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Newly released details about the University of Minnesota data breach highlight its severity. The records involved span his years from 1989 to 2021 and include name, address, phone number, driver’s license and Social Security number, date of birth, demographic and employment data. Additionally, this breach includes parental information and other personally identifiable information from his previously submitted FAFSA submissions, including grades, loan information, degree information, test scores, and household income. It was included. That’s amazing!
If ever there was a textbook example of the amount of personal information being protected, used, and stored by this country’s education system, this is it. I’m furious (but not surprised) that the University of Minnesota is collecting so much data. I’m baffled by how willing the public is to provide this level of data to those who say you need data to participate. no! There is another way to do this without putting the public’s most personal and sensitive information on servers, databases, and recovery sites around the world, which are prime targets for data theft. Should we blame the hackers for this? Of course. But I also condemn a system in which the University of Minnesota is an active and willing participant.
It is long past time for government officials to take decisive action and make personally identifiable information private and private. Universities, public utilities, etc. want our information. It is bought, massaged, filtered and sold for purposes far beyond its intended purpose. Whenever a data breach occurs, individuals are instructed to be diligent and frequently check their credit reports for anything out of the ordinary. It is also said that data theft protection services can be purchased to help mitigate abuse. This is a new concept. Why not find a way for these organizations to do business that doesn’t require sensitive data and where any data held is securely protected and later erased? If a breach occurs, instead of offering to purchase a third-party service, why not pay the people whose data has been compromised?
Until we stop exploiting people’s personal and sensitive data the way we do, these breaches will continue. It is long past time for the system to change. But I will be the last one waiting with bated breath for that change to come.
Hans Molenaar, show review
government shutdown
Imagine you are a business owner who sells pizza. You want to hire someone to help you with your business. One person applied for the position, but made it clear that he didn’t like pizza, didn’t have the skills to make pizza, and if he was actually hired, he wouldn’t want anyone else to make or buy pizza. I will do my best to. You are unlikely to hire this person.
Isn’t this comparable to obstructionists in Congress who have no interest in governing, show no skill in finding solutions to government problems, and resist every step of the way when solutions are presented to them? I’m so grateful to live in a state with hard-working legislators who take their jobs seriously and serve our people.
Mickey Rasmussen, Bloomington
carbon capture
We profiled Carba and its CEO, Andrew Jones, in our September 19th article, “Startup aims to remove 1 billion tons of CO2.” Calva’s goals are both ambitious and right. But, as Jones himself pointed out, Kalba alone cannot lead the world in the right direction. According to NASA, carbon dioxide remains in the atmosphere for at least 300 years. This means Carba’s technology has the potential to remove CO2 that has been present since the Industrial Revolution. Since then, we have published many more works.
Carva plays a vital role in preventing the worst effects of climate change, but it’s like a sailor pumping water out of a ship: if the rest of the crew have holes in the hull, they can Effort is meaningless.
Although we can’t all build a startup, each of us still has an important role to play. On October 19, the Minneapolis City Council will vote on whether to increase franchise fees and donate the proceeds to the Climate Legacy Fund. Funds raised will be used for projects such as building renovations and power grid electrification, all with the aim of reducing greenhouse gas emissions to zero by 2050. Once emissions reach zero, Kalva’s project to remove years of carbon dioxide from the atmosphere will begin to erase decades of value. About the damage done to our planet. I told the Minneapolis City Council members this is what I want, and I encourage you to do the same.
Kelsey Murphy, Minneapolis
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Climate change is one of the most complex issues facing us today and is a global problem resulting from greenhouse gas emissions. A recent Star Tribune article (“Startup aims to remove his billion tons of CO2”) describes a process that captures carbon dioxide and converts it into a charcoal-like substance. Plants absorb CO2 from the air through photosynthesis, and the “biomass waste” is converted into flame-retardant solid carbon and sequestered underground. However, there are concerns about the use of the term “biomass waste” because most plant biomass is about 45% carbon and plays an important role in maintaining Earth’s natural carbon balance and nutrient cycling. . Nature has evolved over 3.8 billion years into a model of sustainability in which biological “waste” is recycled and efficiently reused.
Agriculture that mimics nature holds solutions to both global climate change and food security. Agriculture is the backbone of America. Carbon is fundamental to agriculture, and we need to understand the difference between biogenic carbon contained in living soil systems and fossil carbon, which can reflect millions of years of fossil fuel development. .
Soils are powerful living systems that produce more than 95% of our food, store carbon, and are powered by biogenic carbon. Biological systems include living organisms that provide energy through decomposition in the soil-microbe-plant-atmosphere system to sustain critical soil carbon, water, and nutrient cycling processes necessary for crop production and food security. Origin carbon is required.
There is no question that some amount of CO2 will need to be removed from the atmosphere to achieve climate stability, and the technology described in this article appears appropriate and feasible. The main concern is the uncertain and unintended consequences of using currently available biogenic carbon to create fossil carbon that will be sequestered and biologically unavailable for thousands of years. In addition to removing carbon, this also removes and locks up additional soil nutrients. Removal of biomass must therefore be carried out taking into account the conservation of soil resources and not reducing the overall fertility of the soil that produces this biomass for the purpose of carbon sequestration. As agriculture faces climate-related challenges of environmental conservation and food security, we must be innovative and open to new ideas, technologies and solutions to manage CO2 and a changing climate. , it is necessary to ensure that these proposed proposals do not have unintended consequences. Mitigation measures.
Don Raykoski, Morris, Minn.;
The author is a retired soil scientist.
native land
Regarding “Lawmakers Give Land to Red Lake Nation” (September 22), I think “repatriation” is the operative word.
Mary Axelrod, Bloomington