How Edward Snowden's Actions Have Impacted Defense Contractors 180
An anonymous reader writes "A new study sheds light on the attitudes of a very exclusive group of IT and security managers — those employed by U.S. defense contractors — at a time when national cybersecurity is under scrutiny. Most indicated that the Edward Snowden incident has changed their companies' cybersecurity practices: their employees now receive more cybersecurity awareness training, some have re-evaluated employee data access privileges, others have implemented stricter hiring practices. While defense contractors seem to have better security practices in place and are more transparent than many companies in the private sector, they are finding the current cyber threat onslaught just as difficult to deal with."
Beta Blows (Score:0, Insightful)
Scrap it and go back to the drawing board!!!!!
How Slashdot Beta has impacted my life. (Score:5, Insightful)
Boycott the Beta!
Slashdot Beta: Day Two (Score:4, Insightful)
..All sense of time has deceived me as the day has started out with thick clouds overhead. It is difficult to tell if morning or early afternoon. I've struck my head on something earlier as I collapsed, shortly after waking, and have no idea how long I've been out. An odd fog has rolled in from the north; cold and dank, reeking of stale piss. I wonder if there are others out there.. Afraid and confused.. Shackled to the same fate as I. This godforsaken Beta UI.
Re:Boycott (Score:5, Insightful)
The best part about Slashdot... (Score:5, Insightful)
Re:Boycott (Score:5, Insightful)
My advice to the peons working on Slashdot: find another job. The veracity with which this "upgrade" is being pushed displays a stubbornness that can only be attributed to MBAs with no idea of what Slashdot is about. The fact that the commenting system is such an afterthought in the Beta is as much evidence as I need that the people pushing this redesign never use this site.
I know you don't get to decide whether or not the Beta moves forward or which design gets used, but believe this: You WILL be blamed when it fails. You work for a corporation now and the higher ups with undoubtedly throw you under the bus when they have to explain to their bosses or shareholders why the website redesign failed. This failure is going to be associated with you and your teammates and it will set back any hopes you have of being promoted within the company. Take the advice of me and my fellow Slashdotters: Get out now.
Re:Contact Alice Hill (Score:4, Insightful)
This is a person. She wakes up every morning, goes to work, and drinks her share of coffee. She had only so many hours a day to devote to community problems. She's got a boss and corporate leadership who set goals she must fulfill. And she probably has a personal life she'd like to lead too. Maybe even children who are definitely more important to her than the bitchfest going on at /.
WTF is wrong with you people? It's just a fucking web site.
Re:Boycott (Score:4, Insightful)
The veracity with which this "upgrade" is being pushed displays a stubbornness that can only be attributed to MBAs with no idea of what Slashdot is about.
Right, because nerds have never been known to compulsively obsess over doing things their way regardless of what the user wants. I suggest that your stereotyping doesn't help; focus on the problem, not your hypothetical reasons.
Also, I'm not sure that "veracity" means what you think it means. But then, I'm a nerd with an MBA, so what do I know?
Re:Contact Alice Hill (Score:5, Insightful)
There is relatively few effective mechanisms available to the community to have its will heard, short of simply leaving and never coming back (which defeats the point). Thus, concerned users are identifying the fulcrums around which this problem is revolving and applying leverage there to attempt to restore some balance between the goals of Dice and its user base.
While I agree that we should not be hassling private citizens outside their role as an employee, we are certainly at liberty to express our views and have them listened to. We're trying to save Slashdot's profitibilty, and by extension their employment, by ensuring that the website remains one that is attractive to its user base.
While the designer of the website is on the clock and responsible for the design and deployment of Beta, we are obliged to try to make them see that this is a terrible decision.
Holy god the beta (Score:5, Insightful)
The beta is bad. It's so bad. The comments are reduced in screen width about 50%. Subject lines are deemphasized, scores are minimized, etc.
The discussions are the reason to come to Slashdot, and the beta trivializes them entirely. It looks like the comment section on a generic news site.
The comments now look like an afterthought, whereas they used to be the primary focus of the site.
Commentors (Score:3, Insightful)
Comments and commentors don't generate revenues.
There's a reason why Digg revamped.
The Slashdot that you knew and loved is going to disappear. Slashdot doesn't make money. And things will change to make this company worthwhile, otherwise, you'll see the domain name sold off or turned into an online retailer for computer equipment or something.
Why is Slashdot not making money? Ad based revenue or lack thereof - and all of us with AdBlock. Making money off of ads only works for those selling ads - Facebook and Google for example. And Slashdot doesn't have the user information that Facebook has so pimping user info isn't an option.
That's just my MBA guess - and it's a guess because I have nothing to do with Slashdot, Dice, VA systems and any other company that has every owned or managed Slashdot; just experience with websites that try to pay the bills with advertisements and partner agreements. Although, there are exceptions: Fark.com.
tl;dr Bend over and take it because things are gonna change because the way things are don't cut it.
Re:Contact Alice Hill (Score:5, Insightful)
With great powers comes great responsibilities.
Re:The best part about Slashdot... (Score:5, Insightful)
The best part about Slashdot for me was really the people who visit it. This site has had one of the most intelligent communities around.
Exactly. It is not a news site. It is a place where geeky folk discuss techie news items. That's why I've been visiting daily for over 15 years. I'll be sad to see it go. Why does everything turn to shite when the MBAs take over?
Re:Boycott (Score:5, Insightful)
Plus Fucking Plus!
Re:Holy god the beta (Score:4, Insightful)
- The user IDs don't even show.
- The comment date says things like "Yesterday" or "4 hours ago".
- Beta sucks.
Re:We ALL need to leave. (Score:4, Insightful)
Re:Commentors (Score:4, Insightful)
Why is Slashdot not making money? Ad based revenue or lack thereof - and all of us with AdBlock.
I'd consider turning off AdBlock to support Slashdot if the ads were unobtrusive static text. I can't abide flashing, animated ads. They're distracting and they annoy me, so I don't allow them.
Indeed... Fuck it. (Score:5, Insightful)
Fuck beta. Fuck it to infinity and beyond.
Re:Boycott (Score:4, Insightful)
No Beta. Just keep the classic version. Who needs this web2.0y thing anyway?!