Althouse: "Ladies and gents, I invite you all to Turing Test this thing until it explodes in a cloud of hubris."

September 27, 2013

"Ladies and gents, I invite you all to Turing Test this thing until it explodes in a cloud of hubris."

Deliberately screwing with the HealthCare.gov live chats.

How long before that becomes a crime?

26 comments:

Matt Sablan said...: This reminds me of when I submitted Joe Biden's "clean, articulate" comment to Attack Watch.; 9/27/13, 12:56 PM
Bryan C said...: "...at the discretion of the Secretary of Health & Human Services."

Actually, with an eager judge and a broad enough reading of existing statutes, it's probably already a felony. And I'm not even kidding.; 9/27/13, 1:04 PM
machine said...: Ah yes....sabotage the economy, sabotage health care navigators, sabotage exchanges, sabotage .gov, etc.

Making everything worse is not a winning political campaign.

Enjoy The Republic of Teabagistan (formerly South Dakota).

Stay classy San Diego.; 9/27/13, 1:10 PM
Bruce Hayden said...: Now that is a job that I wouldn't want - unless they really did try to implement some Turing compliant software instead of humans, though I am not sure that all of the agents and/or "experts" themselves would pass the Touring test.

Loved some of the conspiracy theories on display here - like pointing out that the NSA probably knows what state he is in, and then maybe to define state.

Of course, since these are government employees we are talking about, some of them are going to just hang up the chat when people go off into the weeds, trying to yank their chains. But, it probably will take at least some time for them to discover that they have been played, and even then, they aren't supposed to be rude.

It would be fun though to program the chat on the user end, and see if the Adorable Care Act people can figure it out - which is what the Touring test is about in the first place.; 9/27/13, 1:19 PM
Michelle Dulak Thomson said...: Having been on the receiving end of some nasty phone calls in my retail days, I don't recommend anyone's doing this. It might be fun on your end, but you are making some doubtless-underpaid minion's day really suck.; 9/27/13, 1:33 PM
Rocketeer said...: It might be fun on your end, but you are making some doubtless-underpaid minion's day really suck.

You know, I would absolutely be sympathetic if we were talking about customer service for a company I chose to do business with, like T-Mobile for instance. But in this case, I have absolutely none.; 9/27/13, 2:05 PM
wildswan said...: well why not ask some real questions - about costs? And what if no doctor near me will take my insurance but I don't have a car?; 9/27/13, 2:08 PM
Matt Sablan said...: Looking at the text in the examples, these certainly don't look like real people. I'd bet it is coded with people monitoring, but just managing trouble cases where the machine gets confused.

I like how Machine calls this sabotage. Frankly, this is akin to civil disobedience.; 9/27/13, 2:10 PM
Ann Althouse said...: People who are predicting that the computer system will fail should stand back and let it fail on its own, not try to hack it to fail.

Keep the lines of blame clean.

But you already dirtied them.

Jackasses.; 9/27/13, 2:26 PM
Peter said...: "Yes, but does the insurance have to insure ... my greatness?"; 9/27/13, 2:46 PM
Rocketeer said...: People who are predicting that the computer system will fail should stand back and let it fail on its own, not try to hack it to fail.

You're confusing systems.; 9/27/13, 2:52 PM
damikesc said...: Yes, machine, people goofing on the live chatters is "ruining the economy".

I love the belief that conservatives --- who had no hand in this monstrosity and who were ignored throughout --- somehow have some responsibility to fix it.

Again: If a small number of trolls can cause a computer system to "fail", then the system was designed unbelievably poorly to begin with.; 9/27/13, 3:02 PM
TosaGuy said...: "People who are predicting that the computer system will fail should stand back and let it fail on its own, not try to hack it to fail."

This is not the system that is going to crash. Besides, if the government can't handle a 1990s AOL-like IM chat, then it truly can't run anything.; 9/27/13, 3:15 PM
machine said...: Didn't say "ruining"

weren't ignored (see individual mandate)

didn't say "fail"

No responsibility to fix anything they didn't create (unless they actually gave a crap about serving the folks) but sabotage as a political campaign is pretty skanky, no?; 9/27/13, 3:54 PM
Deirdre Mundy said...: I tried to get an answer from it last week. The rep said my question was too complicated and an HHS person would call me. The 'call' was an automated recording saying that they hoped my problem had been resolved.

%*&^*&#

My PROBLEM is that the idiots who wrote the law couldn't imagine a situation where an employer would offer insurance to employees and their families, but only subsidize the employee, not the spouse or kids.

The best the rep could do was "If you live in a state that expanded medicaid, you can go on medicaid." My state did not expand medicaid. "Then you'll have to pay full price on the exchange."; 9/27/13, 3:55 PM
Sam L. said...: Well, it's the gummint's responsibility to help us amuse ourselves!; 9/27/13, 6:03 PM
John henry said...: Just had an interesting experience.

I live in Puerto Rico (USA)and we do not have exchanges according to the Obiecare website when I tried to find where to sign up.

So I called the 800# from an anonymous phone. Got a lady who was very pleasent but not particularly helpful. She told me PR has no exchanges and she can't help me though she did offer to give me the number for Medicare/Medicaid.

I explained that I spend much of my time in the upper 50 working and wanted to know what I am to do if I get sick. Lot of umming and uhing and "please hold while I look for info" She apparently was never able to find any.

I finally asked her if she expected me to "just die in the street" and she said she understood my concern. I get the impression that this is precisely what is expected.

She did tell me that if I do get sick while in the upper 50 I can always go to an emergency room and by law they can't turn me away. I thought this was just what Obiecare was supposed to avoid.

She said she had no more information for me and no idea where I might find any. I asked to speak to a supervisor, she said OK and put me on hold. After several minutes I got disconnected.

Oh, yeah. This is working out real well.

John Henry; 9/27/13, 6:07 PM
David said...: You sure it isn't already a crime?

And you, a law professor.; 9/27/13, 7:14 PM
David said...: "Keep the lines of blame clean.

But you already dirtied them.

Jackasses."

True. It's only private corporations that get blamed for being unable to deal with computer hackers. The government gets to line in an imaginary world.; 9/27/13, 7:18 PM
PB said...: I'm sure they'll determine it already is a crime. The country is in the best of hands with real smart folk running the show.

Let them block all attempts to stop, slow, or fix Obamacare, because starting around thanksgiving it's going to be a really big mess, and dems are going to have to be very "facile" to avoid getting tarred and feathered.; 9/27/13, 8:03 PM
Jason said...: Highlights: [5:00:54 pm]: Vlad (THAT'S ME)
how are preexisting conditions handled after Jan 1?
[5:02:06 pm]: Stefanie
On January 1, 2014, every health insurance plan in the Marketplace will be open to every eligible resident, regardless of pre-existing conditions.
[5:02:35 pm]: Vlad
Sure, for enrollment. But what about funding treatment of preexisting conditions?
[5:03:53 pm]: Stefanie
Please feel free to check back on October 1st.
[5:04:33 pm]: Vlad
You guys haven't figured that out yet?; 9/27/13, 8:17 PM
Jason said...: [4:15:13 pm]: Stefanie
If you are a veteran who does not have health insurance coverage, you may purchase health insurance through the Marketplace.
[4:15:33 pm]: Vlad
Right now I'm looking at a 300 percent premium increase for the closest available plan to what I had.
[4:15:47 pm]: Vlad
Why is that?
[4:16:31 pm]: Stefanie
If you do not have health coverage, you may have to pay the entire cost of all of your medical care, but you can still receive medical care.
[4:16:43 pm]: Vlad
Is this a bot?; 9/27/13, 8:17 PM
Left Bank of the Charles said...: But the system isn't going to fail, because then we'd have to switch to single payer.

The real question is whether the Republican Party wants to become the complaint department for Obamacare.; 9/27/13, 9:07 PM
Birkel said...: Aleksandr Isayevich Solzhenitsyn called and said "Althouse, you're doing it wrong."

Lech Wałęsa is on Line 2.

Seriously? That's what you care to criticize? The people who righteously believe their freedoms eroded are the ones who come in for criticism in Althouse-Land?

If people believe themselves degraded by their governments, I suggest we support them when the evidence they offer supports that conclusion.

Do they still teach this in your law school, Professor:
"When in the Course of human events, it becomes necessary for one people to dissolve the political bands which have connected them with another, and to assume among the powers of the earth, the separate and equal station to which the Laws of Nature and of Nature's God entitle them, a decent respect to the opinions of mankind requires that they should declare the causes which impel them to the separation..."; 9/27/13, 10:55 PM
Matt Sablan said...: See, I see this as no different than yelling mean questions during a town hall. It isn't exactly the most decorous of things, but it isn't really all that bad.

Also, "hack" has a very specific meaning when it comes to causing a computer system to fail. This is, at worst, attempting to overload the system. In reality, it is exposing what is supposed to be a government system for, at best, an AIM-bot.; 9/28/13, 7:54 AM
Jupiter said...: "Making everything worse is not a winning political campaign."

It seems to have worked out pretty well for Obama.; 9/28/13, 3:53 PM