Posted on 12/07/2013 8:53:47 AM PST by Hojczyk
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 does that through one of the approved methods of transmission, she said, “they’ve met the statutory requirement.”
But the secure email system — which uses software called Public Key Infrastructure technology — is expensive, and some government agencies have not yet upgraded to it. As a result, some agencies still scan documents on to a computer and save them on floppy disks. The disks are then sent by courier to the register.
(Excerpt) Read more at nytimes.com ...
I think the last time I used a computer that COULD even use a floppy disc was at least six years ago, perhaps longer.
It is time to cut half the departments…and cut the ones left in half….the only people making money are government workers and welfare class…the rest are going downhill fast….look for Sears, and jc penney to go out of business soon..it back to rice and beans…forget the 15 dollar an hour fast food…we can not afford the prices now...
“...still receive some of it on the 3.5-inch...”
That’s not to bad. Wouldn’t be surprised if they were still using 5 1/4 floppy’s.
A few months ago I tried to help my mother submit a certification that she had not remarried to SS. She’d sent one earlier, but it was ‘lost’. They would accept a fax, but I could not email a scanned copy of the document. It was hell just trying to find an email address on their website & there was no way to attach a document. I sent a note asking how I could send a pdf file. I got a response to my question two weeks later that they do not accept pdf files. By that time, my mother had already mailed (registered, of course) the second document.
Too many federal agencies are still technologically in the 80’s or early 90’s. Just ridiculous!
I always get a charge out of federal cube critters pedantically following rules while higher-ups abuse their powers of office in cahoots with their lefty political comrades. IRS, NSA et al
Flash drives are a security risk. And not a reliable storage media. They are easily corrupted.
CD’s are better.
Floppies? not large enough to do useful work today. Possibly Zip drives. I know lots of businesses that use them for daily backup.
But then again, HHS is run by idiots. But what do you expect from ComDem POLs?
In that case, I’d recommend that no one board a space shuttle.
Older computers still require a floppy disk for OS installation. Had to buy a usb floppy drive a couple of years ago.
Back in Arkansas, it was common knowledge that Gov. Bill Clinton had an 8" floppy.
Haven’t had a computer with a diskette drive for years. It’s time the Federal Government received an 80% haircut.
“”By that time, my mother had already mailed (registered, of course) the second document””
I thought you were going to say - by that time, my mother had already remarried.
Interesting though — the new cool technology is a flash disk for the os and boot. Faster boot time, etc.
Wonder what will happen when the disks start failing. Maybe they are more reliable and redundant.
CD and DVD media has a limited shelf life, too ~ 10 years at best. The cheap disks, just a couple of years. Storage is important, too. Certainly, they guarantee the media life for 20 years, etc. but will only replace the defective disk — so sorry that your family pictures are gone.
The down side of our modern digital lives — all of the families pictures are on digital media. Many people don't back up their hard drives and then of course, there is the shelf life of the media.
I have good ol family photographs that are 110 years old. No way digital media will last that long.
I bought a raid drive sever plus I back it up to two places.
That is an IBM 3330-1 (or maybe -2) HDA assembly (or a generic copy from STK/StorageTek)... last time I had my hands on one was about 1985.
Last time I saw the 8” floppy was in the “museum” section of a university. It was next to the punchcard keyboard, funny enough.
Why not a CD and a DVD? They’re two separate forms of media - they just look identical.
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