It is a computer term. It means that while computers are accurate and fast that they are only as good as the data that has been fed to them. Its one of the issues with data management that data needs to be maintained, cleaned and accurate. In business it usually is or someone gets fired but in government it isn’t always the case, *cough*, might be safer to say rarely the case. Bet that is a big surprise.
Earlier today I was talking to an old friend. About two years ago he had returned to the neighbourhood after spending time working in other countries, Libya, Dubai, Russia, China etc. doing construction work. Last week he had a visit from Plod. It seems he was under arrest for failure to pay some fines. It worked out that the fines were from 2004 and 2005 and were for traffic offenses. For some reason unclear someone had sent plod around to pick him up to chase up the fines, Gordo must be desperate. The only thing is that he was not in the country during that time but abroad. Plod were not interested in the slightest. The computer, which is never wrong, says it was him so off to court he will be going. He has hired a solicitor, which he will probably have to pay for, to clear his name, if he can of course.
Now think about it. You get a photo sent to you of a speeding car. It has your registration but you know it wasn’t you. The photo has items in the back window you have never had. How do you prove it is not you? You can’t. So you end up being prosecuted. The computer is never wrong.
Talking about computers reminded me of a newspaper article I read about MoT evasion. It seems that a guy had been pulled up for not having an MoT. He showed his valid MoT to Plod who was not interested in the paper copy because it is now all on the computer. He was taken away and his car impounded and then crushed. He was getting nowhere with compensation because the process is that cars impounded with no MoT are scrapped. Plods computer had no record of an MoT so the process was started. Plod don’t accept paper records because they can be forged. The garage had entered the details on the system. Something had gone wrong somewhere though. No rules were broken, nobody is to blame and it is tough luck about the car. The computer is never wrong.
Now we have the situation where nobody can sue the government even if they are incompetent there is nothing anyone can do about these situations. Anyone with the capability of modifying data in a government system can make your life unlivable and you have no recourse.
With government databases expanding in scope and the implications of incorrect data being used in a malevolent way you can understand why they don’t want responsibility for their maintenance of that data. It is much easier to collect but much harder to keep up to date and correct. Something governments all over are very poor at.
And most of the databases are still only under development. What will it be like when they are all up and running and they start to be connected. Petabytes and Petabytes of garbage.
We should not be surprised, we vote Garbage in and they legislate Garbage as output.
Garbage in Garbage Out
It is a computer term. It means that while computers are accurate and fast that they are only as good as the data that has been fed to them. Its one of the issues with data management that data needs to be maintained, cleaned and accurate. In business it usually is or someone gets fired but in government it isn’t always the case, *cough*, might be safer to say rarely the case. Bet that is a big surprise.
Earlier today I was talking to an old friend. About two years ago he had returned to the neighbourhood after spending time working in other countries, Libya, Dubai, Russia, China etc. doing construction work. Last week he had a visit from Plod. It seems he was under arrest for failure to pay some fines. It worked out that the fines were from 2004 and 2005 and were for traffic offenses. For some reason unclear someone had sent plod around to pick him up to chase up the fines, Gordo must be desperate. The only thing is that he was not in the country during that time but abroad. Plod were not interested in the slightest. The computer, which is never wrong, says it was him so off to court he will be going. He has hired a solicitor, which he will probably have to pay for, to clear his name, if he can of course.
Now think about it. You get a photo sent to you of a speeding car. It has your registration but you know it wasn’t you. The photo has items in the back window you have never had. How do you prove it is not you? You can’t. So you end up being prosecuted. The computer is never wrong.
Talking about computers reminded me of a newspaper article I read about MoT evasion. It seems that a guy had been pulled up for not having an MoT. He showed his valid MoT to Plod who was not interested in the paper copy because it is now all on the computer. He was taken away and his car impounded and then crushed. He was getting nowhere with compensation because the process is that cars impounded with no MoT are scrapped. Plods computer had no record of an MoT so the process was started. Plod don’t accept paper records because they can be forged. The garage had entered the details on the system. Something had gone wrong somewhere though. No rules were broken, nobody is to blame and it is tough luck about the car. The computer is never wrong.
Now we have the situation where nobody can sue the government even if they are incompetent there is nothing anyone can do about these situations. Anyone with the capability of modifying data in a government system can make your life unlivable and you have no recourse.
With government databases expanding in scope and the implications of incorrect data being used in a malevolent way you can understand why they don’t want responsibility for their maintenance of that data. It is much easier to collect but much harder to keep up to date and correct. Something governments all over are very poor at.
And most of the databases are still only under development. What will it be like when they are all up and running and they start to be connected. Petabytes and Petabytes of garbage.
We should not be surprised, we vote Garbage in and they legislate Garbage as output.