SATA ports have been on mainboards for nearly 10 years. IDE is a near 20 year old technology and IDE drives are still available. The format methods for disks are current, and data is EASILY migrated from one partition format to another. SATA 6 is backward compatible with SATA I drives and PCI IDE adapters cost about $15. (or USB external adapters)

Backups should not do 10 years without being migrated, and disk hardware 10m years from now is practically guaranteed to be available to read your disks, and legacy hardware is cheap and easily acquired. Tape hardware migrates to new formats every few years, can only be read in proprietary devices by proprietary software in most cases. Acquiring even a 5 year old legacy tape drive is near impossible, and new tape drives have significant issues reading any more than 1 previous tape generation. Migration to new tapes should happen every 3 years, at a cost of about $80/tape. HDD can go 7-10 years between migrations, at a cost of about the same per drive, but with greater capacity in most cases, easier migration tools, readily available, and drive sets can be RAID sets adding reliability and parity on inexpensive hardware.

Mean time between bit failure on a linear tape is 30 days.

That means 1 bit on that tape will be unreadable, or flipped, within 30 days. Assuming your tape uses parity writing, that's not much of an issue, but data failure may occur after a few months. This assumes lab quality storage conditions and treatment of the tape. imagine the same tape traveling in an iron box across town and back, and all the shuffling in warehouses and back to you eventually, not to mention the magnetic interference going up/down a few elevator shafts...

MTBF for bits on a HDD platter are measured in years, not days.

...and that's why offline HDD storage should equally be in RAID format.

That said, I worked for a D2D disaster recovery provider, and one time only we had issues recovering data from an archive drive due to disk failure. Suspicion was the drives were pulled before the job actually finished.

Now, HDDs sitting idle have a bit failure decay measured in years. Worst case, if the drive mechanism failes, the platters are still fully readable and easily recovered. Data being pulled from legal hold usually has no timeframe recovery requirements (unlike disaster recovery, there's no SLA for court requests of data), and worst case, HDD repair is a viable option.

Tapes have a bit failure rate measured in days, typically 30 for most tapes, and once data decays from the tape, it can not be recovered. Also, most typically, a tape recorded on one set of drives can not be read by another set of identical drives. often, the very same drive has trouble reading its own tapes if they've been shuffled out of the building and back in months later. I used to do an experiment in a classroom teaching DR methods where I'd perform a backup and bit-level verify (and only 3 in 10 pass verify at the bit level, but assuming it passed I'd continue, then I'd take the tape out of the drive, drop it just 6 inches to a table, flat, then put it back in the drive and repeat verify, and it would predictably fail 100% of the time. I'd repeat that with a hard disk backup of the same data set, let each person in the room drop the drive from shoulder height to the floor, then repeat the verify, and I never once had a failure (though once I had trouble getting the drive back in the tray slot).

Huh? the red flag rules are almost all covered already by HIPAA and Sox. There's immense overlap between them, red flag just applies to a lot more than medical and legal records... Doctors already are required to obey these rules, and most small doctors, due to the cost, already use intermediary companies to handle billing and colelction eliminating them from direct responsibility (and the creditor lablel).

1) When where the initial 3 versions released each? If the first version was approved long before Apple overhauled their internal scanning practices, it might have slipped through, and continued to do so until someone caught it on a much later update.
2) what new features did 1.2 add, or bring light to that may have been latent or underutilized? Did each revision add something new, and make it more "widget like" eventually ending up as a desktop-style application?
3) where did this app get its "overlay" data, and did someone else complain about this app pulling from their servers for commercial purposes?
4) were any of the data connections the app made in violation of other apple policies? Did it take user data and preferences and send them to central servers outside of the user and Apple's control (potential privacy or identity theft issues)?
5) Was there something else in this app that was a concern? Anyone have it before it got pulled to really look?
6) Were any of this companies other apps pulled or rejected at the same time? Perhaps this "harmless" app is being used as a media example, when in reality, other apps get the dev itself banned.
7) the "no widget" rule is actually fairly well defined. Apps are to access a content resource, or their own data, but "aggregator" apps that provide multi-functions doing little more then pulling from other sources fall under the "no real value" category. A new application is one thing, pulling data from other sites together and making it look like it;s your data, or a unique app is half pointless, and a disservice to users, and those apps get banned, including any that provide desktop like functionality.

i don;t know. Out of 200,000 apps, apple's made a few mistakes, but this app seems half fishy to start with, no genuine content of it's own, and a shady dev who goes running to blogs over 1 app that, lets face it, doesn't really sound like an "investment" a company would be behind?

You know what prevents the dissemination of fingerprints to authorities? THE LAW. a) the scan itself is only a hash, not an image, and certainly not from an evidence admissible source or quality process, so in the first place, no legal authority even cares. b) request of that data would have to be mandated by a judge in an active case and after a search warrant was issued. c) exporting the has of specific students is probably not even possible. d) this data is protected by law the same as any other PII on file with any company or entity. e) the courts can mandate you as a citizen provide your fingerprints or DNA at any time, in association with any active case, in order to compare such to already collected evidence, or anytime you are processed by a prison system for any reason, but if there's no case associated with that data (you, for instance, are suspect of stealing something from school property, and for SOME reason can't be otherwise positively ID'd?). f) this is not a malicious dictatorship with drones who do what the government says, we live in a world of people appointed by US to do their jobs, and where they're held accountable to be themselves imprisoned if the agencies we made them commission to watch their backs find them screwing up.

If some cop requests a fingerprint of my kid, and forced the school to hand it over (and I promise, that is NOT something a school would do without a warrant, they don't give data to anyone unless forced), then that cop would be sent to prison, that judge disbarred, and I;d get a nice half a million payday. I'm OK with those checks and balkanbces such that i believe that system would not be abused (especially given it's lack of any real value to a government agency, being nothing more than a hash in a database, and completely useless without the finger itself to verify the hash).

Bingo.

Your student record must be kept by law in most states after you leave the school until your death in some places or beyond X years in others, which nowhere do i believe that is less than 40 years. A pin access or fingerprint is not part of your student record, its just an access system used to validate your ID, so it has no reason to be kept. That said, is your fingerprint private? PII (Personally Identifiable information) is by court ruling NOT private, it's just illegal to share that information or to provide unauthorized access, or fail to secure it to current government standards.

details? As in the fingerprints in the scanning system? Yes, they're deleted. in fact, the entire system is reseeded every year of enrollment, and purged automatically! Why? simple biometric system like this are only accurate enough to get a "good guess" based on fingerprints in a database. The more prints, the less accurate the response.... They remove the old data to make current data more reliable BY DESIGN.

As for all the OTHER student data, I don't know about there, but here in this state, it has to be kept INDEFINITELY by law. My old high school in NY was just forced to go dig out my records from my time there as part of a government background check. It took them 2 weeks, but they had the data in hardcopy in a warehouse (yea, nothing was on computer back then, at least at a common high school level, I'm old). They have to keep that data at least until my death, released only on request by certain agencies, (not even directly to me, because my record contains confidential information from counselors) and will never become publicly accessible data, but its there, and will never be deleted. A fingerprint of a child is barely valid for a few years, its in constant flux, and generally useless to anyone, and is not at-risk data.

Also, everyone seems to have jumped on this system as something that can be easily abused. Did anybody bother to ask what the second factor of authentication was? a pin number, student ID, anything? i doubt very highly simply the thumb print alone is full and valid identification.

We use a similar system at our grocery store. Enter out phone number, thumb print, then a pin number, and we don't need to have our key-fob store discount card, or any credit cards handy, we select the stored method of payment (we can have several) and the pin number for that card (only works with pin, not signature, as they'll have no card to cross validate), and the transaction is done without taking out a card or wallet.

The odds of someone having my fingerprint, knowing my phone number, system pin, and card pin all at the same time, pretty slim. The store backs it up with a guarantee, and the data and card information is stored to federal PCI network standards.

My kid's fingerprint can be lifted almost anywhere. I really don't care if some database stores it for part of an ID validation, so long as validation requires MORE than the finger. Personally identifiable information (PII) is by law defined as not-private information, its just illegal to SHARE that information.

Sirloin is the "common" steak. A cheap cut, but not the cheapest. A basic steak that if well treated can be passable, but the more marbled cuts are typically superior in both flavor and texture. I meant "basic" as in it can be simply treated and grilled. Few good "steak" restaurants serve sirloin, and when they do its one of the cheapest menu options, instead it's typically chopped and stir-fried, or cut very thick and baked (london broil), or used in stews.

personally, sirloin is the most often steak i buy and cook, but mostly for the price, not the flavor. I can find Sirloin under $3/lb. ribeye (my favorite for grilling, especially bone-in, is 2-3 times that price.

baste and marinade are 2 different things. basting helps replace lost moisture. Marinading dissolves the meat, changes its texture, and adds significant flavors different from it;s natural state.

You walked into a restaurant that charges twice what they guy down the street does. You're not paying for the food, you;re paying for the ART of the food. Would you tell a musician to turn it down after buying a ticket to a concert, or recommend he play a song from another artist??? If you don;t want HIS food HIS way (or hers), go eat at a chain and ask their "cook" for what YOU want. A 'Chef" doesn't take requests. you were told how it would be prepared before you completed your order. If the options you want are not on the menu, and you refuse to be open minded about the flavors and textures a chef (who has spent years if not decades learning the art), then go eat somewhere else. (and don;t go into upscale restaurants ever again)

A meal is a symphony of flavors. Chefs talk about food in terms of notes. if you want to hear different music, GO SOMEWHERE ELSE.

No. You misunderstand. When you go order food your way, it's up to you. When you go to experience art, you don't change the lighting to suit your mood... he prepared a CUSTOM flavor for you, pouring some sauce on it, or insisting it be burned to a crisp before eating it is like asking a band to turn down the music after paying for a ticket to the show.

You're paying for the plate because you appreciate the art. if you want steak your way, pay half as much down the street, or fucking cook it at home. By suggesting otherwise, you insult the chef and the years he spent learning to prepare flavors in such specific ways, and the creativity he added to it.

Your speech IS free on a phone. They need a warrant to tap it otherwise since the government's little illegal tap operations have been stopped (unless your number pops up on a terrorist watch list associated with an active terrorist investigation; do you frequently make calls to terrorists?)

Anonymity is NOT a guaranteed right, nor is it a liberty. What comes out of your mouth, in public or otherwise, can not be held against you, unless of course its in the form of direct threats against the public, specific individuals, or in the act of organizing criminal activity. That speech is NOT protected.

In the rare cases where the government HAS tried to silence someone, someone who spoke out in public, it has gone VERY bad for the government, and the person was extremely overcompensated, because paranoids like you sat on the jury, and awarded them more money than god could make.

There's no "asshole" running the government, there's a group of people YOU PUT THERE, people like you, with families and designs on their own privacy. WTF would they go after someone on a private phone line unless that person was an identified threat to freedom and happiness and safety of others?

People who want to speak out an remain anonymous have a hundred other ways to do so. The use on an anonymous phone is NOT required for that (they can use a payphone for fucks sake!). taking away mobile phones from this list of hundreds of ways does NOt prevent the speech or anonymity, but it DOES prevent crime, drug trade, black market activity, even government corruption which you think is so rampant.

Your "liberties." perhaps you don;t know the definition of that word... you seem to be comfused.

Liberty (n):
- personal freedom from servitude or confinement or oppression. Nope, them having your phone number is no different then them having your address, you job info, your vehicle registration, its just one more piece of data, and no correlation to imprisonment or servitude...

- freedom of choice; "liberty of opinion"; "liberty of worship"; "liberty--perfect liberty--to think or feel or do just as one pleases"; "at liberty to choose whatever occupation one wishes" Hmm, you can still get any phone and plan you want, just need to provide ID. This doesn't reduce my choice in buying alcohol, or getting a loan, it;s just a step in a process. It eliminates no options that are available other than having an unregistered device, which only a criminal or someone with something to hide would want.

- the quality or state of being free: a : the power to do as one pleases b : freedom from physical restraint c : freedom from arbitrary or despotic control d : the positive enjoyment of various social, political, or economic rights and privileges e : the power of choice. Yea, again, them being able to back trace to your identity in relation to an active criminal investigation, following due process, and after acquiring a warrant, has NO impact on any of your personal liberties.

People confuse freedom, liberty, expression, and ANONYMITY. You are NOT anonymous to the government. you have the right to your beliefs, habits, and more, but they have a right to IDENTIFY you, and when necessary contact you, and when involved in a crime, collect evidence as per due process, and that is NOT disputed.

Hiding a phone number from the government only means you;re going to piss them off when they have to waste money and man hours to track down the device in your hand if they want you. They can still record the calls either way with a warrant, they can still follow location data and find you, they can still catch you in the act of a crime, they can still come to your house and ask to see your phone, hiding the number to name association only makes their job harder, and buys you NO protection other than what already exists in law.