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The People's Code

code.gov

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Re: The People's Code

#81

Post by exolymph »

mwfunk wrote: post #66
ohyoutravel wrote: post #57

Earlier quoted context omitted.

That is...most jobs. Unless I'm not understanding your meaning. Many jobs will fire you for, say, getting a DUI or getting arrested for drug possession or something. And many employers do drug testing. But realistically, a "limited sub-selection of possible activities" is just about everything everyone else can do, except maybe go to Cuba or smoke pot, the latter of which will get one fired at many non-government pla…

Smoking weed is not going to get you fired anywhere , except for the worst jobs in the worst places. Any place that does regular drug testing and/or cares one teeny tiny itsy bitsy bit about employees smoking weed when they're not working is guaranteed to be a terrible place to work at, for that and any number of other reasons. There is not a single reputable company in the entire tech industry that does this.

Uh, yeah, "in the tech industry" being the huge caveat here. Most HN readers might work in tech, but most people in general don't.

Re: The People's Code

#83

Post by greglindahl »

toomuchtodo wrote: post #76
dangrossman wrote: post #75

Earlier quoted context omitted.

You can't make an FOIA request for code. You can only make requests for agency records , and in the definitions section of the bill, computer code is explicitly listed as something that isn't an agency record. "computer software, including source code, object code, and listings of source and object codes, regardless of medium are not agency records"

Works created by the federal government are in the public domain, per section 105 of the copyright code. So you'd be right I can't use a FOIA request to obtain the code, but if obtained through other methods, I believe I'm in the clear for hosting it on Github.

Basically, you're trying to figure out some way to piss off the techies and managers you want to convince to be more open? Even if FOIA worked on code, you really aren't helping your cause..

Re: The People's Code

#84

Post by mistermann »

former_govt wrote: post #55
bretthoerner wrote: post #36

Earlier quoted context omitted.

What was so bad about the security clearance aspect?

They want to know deeply personal details about your life, show up at your neighbour's and friends doors to question them, have explicit control over where you can travel on your vacation, deeply care about what you do in your free time, and mishandled all of it -- all in the vague guise of preventing blackmail and sabotage. The blackmail and sabotage argument, as near as I can tell, is a farce because our enemies an…

> show up at your neighbour's and friends doors to question them

I think there's a lot of people that would like the associated intrigue that would come with this, it may be a cheaper way of hiring good developers that have a bit of a vanity streak.

Re: The People's Code

#85

Post by mistermann »

voltagex_ wrote: post #69
CiPHPerCoder wrote: post #58

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I'm not on their payroll, and I'd already fixed the CVE upstream over a year ago , so no.

I have no intention of getting into an argument with you but wow, you must be having a bad day. I wonder if you would have gotten a different response to your report if you'd taken a different tone with the people trying to understand the issue itself.

> if you'd taken a different tone

I've been thinking about this a lot lately....I think "why didn't you just use a different tone" is very similar to how people that grew up in environments where everything went right when they say to people struggling "why don't you just do x,y,z". The problem is, they don't know how.

Re: The People's Code

#86

Post by lucaspiller »

gbog wrote: post #80
masterleep wrote: post #26

Horrible name - the Federal Government of the United States is not "the People".

And horrible domain name: How come `code.gov` is US-only? How come it's motto is "Help propel America’s next breakthrough in innovation"? If this in not imperialism, I don;t know what is.

The gov TLD is US only. Other countries have their own, e.g. In the UK most government sites are under gov.uk.

Re: The People's Code

#87

Post by uabstraction »

qwertyuiop924 wrote: post #8

Most of the code looks fairly dull and single-purpose. Except NASA's code, as you may expect. Trick and OpenMCT both look at least interesting, and OpenMCT in particular could be used as the basis for many an interesting web-based project.

I've already seen OpenMCT integrated with Kerbal Space Program. It looks like a great platform for real-time sensor data visualization. I'd love to hook it into a drone and violate some FAA regulations :)

Re: The People's Code

#88

Post by dx034 »

ohyoutravel wrote: post #57
not_ed_snow wrote: post #52

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The explicit and everpresent awareness that you are owned by your employer in your off hours, for a limited sub-selection of possible activities. In other words, you are not your productivity, you are required to live their moral code in your off hours.

That is...most jobs. Unless I'm not understanding your meaning. Many jobs will fire you for, say, getting a DUI or getting arrested for drug possession or something. And many employers do drug testing. But realistically, a "limited sub-selection of possible activities" is just about everything everyone else can do, except maybe go to Cuba or smoke pot, the latter of which will get one fired at many non-government pla…

Is drug testing always legal in the US? Can drug use on weekends get you fired for any job?

I lived in several European countries, and as far as I know there's no way an employer can force you to take a drug test, with the exception of people handling heavy machinery. If you are on drugs while you're at your job this will of course have consequences, but a drug test that would reveal drug use in your free time is nothing the employer should be allowed to do or even care about.

As an example, the rules in the UK clearly say that you need consent and that it has to be required by the nature of the job, which should exclude most (if not all) office jobs. [1]

[1] https://www.gov.uk/monitoring-work-workers-rights/drug-testi...

Re: The People's Code

#89

Post by hasbroslasher »

not_ed_snow wrote: post #52
bretthoerner wrote: post #36

Earlier quoted context omitted.

What was so bad about the security clearance aspect?

The explicit and everpresent awareness that you are owned by your employer in your off hours, for a limited sub-selection of possible activities. In other words, you are not your productivity, you are required to live their moral code in your off hours.

Ironically, the Federal Government still ends up paying the price despite all of their efforts. I know around 10 top tier programmers who use drugs of some sort, have left of mainstream politics or just don't fit the "government worker" bill, but are no less patriotic and competent people. The loss of these people from the upper echelons of the state tech system is almost palpable. The CIA director was hacked by a bunch of teenagers from Eastern Europe, for Christ's sake!

And then on top of that, even with all the screening they do, they still stop the Snowdens from infiltrating, still can't stop foreign intelligence, still can't get a sysadmin worth their salt to keep our future President's clandestine email server safe from the public's prying eyes!

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