AP Visit: I'm going to Costa Rica

[Josem]

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You completely missed the point. They aren't going down there to do a full audit, so other people are asking questions about what could really be accomplished.

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I believe that an important part of determining whether such a problem is going to happen again is in understanding the culture of the place.
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Why don't you respond to pokergrader's post?

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OK.
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Why does he need to visit? Logs, code and other information can be transmitted over the internet.

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Correct - but that's not the information that is being sought here.

Being there in person allows you to chat in depth with the security folk; with the support people; with the people analysing the game play; with the management; with the other stakeholders there.

It allows you to inspect the physical premises, and to see how they respond to issues first-hand.

It's not the logs and code that is important here. We've already analysed that. We understand that cheating took place.

The important aspect going forward is to determine whether cheating is likely to happen again. To do that, you need to see their processes, to see whether they're being complied with, and to understand the culture of the place.

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It is just a ploy because over the internet he can be impartial and disconnected from the people and focus on the issue. But in person he is just going to be a guy sitting in their office, seeing what they want to show him and being coddled.

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Seriously? They'll ply him with 40 virgins to make him sell his soul?

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If they actually wanted to prove something, send an NDA to a trusted software developer (or better yet a few), then send them the full source code and all the logs they have. Let them go through it on their own and listen to what they have to say.

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You assume that this is a software issue. I don't think it is a software issue. Fundamentally, this is our point of disagreement.

Anyone who genuinely believes that the logs/bits and bytes are the key issue here is sorely mistaken about how organisations work.

Having served as a director of various organisations - from small holding companies to a massive organisation with a $A1 billion annual budget, I'm well aware of the difference that culture makes to an organisation.

It's finding out whether staff have pride in their work; It's finding out whether staff are rewarded and encouraged to develop themselves; It's finding out whether people are asked to share problems or whether to hide them; It's finding out whether the people can share ideas, or are criticised; It's finding out whether people are encouraged to question or short down in flames; It's finding out whether the organisation is committed to excellence, or interested in a short-term dollar.

That stuff can't be transmitted across the internet in any meaningful way.