It’s good to hear, in this age of information warfare, that government agencies aren’t simply accepting what appear to be free laptops sent to them anonymously:
Even during tight budgetary times, a growing handful of state governors are proving too wary to accept laptop computers that have shown up at their offices this month, unsolicited.
Officials in West Virginia, Vermont, Wyoming and Washington state have reported receiving between three and five laptops, each over the course of two separate deliveries — but none had ordered any of them.
“They immediately raised a red flag,” said Matt Turner, spokesman for West Virginia Gov. Joe Manchin. “No one said, ‘Hey, we got a free gift.”‘
Good for them. This kind of thing has “Trojan horse” – in more than 1 sense – written all over it. I have no idea what’s on those laptops but I’d love to find out. I know of a few dozen people who’d love to get a crack at them.
If I hear more about this and what’s discovered from them, I’ll pass it along. In the meantime if any of you government types receive what appear to be freebies, remember this story and act with caution.
August 28th, 2009
Posted by
ricjames |
Crime & Punishment, GWOT, Politics, Technology |
no comments
If you haven’t heard about the unintended (?) effects created by the Consumer Product Safety Improvement Act (CPSIA) you should definitely get up to speed on it. The CPSIA was enacted in the wake of those Chinese-manufactured toys that turned out to have lead content far in excess of that permitted by law. The requirement for testing any – and I do mean any – product to be sold to or for the primary use by children for lead and pthalates whether that product is newly manufactured or being offered for resale has had a devastating effect on small businesses and thrift stores throughout the country. I’d direct you to resources at Hugh Hewitt’s blog, a write-up at Convenant Zone (a Canadian blog but still affected by this law), and Learning Resources, Inc.’s CPSIA – COmments and Observations site to get a feel for it and then go from there.
Today’s post is to draw attention to something raised by Ed Morrissey over at Hot Air. He took note of a news report that says that the US firm who was squarely at the center of the whole problem to begin with – Mattel – has gotten a waiver from having to comply with the independent testing requirement mandated by the CPSIA. Morrissey sums it up:
Mattel had to recall more than 2 million toys from the market after inspectors discovered lead in the imported products. Now they claim that their “firewalled” labs will protect consumers and block out “corporate influence”. Where are the labs that Mattel will use? Mexico, Malaysia, Indonesia, and China — and China is where the dangerous toys originated.
Mattel gets to test its own products. People like Suzi Lang have to pay laboratories to certify their hand-made products contain no lead or phthalates, which she already knows because she handpicks her materials.
So the firm that dropped the oversight ball in the first place is going to rely on labs located in the countries that were responsible for the manufacturing problems from the start to test for the presence of materials that they were already supposed to be testing for to begin with. And the regulatory agency that’s sending agents into the field to harass thrift shop owners in the United States is perfectly fine with Mattel getting away with this?
The law was badly written and that was bad enough. That the agency responsible for enforcing the regulation is now doing this is preposterous. Someones’ heads should roll for this.
August 28th, 2009
Posted by
ricjames |
Economy, Law, Politics |
no comments
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