Comments on: The Failure of Openness at Ofquack http://www.quackometer.net/blog/2009/04/failure-of-openness-at-ofquack.html Experiments and Thoughts on Quackery, Health Beliefs and Pseudoscience Thu, 09 Feb 2012 21:47:47 +0000 http://wordpress.org/?v=2.9.1 hourly 1 By: Margaret Coats to join Zombie Regulator, Ofquack. | The Quackometer http://www.quackometer.net/blog/2009/04/failure-of-openness-at-ofquack.html#comment-15480 Margaret Coats to join Zombie Regulator, Ofquack. | The Quackometer Tue, 09 Aug 2011 17:41:22 +0000 http://www.quackometer.net/wpblog/2009/04/the-failure-of-openness-at-ofquack.html#comment-15480 [...] a director of Ofquack as it was a clear conflict of interest with evidence based care. Or how their members’ database appeared to be [...] [...] a director of Ofquack as it was a clear conflict of interest with evidence based care. Or how their members’ database appeared to be [...]

]]> By: Government bails out Ofquack as it rewrites old press release | The Quackometer http://www.quackometer.net/blog/2009/04/failure-of-openness-at-ofquack.html#comment-12225 Government bails out Ofquack as it rewrites old press release | The Quackometer Fri, 27 Aug 2010 17:00:18 +0000 http://www.quackometer.net/wpblog/2009/04/the-failure-of-openness-at-ofquack.html#comment-12225 [...] lack of accountability is quite worrying and I have discussed this before. At the moment, I see no evidence that they have had to report to anyone. I see no evidence that [...] [...] lack of accountability is quite worrying and I have discussed this before. At the moment, I see no evidence that they have had to report to anyone. I see no evidence that [...]

]]> By: Doctor’s Data Bogus Tests | The Quackometer http://www.quackometer.net/blog/2009/04/failure-of-openness-at-ofquack.html#comment-12019 Doctor’s Data Bogus Tests | The Quackometer Wed, 07 Jul 2010 22:15:45 +0000 http://www.quackometer.net/wpblog/2009/04/the-failure-of-openness-at-ofquack.html#comment-12019 [...] Council (Ofquack) although I cannot find his name on their list. (Although to be fair, I have little faith in Ofquack’s IT skills). He was trained at Patrick Holford’s ION where hair mineral analysis is [...] [...] Council (Ofquack) although I cannot find his name on their list. (Although to be fair, I have little faith in Ofquack’s IT skills). He was trained at Patrick Holford’s ION where hair mineral analysis is [...]

]]> By: zeno http://www.quackometer.net/blog/2009/04/failure-of-openness-at-ofquack.html#comment-7752 zeno Sun, 12 Apr 2009 19:20:00 +0000 http://www.quackometer.net/wpblog/2009/04/the-failure-of-openness-at-ofquack.html#comment-7752 Come off it you lot! A public register made available to the public? What kind of an organisation do you think OfQuack is? ;-)<br/><br/>They still say they make their quacks' registration numbers public, but don't. It isn't sufficient to just use names: the public has to be told what their unique registration number is. Unless they're not really interested in ensuring their quacks can be properly identified by the public! Come off it you lot! A public register made available to the public? What kind of an organisation do you think OfQuack is? ;-)

They still say they make their quacks’ registration numbers public, but don’t. It isn’t sufficient to just use names: the public has to be told what their unique registration number is. Unless they’re not really interested in ensuring their quacks can be properly identified by the public!

]]> By: Gusfoo http://www.quackometer.net/blog/2009/04/failure-of-openness-at-ofquack.html#comment-7750 Gusfoo Sat, 11 Apr 2009 15:55:00 +0000 http://www.quackometer.net/wpblog/2009/04/the-failure-of-openness-at-ofquack.html#comment-7750 Well, I would say that since they weren't blocking SQL wildcards (schoolboy error) they're lucky someone didn't search for<br/><br/><br/>foobarfoo'; DROP TABLE practitioners; SELECT 1;<br/><br/>See http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/SQL_injection for the full hilarity. Well, I would say that since they weren’t blocking SQL wildcards (schoolboy error) they’re lucky someone didn’t search for

foobarfoo’; DROP TABLE practitioners; SELECT 1;

See http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/SQL_injection for the full hilarity.

]]> By: Le Canard Noir http://www.quackometer.net/blog/2009/04/failure-of-openness-at-ofquack.html#comment-7743 Le Canard Noir Thu, 09 Apr 2009 16:24:00 +0000 http://www.quackometer.net/wpblog/2009/04/the-failure-of-openness-at-ofquack.html#comment-7743 Sean - I suspect you are right. When Ofquack think they have been 'hacked' what they mean is that their web interface has been used in ways that they did not quite anticipate. Utter naivity and a failure to understand what it means to put a public register on the web. Sean – I suspect you are right. When Ofquack think they have been ‘hacked’ what they mean is that their web interface has been used in ways that they did not quite anticipate. Utter naivity and a failure to understand what it means to put a public register on the web.

]]> By: Sean Ellis http://www.quackometer.net/blog/2009/04/failure-of-openness-at-ofquack.html#comment-7742 Sean Ellis Thu, 09 Apr 2009 16:03:00 +0000 http://www.quackometer.net/wpblog/2009/04/the-failure-of-openness-at-ofquack.html#comment-7742 Admission time. I once sent a "%" character to their web page! Wait, is that the police... ?<br/><br/>I noticed, early on, that you could obtain a full listing of all the quacks at once, just by typing "%" (the SQL wildcard character) into the name or postcode search on the OfQuack site.<br/><br/>I certainly would not count this as a "hack" - it was an exposed, predictable, piece of functionality on their site with no harmful side-effects. (Other than, of course, allowing us critics to discover how few quacks had actually been inducted at that point.) This loophole was closed very quickly.<br/><br/>It has been interesting to see how their search has morphed over time. Initially, typing "a" would allow you to see anyone with an "a" in their name. This was tightened up too.<br/><br/>Despite their supposed commitment to openness, there is no way that a user of the website can obtain a list of quacks, other than by laboriously trying many different queries. There is no summary page of statistics that lets us see how much work we are getting for our nearly-a-million quid. The board meeting minutes have been removed from the site. They are in breach of their own data protection statements.<br/><br/>I suspect that what they call "hacking" is actually just attempts to squeeze the camel of the (publicly available) data that they have, through the needle of their needlessly crippled search interface. Admission time. I once sent a “%” character to their web page! Wait, is that the police… ?

I noticed, early on, that you could obtain a full listing of all the quacks at once, just by typing “%” (the SQL wildcard character) into the name or postcode search on the OfQuack site.

I certainly would not count this as a “hack” – it was an exposed, predictable, piece of functionality on their site with no harmful side-effects. (Other than, of course, allowing us critics to discover how few quacks had actually been inducted at that point.) This loophole was closed very quickly.

It has been interesting to see how their search has morphed over time. Initially, typing “a” would allow you to see anyone with an “a” in their name. This was tightened up too.

Despite their supposed commitment to openness, there is no way that a user of the website can obtain a list of quacks, other than by laboriously trying many different queries. There is no summary page of statistics that lets us see how much work we are getting for our nearly-a-million quid. The board meeting minutes have been removed from the site. They are in breach of their own data protection statements.

I suspect that what they call “hacking” is actually just attempts to squeeze the camel of the (publicly available) data that they have, through the needle of their needlessly crippled search interface.

]]> By: zeno http://www.quackometer.net/blog/2009/04/failure-of-openness-at-ofquack.html#comment-7726 zeno Wed, 08 Apr 2009 00:06:00 +0000 http://www.quackometer.net/wpblog/2009/04/the-failure-of-openness-at-ofquack.html#comment-7726 Yet more hiding of heads in the sand - or rather, hiding their website pages so Google can't search them!<br/><br/>Yes, OfQuack deliberately prevent ALL search engines from accessing their website pages so no one can Google for information on, say, how to complain about a quack!<br/><br/>Read the story on Think Humanism at http://www.thinkhumanism.com/phpBB3/viewtopic.php?f=14&t=2682&p=52008#p52008. Yet more hiding of heads in the sand – or rather, hiding their website pages so Google can't search them!

Yes, OfQuack deliberately prevent ALL search engines from accessing their website pages so no one can Google for information on, say, how to complain about a quack!

Read the story on Think Humanism at http://www.thinkhumanism.com/phpBB3/viewtopic.php?f=14&t=2682&p=52008#p52008.

]]> By: _Arthur http://www.quackometer.net/blog/2009/04/failure-of-openness-at-ofquack.html#comment-7725 _Arthur Tue, 07 Apr 2009 16:39:00 +0000 http://www.quackometer.net/wpblog/2009/04/the-failure-of-openness-at-ofquack.html#comment-7725 OfQuack can economise some money by never undertaking any attempt at enforcement, that would be fine with their paying members. OfQuack can economise some money by never undertaking any attempt at enforcement, that would be fine with their paying members.

]]> By: gimpy http://www.quackometer.net/blog/2009/04/failure-of-openness-at-ofquack.html#comment-7719 gimpy Tue, 07 Apr 2009 10:00:00 +0000 http://www.quackometer.net/wpblog/2009/04/the-failure-of-openness-at-ofquack.html#comment-7719 I'm surprised they haven't blamed Big Pharma for this yet.<br/><br/>On the subject of where their 9,800 or so new members will come from if you do a search for '<a HREF="http://www.yell.com/ucs/UcsSearchAction.do?keywords=complementary+therapy&companyName=&location=United+Kingdom&scrambleSeed=84413326&searchType=advance&M=0&lastKeyword=complementary+therapy&lastClarifyIndex=&lastClarifyOptions=&lastSearchall=&lastSearchallTax=&lastbandedclarifyResults=&bandedclarifyResults=&ssm=0" REL="nofollow" rel="nofollow">complementary therapy'</a> on yell.com you get a 9,200 results, many of which are duplicates. Dare I say it but there could be less than 10,000 complementary therapists in the UK, many of whom could be homeopaths (2,000 or so) and will have nothing to do with Ofquack. <br/><br/>They are screwed. I’m surprised they haven’t blamed Big Pharma for this yet.

On the subject of where their 9,800 or so new members will come from if you do a search for ‘complementary therapy’ on yell.com you get a 9,200 results, many of which are duplicates. Dare I say it but there could be less than 10,000 complementary therapists in the UK, many of whom could be homeopaths (2,000 or so) and will have nothing to do with Ofquack.

They are screwed.

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