5 ms·

Something worth taking into consideration is these companies are not Engineering/Tech companies at the core. They were probably born as paper-companies and digi

Something worth taking into consideration is these companies are not Engineering/Tech companies at the core. They were probably born as paper-companies and digitized their operations later on. I am hoping for the day something and more appropriate for this age will make them irrelevant.

wyager 9y ago
> I am hoping for the day something and more appropriate for this age will make them irrelevant. We have the technology to build vastly superior replacements right now. It's mostly network effect requirements that make this extremely challenging/slow to implement. An example of something we could do is cryptographically authenticated web-of-trust creditworthiness estimation, with techniques like proof of burn and selective trust anchoring used to establish terminal nodes in the unrolled trust DAG. This sort of thing would allow for pseudonymous, automated determination of trust without the extreme security and privacy risks posed by centralized identity stores like the credit bureaus.
- antimatter 9y ago
  I find technical discussions around this subject extremely fascinating but I'm a total noob in this space. Would you mind sharing any relevant links on the topics you mentioned?
rbanffy 9y ago
> are not Engineering/Tech companies Which means each and every line of code was written by the lowest bidder.
- bluedino 9y ago
  Or CEO/CTO's buddy's company
  - quuquuquu 9y ago
    So sad, that is so true these days that it shouldn't even be funny. A meritocracy is not born when rich corporations (buyers of labor) select vendors (sellers of labor) based on personal connections and not ability to do the job
  - rdtsc 9y ago
    The CSO apparently graduated with a music major. Not that it should it disqualify them, many in tech didn't graduate with a CS degree but in light of the incident one has to wonder.
    - morgante 9y ago
      I don't think that is relevant at all. There are plenty of incompetent CS graduates, and plenty of highly competent non-CS graduates.
      - rdtsc 9y ago
        In general it would not be, now that the personal data of 100+ millions of people have been stolen from these clowns, it seems relevant. Leadership sets the priorities, and expectations. They get paid disproportionately more than other employees and I think they should be scrutinized and bear responsibility correspondingly. But I have no doubt they probably found someone lower in the ranks as a scapegoat. "Joe was in charge of patches. And we are all equally disturbed and horrified by his behavior. But we've reached out to him and let him go. Now give us more of your personal information so you can get free credit monitoring for 6 months [+]. -Sincerely and with deeper regrets, the Executive Team [++]" [+] (fine print) then charged as $49.99 a month until cancelled. To cancel please visit one of the 3 Equifax location in person on the first Wednesday of the month. Accepting [++] (even finer print) by accepting the free credit monitoring you agree to binding arbitration and forfeit your rights to participate in a class action suit against Equifax and its subsidiaries.
        morgante 9y ago
        I'm not saying we shouldn't have serious questions about his competence after this breach. Rather, my point is that we should be questioning his competence (and that of the rest of the executive team's) due to this breach, not his credentials. If he had a CS degree, that wouldn't make him any less responsible for this massive data leak.
- adrianN 9y ago
  I'm reasonably sure that "tech" companies try to save costs just as much as "traditional" companies. The difference might only be that they how to formulate their requirements better.
  - morgante 9y ago
    I am 100% certain that "tech" companies have an entirely different attitude towards engineering costs than non-tech companies. The former want the best people working on problems and will pay what it takes (within reason), the latter want problems solved for the lowest price. This is extraordinarily evident in the distribution of engineer salaries.
    - KyeRussell 9y ago
      That's a massive reach! Have you been spending too long inside the bubble? Define a "tech" company.
      - morgante 9y ago
        Which part is a massive reach? The fact that certain companies (which I choose to classify as "tech" companies) are willing to invest 2-3x as much into their technical employees? A "tech" company is a company for whom technology (ie. developers) is a profit center rather than a cost center.
rhizome 9y ago
Even all-paper companies back in the day had ops.
takeda 9y ago
This sounds like blockchain could have application. But honestly, other countries do fine without them, IMO they should just be abolished.
- Pxtl 9y ago
  A blockchain is public. You want everybody's credit public?
  - bga 9y ago
    No, blockchains are magic technology that makes money appear out of nowhere and hides all activity from evildoers.
  - andrewjl 9y ago
    The data isn't public if it's in encrypted form. When you apply for credit, you'd decrypt it with your own private key and re-encrypt it with the creditors private key and send it to the creditor, they would then decrypt privately, process the application, and discard the data.
    - sokoloff 9y ago
      > you'd decrypt it with your own private key and re-encrypt it with the creditors private key and send it to the creditor Creditor's public key, not private key.
      - andrewjl 9y ago
        Yes, goofed on that one.
- supermdguy 9y ago
  Well, ethereum doesn't exactly have that good of a security record.
dheera 9y ago
How does Equifax, a private company, have the rights to access my personal data in the first place? Who exactly is giving it to them without my explicit consent, and why?
- dmoy 9y ago
  Every financial institution you deal with gives them your info, and they do it so collectively they all have lower risk on loans. I suspect if this wasn't in place, we'd be paying significantly higher interest rates on loans.
  - deleted 9y ago
    [deleted]
- c3534l 9y ago
  You don't own your own data, unfortunately. At least not in the US.
  - KyeRussell 9y ago
    I mean...you consent when you hand your details over to a financial institution. How credit reporting agencies end up with your information is very straight-forward. Save the alarmist rhetoric for the headlines.
    - c3534l 9y ago
      > “There’s nothing in any statute or anything else that allows you to ask Equifax to remove your data or have all your data disappear if you say you no longer trust it,” said John Ulzheimer, a consumer credit expert https://www.nytimes.com/2017/09/08/technology/seriously-equifax-why-the-credit-agencys-breach-means-regulation-is-needed.html https://www.nytimes.com/2017/09/08/technology/seriously-equi... That sounds to me like I don't own my own data.
- brown9-2 9y ago
  The companies on the other side of your transactions.

wyager 9y ago

> I am hoping for the day something and more appropriate for this age will make them irrelevant. We have the technology to build vastly superior replacements right now. It's mostly network effect requirements that make this extremely challenging/slow to implement. An example of something we could do is cryptographically authenticated web-of-trust creditworthiness estimation, with techniques like proof of burn and selective trust anchoring used to establish terminal nodes in the unrolled trust DAG. This sort of thing would allow for pseudonymous, automated determination of trust without the extreme security and privacy risks posed by centralized identity stores like the credit bureaus.

antimatter 9y ago
I find technical discussions around this subject extremely fascinating but I'm a total noob in this space. Would you mind sharing any relevant links on the topics you mentioned?

rbanffy 9y ago

> are not Engineering/Tech companies Which means each and every line of code was written by the lowest bidder.

bluedino 9y ago
Or CEO/CTO's buddy's company
- quuquuquu 9y ago
  So sad, that is so true these days that it shouldn't even be funny. A meritocracy is not born when rich corporations (buyers of labor) select vendors (sellers of labor) based on personal connections and not ability to do the job
- rdtsc 9y ago
  The CSO apparently graduated with a music major. Not that it should it disqualify them, many in tech didn't graduate with a CS degree but in light of the incident one has to wonder.
  - morgante 9y ago
    I don't think that is relevant at all. There are plenty of incompetent CS graduates, and plenty of highly competent non-CS graduates.
    - rdtsc 9y ago
      In general it would not be, now that the personal data of 100+ millions of people have been stolen from these clowns, it seems relevant. Leadership sets the priorities, and expectations. They get paid disproportionately more than other employees and I think they should be scrutinized and bear responsibility correspondingly. But I have no doubt they probably found someone lower in the ranks as a scapegoat. "Joe was in charge of patches. And we are all equally disturbed and horrified by his behavior. But we've reached out to him and let him go. Now give us more of your personal information so you can get free credit monitoring for 6 months [+]. -Sincerely and with deeper regrets, the Executive Team [++]" [+] (fine print) then charged as $49.99 a month until cancelled. To cancel please visit one of the 3 Equifax location in person on the first Wednesday of the month. Accepting [++] (even finer print) by accepting the free credit monitoring you agree to binding arbitration and forfeit your rights to participate in a class action suit against Equifax and its subsidiaries.
      - morgante 9y ago
        I'm not saying we shouldn't have serious questions about his competence after this breach. Rather, my point is that we should be questioning his competence (and that of the rest of the executive team's) due to this breach, not his credentials. If he had a CS degree, that wouldn't make him any less responsible for this massive data leak.
adrianN 9y ago
I'm reasonably sure that "tech" companies try to save costs just as much as "traditional" companies. The difference might only be that they how to formulate their requirements better.
- morgante 9y ago
  I am 100% certain that "tech" companies have an entirely different attitude towards engineering costs than non-tech companies. The former want the best people working on problems and will pay what it takes (within reason), the latter want problems solved for the lowest price. This is extraordinarily evident in the distribution of engineer salaries.
  - KyeRussell 9y ago
    That's a massive reach! Have you been spending too long inside the bubble? Define a "tech" company.
    - morgante 9y ago
      Which part is a massive reach? The fact that certain companies (which I choose to classify as "tech" companies) are willing to invest 2-3x as much into their technical employees? A "tech" company is a company for whom technology (ie. developers) is a profit center rather than a cost center.

rhizome 9y ago

Even all-paper companies back in the day had ops.

takeda 9y ago

This sounds like blockchain could have application. But honestly, other countries do fine without them, IMO they should just be abolished.

Pxtl 9y ago
A blockchain is public. You want everybody's credit public?
- bga 9y ago
  No, blockchains are magic technology that makes money appear out of nowhere and hides all activity from evildoers.
- andrewjl 9y ago
  The data isn't public if it's in encrypted form. When you apply for credit, you'd decrypt it with your own private key and re-encrypt it with the creditors private key and send it to the creditor, they would then decrypt privately, process the application, and discard the data.
  - sokoloff 9y ago
    > you'd decrypt it with your own private key and re-encrypt it with the creditors private key and send it to the creditor Creditor's public key, not private key.
    - andrewjl 9y ago
      Yes, goofed on that one.
supermdguy 9y ago
Well, ethereum doesn't exactly have that good of a security record.

dheera 9y ago

How does Equifax, a private company, have the rights to access my personal data in the first place? Who exactly is giving it to them without my explicit consent, and why?

dmoy 9y ago
Every financial institution you deal with gives them your info, and they do it so collectively they all have lower risk on loans. I suspect if this wasn't in place, we'd be paying significantly higher interest rates on loans.
- deleted 9y ago
  [deleted]
c3534l 9y ago
You don't own your own data, unfortunately. At least not in the US.
- KyeRussell 9y ago
  I mean...you consent when you hand your details over to a financial institution. How credit reporting agencies end up with your information is very straight-forward. Save the alarmist rhetoric for the headlines.
  - c3534l 9y ago
    > “There’s nothing in any statute or anything else that allows you to ask Equifax to remove your data or have all your data disappear if you say you no longer trust it,” said John Ulzheimer, a consumer credit expert https://www.nytimes.com/2017/09/08/technology/seriously-equifax-why-the-credit-agencys-breach-means-regulation-is-needed.html https://www.nytimes.com/2017/09/08/technology/seriously-equi... That sounds to me like I don't own my own data.
brown9-2 9y ago
The companies on the other side of your transactions.