letter to city council
Oct. 16th, 2006 11:43 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
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blackwingedboy
Subject: Tell the SFD to abandon pointless security theater
From: [trochee]
Date: Mon, 16 Oct 2006 23:39:16 -0700
To: nick.licata@seattle.gov
CC: "SFD Fire Chief (via)" <debbie.brooks@seattle.gov>
Mr. Licata:
Please use your role as City Councilperson overseeing Public Safety to resolve the silliness of the Fire Department trying to obfuscate data that they themselves are publishing.
http://seattle911.com/
http://blog.eberly.org/2006/10/12/worlds-worst-use-of-a-jpeg/
Since the SFD believes that this information is worth publishing, it shouldn't make it intentionally difficult to deal with. A competent computer professional could cope with this level of obfuscation, but it makes it difficult for (say) a blind user to deal with.
Please do not encourage this brand of security theater. It makes no one safer, and it attacks ordinary fair-use citizens under the false flag of fighting terrorism, while doing absolutely nothing in the way of making us safer. Tell the SFD to return to publishing the information in a non-obfuscated format.
--[trochee]
blackwingedboySubject: Tell the SFD to abandon pointless security theater
From: [trochee]
Date: Mon, 16 Oct 2006 23:39:16 -0700
To: nick.licata@seattle.gov
CC: "SFD Fire Chief (via)" <debbie.brooks@seattle.gov>
Mr. Licata:
Please use your role as City Councilperson overseeing Public Safety to resolve the silliness of the Fire Department trying to obfuscate data that they themselves are publishing.
http://seattle911.com/
http://blog.eberly.org/2006/10/12/worlds-worst-use-of-a-jpeg/
Since the SFD believes that this information is worth publishing, it shouldn't make it intentionally difficult to deal with. A competent computer professional could cope with this level of obfuscation, but it makes it difficult for (say) a blind user to deal with.
Please do not encourage this brand of security theater. It makes no one safer, and it attacks ordinary fair-use citizens under the false flag of fighting terrorism, while doing absolutely nothing in the way of making us safer. Tell the SFD to return to publishing the information in a non-obfuscated format.
--[trochee]
