Slowly They Modernize: A Federal Agency That Still Uses Floppy Disks

The New York Times ^ | December 7, 2013 | JADA F. SMITH

[Twotone]

But it is a pretty easy thing to have a secure website on which you can submit information. Adobe even has a way to do an electronic signature. It really shouldn’t be so difficult.

[Texas Fossil]

LMAO

What a tribute the the pecker in chief.

[Oatka]

Ironically, low technology is the best way to go.

I worked at a Marine base as a civilian computer programmer back in the '80s. One Marine told me about a demo he had seen. The highers ups were all abuzz over the new computers coming out and wanted to put all records on them.

He said that at the demo, the sergeant held up a notebook with all the pertinent data about the company, then fired a .45 round through it. Then he went over to a CRT and did the same thing. "Now which one will still work?" he asked.

[dhs12345]

Yup.

Think of the gaps in family history when these photos and movies are lost forever.

Scanning and preserving photos really is the best if you maintain the files.

Hey, maybe there is a business in this!

[dhs12345]

Lol. Exactly,

I also wonder what will happen to all of the paper nav charts. Electronic GPS nav systems dominate now. What happens when the nav systems die, wear out, or lose their power.

[Liberty Valance]

Hang on to those slide rules, M-1’s and compasses.

[ctdonath2]

Flash storage is likely banned there for being such high capacity, so fast, and so TINY that it’s way too easy to walk off with vast amounts of secrets without detection. When you’re talking 64GB on a fingernail, yeah they’re gonna ban ‘em.

[dljordan]

We were required by one of our Federal contracts (an agency of huge proportions and infamous reputation) to have on site several reel-to-reel tape drives for them to test with. This was as late as 2008.

[The Cajun]

to have on site several reel-to-reel tape drives for them to test with.
This was as late as 2008.

Good grief!
Start stop, start stop, spin, spin, start stop, start stop, etc, etc.

[roadcat]

You can go to a antique show or yardsale and buy old postcards or photo albums. NO ONE will be selling an unwiped harddrive at a yardsale with the intention that you will be rummaging through the content.

You are so right, that people are not adequately preserving picture (and video) content for the ages. Even if people print some content on home inkjet printers, the printed copies will not hold up well after a decade or two. Much better to have them printed by a professional service to standard photo paper.

As for digital content, make several copies, stored in different safe locations. Doesn't make sense to have multiple copies all in the same house, that could be lost due to bad circumstances. A friend of mine lost her home in the San Bruno gas explosion (one of the first three to burn) and all her personal memorabilia of her parents and family were lost. Even her safe melted and burned and all contents lost. Get a relative to hold a copy.

[Verginius Rufus]

If floppy disks were good enough for the Thomas Jefferson administration, they should be good enough for the Barack Obama administration. It’s racist to expect more of Obama.

[EVO X]

But it is a pretty easy thing to have a secure website on which you can submit information

If I had to guess, I'd say their document management system isn't setup for that. and they would probably have to do a mega millions systems upgrade.

[Texas Fossil]

Converting digital hi rez photos to silver based black & white photos would be the stuff. But sadly it is rare that digital photos are of that quality.

[BfloGuy]

It’s silly, I know. But I doubt that requiring the government to modernize will, in any way, advance the cause of liberty.

[dhs12345]

Ya. But it is getting better with the higher res cameras and scanners. And it is better than nothing. Quality is less important. Content is most important.

Too bad there aren't faster scanners. Maybe there are.

It probably won't make a difference in a thousand years any way. Maybe even 200 years or three or four or five generations.

Also, for all of those amateur photographers — group family photos and photos of people and family pets are what are interesting to future generations. The hundreds of shots of flowers and scenery get tossed the trash.

[zeugma]

Did you notice that it's compatible with your wang?

[zeugma]

Flash drives and SD cards are seen as too easy to compromise and counterfeit, even having the equivalent of hardware viruses in their wiring. Plug them in once and you’re boned. In many government agencies, US and foreign, they are banned outright.

Pretty much the same thing goes for CDs and floppies.. Flash drives and SD cards are just another portable media. I guess paranoia will leave some folks back in the 80s for decades to come. Frankly, I think flash drives rock, as their capacities are only getting higher and higher to meet modern data demands.

[zeugma]

That is standard operating procedure. Sending personal info with SS numbers via unsecured email is a big no no.

Then they should post their public key, so people can encrypt documents to send to them. This is not rocket science.

[markomalley]

Did you notice that it's compatible with your wang?

I have an old (related) Aerosmith song going through my head right now. I really shouldn't. This is Advent and I should be having better thoughts than that.

 

 

 

 

 

Thanks.

Thanks a lot.