I was doing some research today, keeping up on new developments in HIPAA compliant software. (HIPAA is U.S. law which regulates the portability, privacy and security of healthcare information)

On the site of a software company that is selling a "secure email system" that they claim is HIPAA compliant, I found the following completely ignorant statement about the relationship between security and free/open source software

"Why does SafetySend use Proprietary Code and Technology?
Because any code or technology that can be purchased is vulnerable.

Customer service that's so bad it really is comical. Here's the most recent insanity from the "customer care" staff at hotels.com in regards to censorship of negative reviews:

I apologize for your continued frustration in regards to this issue.

Unfortunately, we do not have any control over which reviews get posted on the website. I can advise that since the process was redesigned there are several kinks still being worked out. I thank you for your patience during this process.

[UPDATE July 29 2010: I have closed this thread and the other hotels.com thread to comments. I appreciate all the feedback, but this blog was never intended to be the why hotels.com sucks support group. Also, I'm tired of people searching on google for "hotels.com customer support", finding my blog and posting comments or sending me messages as if *I* am somehow an employee of hotels.com.]