Wednesday, August 12, 2009

What private enterprise can't do, the government must...

...like commit PR gaffes and boners so appalling that anybody in the private sector who screwed up like that would be fired, blacklisted, and probably shunned. In the full Amish sense of the word.

As Kevin Baker mentioned Sunday, any sufficiently advanced stupidity is indistinguishable from malice, and let me tell you something, the EULA at the .gov's Cash For Clunkers website is stupidity so advanced that previous forms of stupidity slither in its wake like lobe-finned fish trying to catch Secretariat.

Now, do I think that the Fed.Gov deliberately set up this website to snoop the downloaded pr0n and Solitaire high scores on the computers of car dealerships across this great land? No. What likely happened is that the same boilerplate language that would be used when logging into a .mil or .gov computer for official purposes was used unmodified for Joe Cardealer, and the first guy that read the fine print (as people in their profession are wont to do) hit the ceiling. And justifiably so.

"Property of the U.S. government"? Seriously, Cletus, how did you think people were going to react when they read that? The funny part is how this is being treated in the media. Or not treated, actually. Can you imagine if this had happened while Ashcroft was AG? zomg you'd be able to hear the howls of the Kossacks across half of cyberspace...

But, hey, it's not a surveillance-happy police state when Democrats do it, right?


BONUS!: White House mulls change to Fed.Gov use of tracking cookies!

13 comments:

Anonymous said...

And THEY (the dot gov) expect US (The average citizen) to trust them with haelth care, when they can't even get a simple computer logon disclaimer right??

B Woodman
III

Jay G said...

"the EULA at the .gov's Cash For Clunkers website is stupidity so advanced that previous forms of stupidity slither in its wake like lobe-finned fish trying to catch Secretariat"

See, that's why they're scared of us. Snark so sharp you can shave with it...

NotClauswitz said...

But they're gonna use chocolate-chip cookies!

Tango Juliet said...

Hey! Back off! Have a little pity for the new teleprompter!

It's not fair!

Anonymous said...

Big Obama is Watching!
This is the kind of thing the Evil, Fascist, Racist, Name-calling Republicans would use to direct their Evil, Fascist, Racist Propaganda. But the Obamites (rhymes with sodomites) will use it to spread their "truth." And to track those who need "re-education."

drjim said...

They already want everything else we own, so why not out PC's?
j/k! This is another example of dim-witted government at it's best.

Steve Skubinna said...

Discussing this is racist.

Except for my comment, I mean.

George said...

Tam wins again ... thus proving the 'Net is the preferred choice for those who want to sharpen their wits ... and learn something, too ... while being reminded that 'government' is really spelled with 'stupid'

We need Tam up here in the Great White North ... even if it's exceedingly hot today here in southern Ontario. Of course, as Roberta X pointed out, we'd never allow her across the world's longest (now) guarded border.

Regards.

atlharp said...

"..any sufficiently advanced stupidity is indistinguishable from malice.."




That is by far one of the best quotes I have seen in a while. Love that straight razor snark!

Old NFO said...

It is standard boilerplate on a gov computer... I stare at that crap EVERY day... sigh...

leBolide said...

Ol' Glenn may have slightly exaggerated the point.

http://www.snopes.com/computer/internet/clunkers.asp

However, I haven't cared enough to go to the website myself to verify who's right.

Tam said...

Glenn was as hyperbolic as any other media figure.

But the text he put on the screen was the actual text. As Old NFO mentioned above, it's pretty standard government boilerplate used any time you log into a government network. It's usually only seen by government employees, though, since it normally only applies to them

bdickens said...

"But, hey, it's not a surveillance-happy police state when Democrats do it, right?"

No, of course not. The leftists have only your best interests at heart. Because they care so much