Free Republic

Japan’s digital minister, who’s vowed to rid the bureaucracy of outdated tools from the hanko stamp to the fax machine, has now declared “war” on a technology many haven’t seen for decades — the floppy disk. The hand-sized, square-shaped data storage item, along with similar devices including the CD or even lesser-known mini disk, are still required for some 1,900 government procedures and must go, digital minister Taro Kono wrote in a Twitter post Wednesday. “We will be reviewing these practices swiftly,” Kono said in a news conference Tuesday, adding that Prime Minister Fumio Kishida has offered his full support....

Green Party presidential nominee Jill Stein told Fox News’ Neil Cavuto on Wednesday that people walk around with floppy disks in order to hack and reprogram voter machines. Stein–who is attempting to launch election recount efforts in Michigan, Pennsylvania, and Wisconsin to contest Donald Trump’s victory–first explained the indicators that people looked for when a machine is suspected of being tampered with or having an error. “So the indicators that they look for if they want to see a machine error or a foul play or tampering, you look for a couple of indicators,” she said. “So one is close...

Maybe they use the '80s flick "War Games" as a training film, too. The U.S. Defense Department is still using — after several decades — 8-inch floppy disks in a computer system that coordinates the operational functions of the nation's nuclear forces, a jaw-dropping new report reveals. The Defense Department's 1970s-era IBM Series/1 Computer and long-outdated floppy disks handle functions related to intercontinental ballistic missiles, nuclear bombers and tanker support aircraft, according to the new Government Accountability Office report.

The technology troubles that plagued the HealthCare.gov website rollout may not have come as a shock to people who work for certain agencies of the government — especially those who still use floppy disks, the cutting-edge technology of the 1980s. Agencies are also permitted to submit the documents on CD-ROMs and floppy disks, but not on flash drives or SD cards. “The Federal Register Act says that an agency has to submit the original and two duplicate originals or two certified copies,” said Amy P. Bunk, The Federal Register’s director of legal affairs and policy. As long as an agency...