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Comment Re:The problem is the funding of pensions... (Score 1) 338

by arobatino (#55834991) Attached to: Trump Wants Postal Service To Charge 'Much More' For Amazon Shipments

Here is a link to a GAO report which specifies the 50 year period. From the Highlights:

PAEA required USPS to prefund its future retiree health benefits as part of comprehensive postal reform by establishing the PSRHBF along with an initial target period to fund the unfunded liability in 50 years.

It explicitly states on page 7 of the full report

Contrary to statements made by some employee groups and other stakeholders, PAEA did not require USPS to prefund 75 years of retiree health benefits over a 10-year period. Rather, pursuant to OPM’s methodology, such payments would be projected to fund the liability over a period in excess of 50 years, from 2007 through 2056 and beyond (with rolling 15-year amortization periods after 2041). However, the payments required by PAEA were significantly “frontloaded,” with the fixed payment amounts in the first 10 years exceeding what actuarially determined amounts would have been using a 50-year amortization schedule.

And I never claimed that the Republicans didn't try to block course changes to the PAEA afterwards. I said, accurately, that the NALC later lied about the Republicans having forced the original PAEA down their throat, in a bid for sympathy. It's ironic that you're accusing me of reading right-wing websites (though that's the sort of thing I'd expect rabid partisans on either side to say). The only link I gave was to a copy of an NALC web page, which I doubt you looked at. Reading something into the other person's statements that they never actually said is a sign of being partisan. Try working on that.

Comment Re:The problem is the funding of pensions... (Score 1) 338

by arobatino (#55832987) Attached to: Trump Wants Postal Service To Charge 'Much More' For Amazon Shipments

It's a 50 year period, not 75. That's the reference to "September 30, 2056" in the legislation (the PAEA was passed in December 2006). And the exaggeration that it's 75 years was originated by the NALC, one of the postal labor unions. Along with the claim that the PAEA was forced on the USPS by Republicans in Congress (in reality it was bipartisan, and supported by postal management and the NALC itself). Here is what the NALC actually thought of the legislation just after it passed (notice how they brag about how bipartisan it was). The NALC was in favor of it at the time because total mail volume was still increasing (even though First Class mail peaked in 2001) and they thought the prefunding would safeguard their retirement benefits. As it turned out, total mail volume peaked right around the time the PAEA passed, then started dropping. When they realized the mistake they'd made, they decided to play victim by pretending that the PAEA was forced on them, and exaggerating the time period. It worked beautifully, as you can see from all the ignorant comments here with a "5, Insightful".

Comment Re:She's a witch! (Score 2) 458

Leftist ideologies are much younger, but already have overtaken Christianity's death count (180M to 100M) -- but then, if you take together the sum of Abrahamic faiths, the race is about neck-to-neck.

Shouldn't the death count be measured as a percentage of population? Otherwise, reducing the death rate is penalized.

Submission + - Firefox Quantum Arrives With Faster Browser Engine, Major Visual Overhaul

Submitted by Anonymous Coward
An anonymous reader writes: Mozilla today launched Firefox 57, branded Firefox Quantum, for Windows, Mac, Linux, Android, and iOS. The new version, which Mozilla calls "by far the biggest update since Firefox 1.0 in 2004," brings massive performance improvements and a visual redesign. The Quantum name signals Firefox 57 is a huge release that incorporates the company's next-generation browser engine (Project Quantum). The goal is to make Firefox the fastest and smoothest browser for PCs and mobile devices — the company has previously promised that users can expect "some big jumps in capability and performance" through the end of the year. Indeed, three of the four past releases (Firefox 53, Firefox 54, and Firefox 55) included Quantum improvements. But those were just the tip of the iceberg.

Submission + - Yahoo Triples Estimate of Breached Accounts To 3 Billion (wsj.com)

Submitted by Anonymous Coward
An anonymous reader writes: A massive data breach at Yahoo in 2013 was far more extensive than previously disclosed, affecting all of its 3 billion user accounts, new parent company Verizon Communications Inc. said on Tuesday. The figure, which Verizon said was based on new information, is three times the 1 billion accounts Yahoo said were affected when it first disclosed the breach in December 2016. The new disclosure, four months after Verizon completed its acquisition of Yahoo, shows that executives are still coming to grips with the extent of the security problem in what was already the largest hacking incident in history by number of users.

A spokesman for Oath, the new name of Verizon’s Yahoo unit, said the company determined last week that the break-in was much worse than thought, after it received new information from outside the company. He declined to elaborate on the source of that information. Compromised customer information included usernames, passwords, and in some cases telephone numbers and dates of birth, the spokesman said.

Submission + - U.S Studying Ways to End Use of Social Security Numbers for ID (securityweek.com)

Submitted by wiredmikey
wiredmikey writes: US officials are studying ways to end the use of social security numbers for identification following a series of data breaches compromising the data for millions of Americans, Rob Joyce, the White House cybersecurity coordinator, said Tuesday.

Joyce told a forum at the Washington Post that officials were studying ways to use "modern cryptographic identifiers" to replace social security numbers. "I feel very strongly that the social security number has outlived its usefulness," Joyce said. "It's a flawed system."

For years, social security numbers have been used by Americans to open bank accounts or establish their identity when applying for credit. But stolen social security numbers can be used by criminals to open bogus accounts or for other types of identity theft.

Comment Re:Mail your creditors. (Score 1) 78

by arobatino (#55299913) Attached to: Equifax Says 2.5 Million More Americans May Be Affected By Hack

Write your creditors and say you no longer consent to your information being sent to equifax due to their ongoing security issues. There are two other reporting agencies they can use, tell them you only want information shared with experian and transunion until further notice.

At this point there's no reason to believe the other bureaus are any less leaky than Equifax. Equifax may have just been the first bureau with a breach of this scale purely by chance. It would be different if there was a history of repeated breaches unique to them.

Comment Re:Good reason to not have a Slashdot account. (Score 1) 136

by arobatino (#55224073) Attached to: AI Just Made Guessing Your Password a Whole Lot Easier

An account is only vulnerable if people use weak passwords, or reuse them across multiple sites (some of which are probably storing them in plaintext). People should use a unique randomly generated password for each site, storing them with a password manager (and backing it up), not try to be Rain Man and remembering all of them.

An account can develop a reputation, which helps moderation. And the owner can be anonymous, so not vulnerable to retaliation.

Having said all that, I can't see any good reason for requiring an account for submitting stories. They can stand or fall on their own merit.

Comment More important to ALLOW strong passwords (Score 2) 127

It's more important that a site allow strong passwords, by having long or no length limit, and no character restrictions. Amazon, Google, and LinkedIn, for example, may allow weak passwords, but unlike many sites, they also allow very strong passwords (no length or character restrictions AFAIK). If someone doesn't want a strong password (for example if they insist on trying to remember dozens of different passwords instead of using a password manager) forcing one will just make them write it on a sticky pad. Which may or may not be OK, depending on whether it's a secure environment.

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