Podcast for 28 May 2017

[MrBogosity]

[mp3]http://media.blubrry.com/bogosity/p/podcast.bogosity.tv/mp3s/BogosityPodcast-2017-05-28.mp3[/mp3]


News of the Bogus:

• 0:48 - US Senate approves encrypted chat app Signal for staff use https://www.engadget.com/2017/05/17/us-senate-approves-signal-for-staff-use/
  
  
  
  • A Step Forward for Security https://lawfareblog.com/step-forward-security
• 4:20 - The need for urgent collective action to keep people safe online: Lessons from last week's cyberattack https://blogs.microsoft.com/on-the-issues/2017/05/14/need-urgent-collective-action-keep-people-safe-online-lessons-last-weeks-cyberattack/
• 8:15 - Sorry Crony Cabs, You Have To Compete Just Like Everyone Else https://fee.org/articles/sorry-crony-cabs-you-have-to-compete-just-like-everyone-else/

10:53 - Biggest Bogon Emitter: Bipartisan politicians http://www.securityweek.com/patch-act-new-bill-designed-prevent-occurrences-wannacrypt

15:42 - Idiot Extraordinaire: Alameda County Sheriff's Department http://ij.org/viral-photo-highlights-human-cost-bad-vending-policies/

This Week's Quote: "It is the common people's duty to police the police." —Steven Magee
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[evensgrey]

The article about the taxi medallion ruling contains some incorrect information.  The high taxi medallion prices are not the prices that cities charge for taxi medallions, but the price on the secondary market that current medallion holders demand to transfer their medallions to new owners.  In turn, taxi medallion holders almost never drive cabs themselves, and many have no further connection to the taxi industry than to rent their medallions, often on a per-shift basis, to actual cab drivers.  To make maters worse, many cities have not issued any new medallions in DECADES, even if the population and area of the city has grown substantially.

It is perfectly possible for taxi companies to compete with Uber, Lyft, and other such services on price.  Not too long ago I needed to take taxis between my home and the shop my car was being repaired at.  One of the things you don't see in the large taxi companies was who I had as a drive:  The dispatcher, who managed the taxi dispatch while also driving.  We talked about things including Uber and he told me that he was within 5% of the price of Uber.  Without the overhead of a dispatch office, the whole operation is much cheaper to run.  Most taxi dispatch doesn't need any more infrastructure than Uber uses:  A smartphone ap that communicates to a dispatch server would be better than conventional dispatch, because it could tell you everything that Uber does (real time to pickup, precisely who it will be, etc.).  Phone dispatch is really only needed by people like me who really don't like cell phones.  (I carried a smartphone back when I worked for Nokia, back before they decided to take their extremely expensive exit strategy from the smartphone market.  I never liked it.  I'm a serious tech guy, and I don't like cell phones and I doubt I ever will.)