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Tokyo police lose 2 floppy disks containing info on public housing applicants

mainichi.jp

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Re: Tokyo police lose 2 floppy disks containing info on public housing applicants

#131

Post by spacechild1 »

martopix wrote: post #79
Overtonwindow wrote: post #62

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I must commend the Berlin transit system. Except for the occasional strike, I found it to be extremely efficient, clean, and rather polite. Especially the trams.

I've heard very many complaints about Deutsche Bahn though. On the other hand here in Switzerland trains are crazy good, perhaps not as much as Japan, but if you have a 5 minutes connection you can normally assume you'll make it.

Deutsche Bahn is notorious for being late or having technical problems. It's like a running gag. Everytime I have to take a train in Germany, I make sure to have at least 1-2 hours between connecting trains/flights.

And yes, Japanese trains are crazily accurate. Not only are they (almost) always perfectly on time, they also stop exactly at the position that is indicated on the platform, so you can line up and wait right in front of the train door.

Re: Tokyo police lose 2 floppy disks containing info on public housing applicants

#132

Post by Nbox9 »

howdydoo wrote: post #117
egeozcan wrote: post #6

Will we pretend that the usage of floppy disks is normal in almost 2022? Or perhaps the news value comes from this fact, but then, they don't make any comment on it... Weird. I also love that they seem to be taking this seriously, even when it's just 38 people, while all over the world, governments (cough Turkey cough) don't even apologize when they leak the personal details of ALL of their citizens. Well.

I think using floppies is a great way to safeguard privacy. Even if someone finds those disks, they won't be able to read them

I had to break this to you, but you can definitely find an affordable USB Floppy drive in Tokyo.

Re: Tokyo police lose 2 floppy disks containing info on public housing applicants

#133

Post by jart »

howdydoo wrote: post #117
egeozcan wrote: post #6

Will we pretend that the usage of floppy disks is normal in almost 2022? Or perhaps the news value comes from this fact, but then, they don't make any comment on it... Weird. I also love that they seem to be taking this seriously, even when it's just 38 people, while all over the world, governments (cough Turkey cough) don't even apologize when they leak the personal details of ALL of their citizens. Well.

I think using floppies is a great way to safeguard privacy. Even if someone finds those disks, they won't be able to read them

Or safeguard nuclear weapons. America's nukes got hacked literally the same month they proudly announced that they had modernized away from floppies. You'd think that'd be more newsworthy than a couple public housing applicants in Japan having their privacy invaded but nope. https://justine.lol/sectorlisp2/#footnote6

Re: Tokyo police lose 2 floppy disks containing info on public housing applicants

#134

Post by WalterBright »

laumars wrote: post #126
WalterBright wrote: post #100

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> prone to media decay Not in my experience. I have floppies 40 years old that haven't lost a byte.

So have I. But I also remember plenty of floppies that I’ve written data to not even surviving the 30 minute cycle to college back in the 90s. Maybe consumer floppies were of a lower quality than published ones? I don’t know if that’s true but I do remember having a really low success rate with consumer floppies (it got so bad I’d often write two floppies just in case).

I'd cut a notch in the floppies so I could turn them over and use them. The back sides worked fine, too!

Re: Tokyo police lose 2 floppy disks containing info on public housing applicants

#135

Post by ineedasername »

dehrmann wrote: post #35
wodenokoto wrote: post #20

BusinessInsider, October 2021, "The Japanese government is still trying to phase out floppy disks a decade after Sony stopped making them" https://www.businessinsider.com/japan-government-tokyo-flopp...

> The disks "almost never broke and lost data," Yoichi Ono, who is in charge of managing public funds for Meguro ward, told the Nikkei. This was not my experience.

Mine either. Even putting aside media decay there is the mechanical failure (for 3.5"). For mechanical issues I was the go-to resource among friends and family, and when I worked at my Uni's help desk. I'd open them up and put the spring back together, or if need be take apart the drive to remove stuck disk, canabalize a blank disk-- toss out the media, keep the mechanical bits to slot in the old media.

Unfortunately stuck disks were often corrupted if mechanical failure occured during r/w. Sometimes I was still able to use recovery software to get data off, but plenty of times it was gone.

Re: Tokyo police lose 2 floppy disks containing info on public housing applicants

#136

Post by ricardobayes »

Just last year we got documentation for a self-driving car project from a japanese OEM on a DVD. Hilarity ensued, I remember IT running around like a headless chicken trying to find a reader, then trying to buy one, then trying friends and family.

Re: Tokyo police lose 2 floppy disks containing info on public housing applicants

#137

Post by ibejoeb »

howdydoo wrote: post #117
egeozcan wrote: post #6

Will we pretend that the usage of floppy disks is normal in almost 2022? Or perhaps the news value comes from this fact, but then, they don't make any comment on it... Weird. I also love that they seem to be taking this seriously, even when it's just 38 people, while all over the world, governments (cough Turkey cough) don't even apologize when they leak the personal details of ALL of their citizens. Well.

I think using floppies is a great way to safeguard privacy. Even if someone finds those disks, they won't be able to read them

I still have a functioning zip 250 drive. Step.

Re: Tokyo police lose 2 floppy disks containing info on public housing applicants

#138

Post by lnxg33k1 »

howdydoo wrote: post #117
egeozcan wrote: post #6

Will we pretend that the usage of floppy disks is normal in almost 2022? Or perhaps the news value comes from this fact, but then, they don't make any comment on it... Weird. I also love that they seem to be taking this seriously, even when it's just 38 people, while all over the world, governments (cough Turkey cough) don't even apologize when they leak the personal details of ALL of their citizens. Well.

I think using floppies is a great way to safeguard privacy. Even if someone finds those disks, they won't be able to read them

Was thinking the same thing, like theoretically it's better than encryption :D

Re: Tokyo police lose 2 floppy disks containing info on public housing applicants

#139

Post by nine_k »

howdydoo wrote: post #117
egeozcan wrote: post #6

Will we pretend that the usage of floppy disks is normal in almost 2022? Or perhaps the news value comes from this fact, but then, they don't make any comment on it... Weird. I also love that they seem to be taking this seriously, even when it's just 38 people, while all over the world, governments (cough Turkey cough) don't even apologize when they leak the personal details of ALL of their citizens. Well.

I think using floppies is a great way to safeguard privacy. Even if someone finds those disks, they won't be able to read them

Punched tape, OTOH, is too easy to read.

Re: Tokyo police lose 2 floppy disks containing info on public housing applicants

#140

Post by marban »

Nbox9 wrote: post #132
howdydoo wrote: post #117

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I think using floppies is a great way to safeguard privacy. Even if someone finds those disks, they won't be able to read them

I had to break this to you, but you can definitely find an affordable USB Floppy drive in Tokyo.

Haven't checked lately but I bet Yodobashi still has a dedicated Floppy section.
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