[balug-talk] Good Letter in San Francisco Chronicle Today

[jim stockford]

    re one of your remarks--it would be great to see
any and all increased activity on balug-talk.

    how can those who are interested coordinate?
"super-wiki" seems like a reasonable candidate.
balug (i.e. any lug) may not be the appropriate
driving force; rather some IT enterprise seems
more credible, some group with a sales person
to call, visit, etc.
    but lugs and other do-gooders certainly could
provide support--advertising the need, providing
community access, promoting OSS and FOSS....


On Oct 8, 2006, at 7:45 PM, Robert B. Livingston wrote:

> Michael T. Halligan wrote:
>> Robert B. Livingston wrote:
>>> To all:
>>>
>>> The Letters Page of the San Francisco Chronicle had an excellent
>>> letter today by John F. Kohler of Daly City responding to a recent
>>> report that the SFPD relies on Windows 95:
>>>
>>>     Editor --
>>>
>>>     Sgt. John Lewis, of Park Station, (Letters, "Why do pols hate
>>>     cops?,'' Oct. 1), mentions in his third paragraph, a truly sad 
>>> state
>>>     of affairs: "Do the people of San Francisco realize that we still
>>>     use Windows 95 as our computer system?''
>>>
>>>     The cost of replacing that system with the later version 
>>> Microsoft
>>>     product would be prohibitive and pointless because Windows is
>>>     well-known as virus ridden, worm infested and Trojan-horse
>>> vulnerable.
>>>
>>>     I'd gladly volunteer to help in an effort to introduce free, open
>>>     source, secure software to the Police Department computers, such 
>>> as
>>>     Linux, FireFox, OpenOffice.org, and more to assist the officers.
>>>
>>> Hope it opens a few eyes, and inspires some more intelligent ideas.
>>>
>>> Sincerely,
>>>
>>> Robert B. Livingston
>>> San Francisco
>>> http://www.geocities.com/gruaudemais/confetti_page.html
>>>
>>> Linux, for example, has been around since its creation by Linus
>>> Torvalds in 1990, with improvements early and often.
>>>
>>>
>> Man what a horrible idea. Forcing open source upon unwitting
>> end-users? "This is broke, who do we get to fix it?" "The community"
>> "What the hell is the community" "the people who support us" "Ask
>> them" "They said NO"
>
> Who said anything about "forcing?"
>
> My guess is that the police would be delighted to get any improved 
> tools
> to enable them to do their jobs better.
>
> What a shame that despite SFPD's  proximity to Silicon Valley and
> politicians niggling over bringing wi-fi to the city, a simple move to
> modernize police IT at all (maybe before the above letter), sits as a
> "quiet" issue.
>
> I am familiar with the Southern Station which looks like a huge
> building, but in which the police operate out of cramped offices.  The
> computers I saw last year on a visit looked like hand-me-downs from
> Goodwill-- and it seems, and I suspect-- they have never been changed 
> or
> upgraded.
>
> We know (at the very least) that Linux would give those old computers
> new lives.  Imagine new computers with Linux!  I'd put Linux against
> Windows at High Noon any day.
>
> Part of the obvious problem at the Southern Station is that being in
> such an old building, it might be somewhat expensive to rewire their
> network-- but here in San Francisco we have many IT people needing
> work-- and would love to do something for the community.
>
> *Linux, or not, there should be an investigation and auditing of the
> police department's IT capabilities and needs. What is the plan?  Is
> there a plan?*
>
> Recently, I have been in contact with an investigator about a crime I
> witnessed on the street.  I happened to have my digital camera which I
> used while the victims and I were chasing the suspect.
>
> I was rather embarrassed that one of the lead investigators in the case
> was unable to receive my photos over e-mail.
>
> I burned copies to a CD, which he lost after the police gave it to an
> attorney.
>
> The investigator asked me to burn another copy.  I think it was
> embarrassing to him because he admitted to me that he "knew very little
> about computers" and that he did not know how to make a CD.  I made him
> a second copy.
>
> Of course this is just an anecdote and it does not mean that other
> police would be as unskilled-- but again, my own experience from 
> working
> at businesses where Windows on old computers were utilized is that
> people throw up their hands in despair over un-defragmented and
> bug-infested hard drives and and keep records in more old-fashioned 
> ways.
>
> I think it would be nice if this discussion grows.
>
> Quite often I read elsewhere that many criminal successes depend on
> being able to afford and utilize technology better than cash-strapped
> police departments.
>
> Linux as an OS does have many pluses:
>
> It is easier to set up and learn today than in the past.
>
> Many institutions, and governments are turning to Linux.
>
> Linux probably has the best language support, a huge plus in a
> multi-cultural city like San Francisco.
>
> Linux is cheap and versatile.
>
> Linux communicates with other OSs today-- and can be made highly 
> portable.
>
> As the letter writer pointed out-- it is not buggy or crash-prone.
>
> And it will likely remain more cost-effective than Windows and slower 
> to
> become obsolete.
>
> What have I left out?
>
> The only major "drawback" I see for implementing Linux in government
> (including Law Enforcement offices) offices is that it will eliminate
> the high-roller schmoozing that opens the doors to the most highly
> rewarded criminals in our society-- the ones that steal from the top of
> it by adding on "unplanned fees" and charges for cost overruns and
> bloated salaries.  The ones who get kick-backs and dividends from
> crooked officials.
>
> Whereas our police may be unskilled with the latest programs and
> hardware-- I believe that is only because they have neither.
>
> Maybe BALUG could plan a program to address the subject "Linux and Law
> Enforcement."
>
> Sincerely,
>
> Robert B. Livingston
> San Francisco
>
>
>
>>
>>
>>
>>
>>
>
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