have a problem with that, but what I will object to is the current regime making the replament ID system. 1) there is no way they would design it well or securely, smart people capable of building such a system are usually the first to bounce to another country as they will have the means to do so. 2) it would be too easy for them to lord the new ID over peoples heads (like they are with immigration status now) and impliment a social credit score like China does.

    Your correct that SSNs should not be used as IDs, but getting the government to build a modern system for that opens too many avanues for abuse (especially with darth cheeto in charge).

  • Exactly who I trust to create a logically organized database of all peoples within the United States. The current administration..

    I don't love the idea of the Trump administration being in charge of creating a national ID system, but this maybe the best time to make one.

    If Democrats proposed a national ID database the crazy 'FEMA is coming to round us up' republicans would freak out about it. As proven with Trump sending the national guard into D.C., as long as Trump does it they don't care.

  • I’ve said for a while that the SSA should do basically this exact thing. In a more controlled manner, but still the same result. Announce something like “in two years, we’ll make our database public. Every single name, DOB, and SSN will be publicly searchable.

    It sounds radical, but SSNs were never meant to be a secure form of ID. Old cards even said something like “do not use this as ID” on them. But organizations quickly latched onto it because they wanted to have a way to identify individuals with the same name and DOB. And SSNs were convenient because people already had them.

    It would force organizations to develop their own way to ID people. It would be a huge step towards making an actual secure form of ID. And the warning time would give people enough time to design the new system and roll it out, while still giving a hard deadline for when it needs to be done.

    It could be why it's being done, because SSN are being used inappropriately. Potential leaks like this will force banks and other entities to begin making account access more difficult, and this will make it from difficult to next to impossible for a large number of seniors, those who've saved the most and have the biggest accounts, to access it. This would happen even if it was done in a two year controlled manner.

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    SSN is a good example of the illusion of freedom for Americans, why have a standardized Photo ID when you can have a set of numbers that when leaks can ruin your life.

  • You know, at some point you actually do something to put out the fire, you leave, or you burn.

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  • I agree that "random server" is a bad choice of words, but do want to add additional information context as the concern isn't necessarily unwarranted. Another qoute from the article:

    “I have determined the business need is higher than the security risk associated with this implementation and I accept all risks,” wrote Aram Moghaddassi, who worked at two of Mr. Musk’s companies, X and Neuralink, before becoming Social Security’s chief information officer, in a July 15 memo.

    Its also sounds like they did spin up a new database with limited security/oversight to "move" faster. Why that's worrisome is they aren't denying there is a risk or lack of security, they are just saying it's justified.

    Oh yea, agree it's a dumb move. This should be on-prem data IMO.

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    That's wild, I made a developer account in like 2010 and released an app and forgot about it. I still get developer emails about my account lol. I never touched it.
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    totonator@lemmy.worldT
    CBA has always chased the wrong things anyway. Hell, I wouldn't be surprised if they did that to stop the bots from revealing ML or stuff like that.
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    True, they will always play the victim even as they're hurting and exploiting people they see as less than. Don't allow them to have any evidence of credibility. I think his idea of hell would probably be having to lower himself to the standard of living most people would consider normal and comfortable. Having to learn to actually survive day to day if he were to find himself suddenly without a cent of the money he was born into and all future wages and earnings garnished to pay the people he has harmed, would probably be a fate worse than any hell he could imagine. I know there's no justice and there is pretty much no chance of him ever facing any sort of proportional punishment or consequence for his actions. But, if I could make it happen, having to suddenly learn to survive with the rest of us mortals in the society he has helped create, in his late fifties, wondering how he will even afford something as basic as healthcare while his body rapidly ages from stress and gradually falls apart, after a lifetime of unimaginable privilege, unable to go anywhere or do anything he enjoys without being recognized and having people curse his name. That would be the fate I would wish on somebody like him.
  • Could Windows and installed apps upload all my personal files?

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    rikudou@lemmings.worldR
    Yes, every application has access to everything. The only exception are those weird apps that use the universal framework or whatever that thing is called, those need to ask for permissions. But most of the apps on your PC have full access to everything. And Windows does collect and upload a lot of personal information and they could easily upload everything on your system. The same of course applies for the apps as well, they have access to everything except privileged folders (those usually don't contain your personal data, but system files).
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    theyll only stop selling politicians and block that
  • Adaptive Keyboards & Writing Technologies For One-Handed Users

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    Came here to say this.
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    stroz@infosec.pubS
    Move fast and break people
  • Microsoft Bans Employees From Using DeepSeek App

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    (Premise - suppose I accept that there is such a definable thing as capitalism) I'm not sure why you feel the need to state this in a discussion that already assumes it as a necessary precondition of, but, uh, you do you. People blaming capitalism for everything then build a country that imports grain, while before them and after them it’s among the largest exporters on the planet (if we combine Russia and Ukraine for the “after” metric, no pun intended). ...what? What does this have to do with literally anything, much less my comment about innovation/competition? Even setting aside the wild-assed assumptions you're making about me criticizing capitalism means I 'blame [it] for everything', this tirade you've launched into, presumably about Ukraine and the USSR, has no bearing on anything even tangentially related to this conversation. People praising capitalism create conditions in which there’s no reason to praise it. Like, it’s competitive - they kill competitiveness with patents, IP, very complex legal systems. It’s self-regulating and self-optimizing - they make regulations and do bailouts preventing sick companies from dying, make laws after their interests, then reactively make regulations to make conditions with them existing bearable, which have a side effect of killing smaller companies. Please allow me to reiterate: ...what? Capitalists didn't build literally any of those things, governments did, and capitalists have been trying to escape, subvert, or dismantle those systems at every turn, so this... vain, confusing attempt to pin a medal on capitalism's chest for restraining itself is not only wrong, it fails to understand basic facts about history. It's the opposite of self-regulating because it actively seeks to dismantle regulations (environmental, labor, wage, etc), and the only thing it optimizes for is the wealth of oligarchs, and maybe if they're lucky, there will be a few crumbs left over for their simps. That’s the problem, both “socialist” and “capitalist” ideal systems ignore ape power dynamics. I'm going to go ahead an assume that 'the problem' has more to do with assuming that complex interacting systems can be simplified to 'ape (or any other animal's) power dynamics' than with failing to let the richest people just do whatever they want. Such systems should be designed on top of the fact that jungle law is always allowed So we should just be cool with everybody being poor so Jeff Bezos or whoever can upgrade his megayacht to a gigayacht or whatever? Let me say this in the politest way I know how: LOL no. Also, do you remember when I said this? ‘Won’t someone please think of the billionaires’ is wearing kinda thin You know, right before you went on this very long-winded, surreal, barely-coherent ramble? Did you imagine I would be convinced by literally any of it when all it amounts to is one giant, extraneous, tedious equivalent of 'Won't someone please think of the billionaires?' Simp harder and I bet maybe you can get a crumb or two yourself.