Monday, August 23, 2021

The RISKS Digest

  I was shocked to read NSW Police Commissioner Fuller’s message to his force regarding COVID-19 restrictions (“Police boss tells officers to go hard with fines”, August 20). It is one thing to direct strict application of the law; it is entirely another to undertake that in doing so wrong actions will be ignored. Our democracy is on shaky ground if policing is controlled by someone apparently lacking in judgment or understanding of the long and proud status of the office of constable in our society.

Peter Wilson, Murrays Beach


Going, Going, Almost Gone: UK Government Speeds Up Privatisation of National Health System

Operating on the maxim of “never let a good crisis go to waste”, the government is exploiting the pandemic to embed even more private interests across the system.



Squibs: The End Is Nigh? | Wirkman Comment.

The normal course for a new contagion is for it to mutate into easier-to-spread but less deadly variants. Killing a host isn’t good for the virus, so it changes over time. Oddly, I rarely hear this mentioned.


Inside a Fatal Tesla Autopilot Accident

NYImes
 Self-Driving Car Company to Test a Second Autonomous Vehicle in NYC
Streetsblog New York City
 Technical Issue Gives Some Metro Riders Unexpected SmarTrip Boost
DCist
 Texas murder suspect granted bond after police data loss
ABC News
 Simulating nuclear cloud rise anywhere, anytime
phys.org
 Mysterious Hacker Group Suspected in July Cyberattack on Iranian Trains
NYTimes
 Dozens of STARTTLS Related Flaws Found Affecting Popular Email Clients
The Hacker News
 Autocorrect Errors in Excel Still Creating Genomics Headache
Dyani Lewis
 BlackBerry resisted announcing major flaw in software powering cars, hospital equipment
Peter Gutmann
 Apple's controversial client-side child-abuse scanning algorithm reverse engineered, first hash collision already created
Schneier via LW
 Apple's project is likely doomed
Lauren Weinstein
 New AdLoad Variant Bypasses Apple's Security Defenses to Target macOS Systems
The Hacker News
 Parents pull kids from schools as district bucks CDC guidance and board member spreads misinformation
CNN
 Abrien Aguirre Hawaii Covid Whistleblower
BitChute
 Insecurity of voting machines against attackers with physical access
Andrew Appel
 Colorado Republican official accused after voting system passwords are leaked to right-wing site
WashPost
 Re: Citigroup Center Stilts—New York, New York
Mark Brader
 Re: Clearing the heavens of space junk
Erling Kristiansen
 Info on RISKS (comp.risks)