* Forwarded (from: netmail) by Roy J. Tellason using timEd 1.10.y2k.



Date: Wed, 20 Aug 2003 09:47:51 -0500
From: "Peter G. Neumann" 
Subject: Tampa Police disband face-recognition software

The Tampa Police Department has eliminated the facial-recognition software
hooked up to cameras scanning crowds in public places in Ybor City, after
two years, with zero arrests and zero positive identifications, with a
database of 30,000 mug shots of criminals and runaway children.
[Source: *Tampa Tribune*, 20 Aug 2003]
  http://www.tampatribune.com/MGA0TF0TKJD.html

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Date: Sun, 17 Aug 2003 19:52:21 GMT
From: Ben Moore 
Subject: Botched 911 call led to man's death

A 911 dispatcher in Buncome County, North Carolina, clicked on a box to
transfer the house address of a caller into the Computer Aided Dispatch
system.  But that system, installed in March 2003, did not yet have
information on all Buncombe County roads, and suggested an incorrect
alternative (Briarcliff Drive, instead of Lane, in West Asheville), which
the dispatcher accepted.  As a result, the paramedics were significantly
delayed and the self-inflicted victim died.  Attempts are now being made to
complete the database.  [Source: article by Tonya Maxwell, 15 Aug 2003,
*Citizen-Times*; PGN-ed]
  http://cgi.citizen-times.com/cgi-bin/story/40174

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Date: Mon, 18 Aug 2003 10:29:45 +0100
From: Martin Ward 
Subject: Blackout: definitely not terrorists!

Did anyone else notice this?  All the early reports about the blackout said
that they had *no* idea of the cause, or even in which country it originated
(with Canada and the USA both pointing the finger at each other).  But
officials are absolutely certain that it was *not* caused by terrorist
activity. Some reports were slightly more honest in saying that "we
have no evidence of terrorist activity": not surprising since they had
no evidence
of *any* cause whatsoever. If "no evidence of terrorist activity" is the
same as "definitely no terrorist activity", then the blackout
definitely did
not occur (because there is no evidence of *any* cause). Any actual loss of
electricity you appear to observe is therefore merely the result of a
deranged imagination...

Martin.Ward{at}durham.ac.uk http://www.cse.dmu.ac.uk/~mward/



Date: Wed, 20 Aug 2003 09:16:15 -0700
From: "NewsScan" 
Subject: Do-Not-Spam list effort will be futile

Federal Trade Commission Chairman Timothy Muris says that even if efforts in
Congress to establish a "do-not-spam" list succeed, that won't
fix the problem of unwanted junk mail. "If such a list were
established, I'd advise customers not to waste their time and effort. Most
spam is already so clearly illegitimate that the senders are no more likely
to comply with new regulations than with the laws they now ignore."
The drive toward setting up a "do-not-spam" list has picked up
steam following the popularity of the FTC's recently established
"do-not-call" registry for people who want to stop telemarketing
calls. Muris says the magnitude of the problem and the fact that
"spammers can easily hide their identities and cross international
borders," makes government regulation extremely difficult.  "In
the end, spam will be reduced, if at all, through several technological
improvements, as well as safer computing practices by others."  [AP 19
Aug 2003; NewsScan Daily, 20 August 2003]
  http://apnews.excite.com/article/20030819/D7T1A63G3.html



Date: Tue, 19 Aug 03 21:42:04 +1200
From: Don Mackie 
Subject: Update on NZ payphone failures (RISKS-22.86)

Some more details in the story at:

  http://www.nzherald.co.nz/storydisplay.cfm
  ?storyID=3518759&thesection=business&thesubsection=technology

I had never heard of The Centre for Critical Infrastructure Protection
before. I work in health and am involved in some disaster preparedness
committees. Probably my own fault for not asking. They seem to be more
interested in information systems infrastructure than water/power.

Don Mackie 

  [Error in Subject line in RISKS-22.86 is corrected in archives.  PGN]

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Date: Wed, 20 Aug 2003 12:54:48 -0400
From: agreene{at}pageflexinc.com (Andrew Greene)
Subject: Out of context numbers: It wasn't quite THAT bad...

PGN's summary in RISKS-22.85 included the sentence: "At least 50 million
people were affected."  But according to *The New York Times* ("How Many in
the Dark? Evidently Not 50 Million" by Mike McIntire, 17 Aug 2003, currently
at http://www.nytimes.com/2003/08/17/nyregion/17NUMB.html), that number was
actually the total population of the overall geographical areas served by
utility companies that were affected, and could be taken as a hard upper
limit on the number of customers affected. However, the number was lifted
out of context and then got exaggerated by politicians and news reporters
looking to make a big story sound even more impressive:

  "Approximately 61,800 megawatts of customer load was lost in an area that
  covers 50 million people. ... We cannot say with precision how many
  customers were affected at this time."  [...]  For instance, in the New
  York region, where approximately 18 million people live, nearly 20 percent
  of the available electricity remained on, according to the New York
  Independent System Operator, which monitors electrical usage.

    [Andrew, Just because someone was not out of power does not mean that
    person was not affected.  But you are quite correct.  The quoted 50
    million number was erroneously qualified.  TNX.  PGN]

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