Census night

[Neil_S]

Neil.... very well done to the ABS.

 

Aldo

I think not. Still waiting to hear when I might be able to log in, and if those who logged in earlier in the day (like you and my daughter) have had their data compromised....

 

 

[kgwilson]

I did mine yesterday afternoon. No problem then. The problem is with politicians who entrust others who have no idea either, to contract a technology solution. IBM have always managed to extract squillions from large organisations and governments and continually fail to deliver. They have a lot of legal experts and always find an "out" in the contract.

 

Murphys law on technology states "Technology is dominated by those who manage what they don't understand". This was true in the 70s & 80s when Finance Managers generally headed the technology or Information side of the business and even more true now when senior managers who have never had anything to do with technology based information systems call the shots based on some flavour of the month system or process. e.g We bought SAP because X, Y & Z are using it so it must be the best.

 

 

[turboplanner]

SAP; now there's a headache!

 

 

[Birdseye]

SAP; now there's a headache!

I'd go with "pain in the ar*e"!

As to the census, beats me why media (and presumably the ABS spokesperson) are calling a DDOS 'hacking'. Whilst it could conceivably be used to mask a hacking an attempt, it is not by itself hacking.

 

 

[Jaba-who]

Then how did you get your log in code? Ours came on a census form (front page) with all the remaining pages behind it to fill in if you didn't want to do it online.Aldo

I got a front page only. Had codes to get in but it says I have to send away for the paper forms of I want them. I suspect they must have different forms for apoplectic in different geographic areas.

 

I got in at about 4:30 and did it on line.

 

But a friend got locked out at multiple times during night.

 

Whole thing sounds like it was a three stooges affair.

 

Hope they take this fiasco on board and don't ever plan to do anything important ( like elections) on line.

 

 

[facthunter]

Got mine on the doorstep. It had "from ASIO..... We KNOW where you live". It pays to be in the know. Nev

 

 

[fly_tornado]

The first issue I noticed with the ABS sheet was the 12 digit verification code. Being a simple 12 digit code, it would be fairly easy to enter a valid entry code just sequentially enter all the 12 digits and you are started.

 

Once someone started entering data using your number it would mean that if you entered your details they would be invalid due to the other entry process preceding you. Of course, the ABS and IBM wouldn't know how to verify or stop this happening.

 

Simple digital codes aren't much use when you can plow through numbers by the hundreds of thousands every hour.

 

This setup is not that much unlike the RAA member's website

 

 

[Pearo]

I couldn't do mine online, so I filled in the paper copy using my very best handwriting.

 

 

[facthunter]

Except it's compulsory

 

Very large,

 

Very worth getting the info it has... Nev

 

 

[facthunter]

Pearo... You get the Koala stamp on the back of your hand. Just send it in with a self addressed return envelope for our handy quick service. Nev

 

 

[bexrbetter]

I couldn't do mine online, so I filled in the paper copy using my very best handwriting.

I wonder how many versions of a phallic symbol the Government has by now ...

 

 

[onetrack]

The Gumbyment paid a half million dollars to a company to analyse and run a dummy load test to make certain it wouldn't crash.

Natch. Only the best and smartest project managers are in charge of this, and they have access to unlimited funds to ensure it all goes off without a hitch.

And those project managers wouldn't even remotely consider, that a website and project like this - containing a vast amount of prized personal information - would be like a golden egg prize for hackers.

 

Tried to access it at 9:30PM AWST last night, only got the message that the "site was extremely busy, and I should try again in 15 mins time".

 

Tried again about 11:30PM and it was still the same message. Today, the message is ....

 

"The Census website is unavailable

 

We apologise for the inconvenience. There will be no fines for completing the Census after August 9. We will keep you updated."

 

I hate to think what will happen when we really need some serious IT efforts, such as in a war footing. It looks like we'll be back to chalk and slate, and rolling out field wiring to communicate.

 

 

[Neil_S]

I did mine yesterday afternoon. No problem then. The problem is with politicians who entrust others who have no idea either, to contract a technology solution. IBM have always managed to extract squillions from large organisations and governments and continually fail to deliver. They have a lot of legal experts and always find an "out" in the contract.Murphys law on technology states "Technology is dominated by those who manage what they don't understand". This was true in the 70s & 80s when Finance Managers generally headed the technology or Information side of the business and even more true now when senior managers who have never had anything to do with technology based information systems call the shots based on some flavour of the month system or process. e.g We bought SAP because X, Y & Z are using it so it must be the best.

Totally agree. In my 40 years in IT it was staggering to me the number of times a company had a pathetically small test system that was next to useless when it came to testing changes that were to go on a (e.g.) multi-gigabyte, 1000+ concurrent user live system. When asked, the support guys pretty much always said that they were "not allowed" to buy a sensible, representative test system as it would cost too much. When I asked the cost of putting essentially untested changes live that then brought the live system practically to a halt there was a deafening silence....

 

 

[red750]

Totally agree. In my 40 years in IT it was staggering to me the number of times a company had a pathetically small test system that was next to useless when it came to testing changes that were to go on a (e.g.) multi-gigabyte, 1000+ concurrent user live system. When asked, the support guys pretty much always said that they were "not allowed" to buy a sensible, representative test system as it would cost too much. When I asked the cost of putting essentially untested changes live that then brought the live system practically to a halt there was a deafening silence....

You're right Neil. I worked in IT for a bank, then as a user in superannuation. New systems (usually bought from the US and 'modified' for local requirements.), supposedly tested, but crashed first day or so after going live.

 

However, although I have not seen the Census questions, (one of millions), I reckon we have already given away more personal data, on social media, Googling, or shopping online than the Census will illicit. Every time you look something up on Google, everyone thinks you want to purchase it, and your screen gets flooded with adverts for it. Just try looking up how much your car is worth and see how many adverts for that particular model start turning up on your screens.

 

 

[Yenn]

Sounds as if this is the same as the Qld health system wages fiasco. I got my form in the mail and it was easy to complete.

 

 

[FlyingVizsla]

I was going to work as a Census collector - so this is what I was told. In the city areas Australia Post would deliver an envelope with a log in code. In small towns and rural areas, the paper form would be hand delivered. I consider that to be a waste of money - why couldn't that be delivered by Australia Post instead of people on hourly & km rates? Australia Post has a database of all properties. A bit miffed that they consider rural people wouldn't be internet savvy.

 

 

 

Got my paper version at the farm. When we went to the house in town, there was nothing there. The Collector had asked our neighbour if we were home and then decided not to leave us a form. Even if the house is vacant, there is still supposed to be an entry. Besides, we might have decided we lived in town, but were away on the farm that night. There are a couple of people living in hangars that I guess they have missed.

 

 

 

As for SAP, I used it when it was known a MSA (Management Science America) and then later as SAP - huge and cumbersome and designed to use reams of paper to produce a small report.

 

 

[onetrack]

Now it looks like there wasn't any DOS attack at all - it's just a BS story to cover up the fact that 5M Aussies all got up from the couch at the same time - right when the ABC News ended - and they all tried to log on to the Census site at the same time, and it just simply crashed and burnt.

 

So much for the "1 million people logging on at the same time", test. Don't these clowns understand that there's 24,000,000 people in Australia, and you can virtually clock what most are doing at any one time by the TV programs playing?

 

I'll wager all the power station meters show a power spike, as well - right as all the kettles get switched on at once, too, straight after major TV programmes end.

 

 

[PA.]

Use the force.

 

 

 

[kgwilson]

It ain't rocket science any more. There are billions of users logged in to facebook or ebay at any one time & they couldn't deal with just a few million. Poor planning, worse execution and pathetic excuses.

 

 

[PA.]

Live cross from the census server room...

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

[rgmwa]

Apparently SAP stands for `Suffering And Pain'. Luckily, I wasn't one of those at work who had to use it every day.

 

rgmwa

 

 

[Gnarly Gnu]

Everything government does is below par; always expensive and frequently a total mess.

 

Yet people still want more government programs...

 

 

[fly_tornado]

Poor old gnu, no one will listen to you old mate.

 

ABS is a result of Libs and Labor outsourcing and defunding services.

 

 

[facthunter]

This is the government of free enterprise who picked the IBM which is not government run the last time I checked. Not that I like the current government's performance or IBM who did the Qld Health deal fiasco, OR the Banks which aren't government run, are all much the same NO competition (the big ones) and can't be trusted. Ask any Farmer. Nev

 

 

[onetrack]

Bottom line is, everyone still has until Sept 23rd, 2016, to lodge a census report. All that's required is that you report on the population situation where you were, or as it was, on Aug 9th.

 

This is where the stupidity and incompetence of the ABS managers has come to the fore.

 

They wanted a "snapshot" on one day, but made it appear that it had to be produced on Tuesday night, or that was it, you were roasted.

 

Just as cafes and restaurants go berserk right at meal times, and they need to spread out the rush to make it easier on kitchen and wait staff - so should the ABS have spread out the census-form-filling over several days.

 

It wasn't necessary for everyone to pile onto the ABS site on Tuesday night, within the space of a couple of hours, to fill out their form - everyone should have been advised that they could fill out the form anytime this week, from Tuesday morning onwards - just as long as the form represented the population situation, as of last Tuesday.

 

Like many others, I've lost confidence in the ABS website and their ability to manage the on-line content.

 

I've gone back to the dark ages, requested they send me a paper form - and it will be filled in with one of those old-fashioned pen thingys.