RISKS-LIST: Risks-Forum Digest Sunday 24 May 2020 Volume 31 : Issue 86

ACM FORUM ON RISKS TO THE PUBLIC IN COMPUTERS AND RELATED SYSTEMS (comp.risks) Peter G. Neumann, founder and still moderator

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Contents:
Map Reveals Distrust in Health Expertise Is Winning Hearts, Minds Online
(GW Today)
A Vote-by-Mail Nightmare (WSJ)
Cannonball Run record is broken *seven* times over five weeks after illegal
racers took to the empty streets during coronavirus lockdown to drive
from NYC to LA in under 26 hours (Daily Mail)
The Fate of Elevators in the Post-Pandemic City (CityLab)
Risks of immunity passports (The New Yorker)
Can We Track COVID-19 and Protect Privacy at the Same Time? (The New Yorker) Re: A Case for Cooperation Between Machines and Humans (Richard Stein)
Re: The ultimate Turing test (Amos Shapir)
Re: Satellites and spacecraft malfunction as Earth's magnetic field
mysteriously weakens (David Lesher)
Abridged info on RISKS (comp.risks)

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Date: Fri, 22 May 2020 12:12:07 -0400 (EDT)
From: ACM TechNews <technews-editor@acm.org>
Subject: Map Reveals Distrust in Health Expertise Is Winning Hearts, Minds
Online (GW Today)

GW Today, 12 May 2020 via ACM TechNews, Friday, May 22, 2020

Researchers at George Washington University (GW), the University of Miami, Michigan State University, and Los Alamos National Laboratory have found
that communities on Facebook that distrust establishment health guidance are more effective than government health agencies and other reliable health
groups at reaching and engaging "undecided" individuals. During the height
of the measles outbreak in 2019, the team tracked the vaccine conversation among 100 million Facebook users. The resulting "battleground" map shows how distrust in public health guidance could dominate online conversations over
the next decade, a phenomenon that could jeopardize public health efforts to protect populations from Covid-19 and future pandemics. Said GW's Neil
Johnson, "Instead of playing whack-a-mole with a global network of
communities that consume and produce (mis)information, public health
agencies, social media platforms and governments can use a map like ours and
an entirely new set of strategies to identify where the largest theaters of online activity are and engage and neutralize those communities peddling in misinformation so harmful to the public." https://orange.hosting.lsoft.com/trk/click?ref=3Dznwrbbrs9_6-2545fx2227ebx067062&

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Date: Sun, 24 May 2020 06:58:57 -1000
From: the keyboard of geoff goodfellow <geoff@iconia.com>
Subject: A Vote-by-Mail Nightmare (WSJ)

*Trump or Biden by a whisker, with a million ballots thrown out*

Roughly 100 million Americans voted in the flesh during the 2016 elections, mingling at 117,000 polling places with 918,000 staff, many of whom were seniors. Given how fast Covid-19 has spread without this kind of national mixer, it's easy to see why an epidemiologist might dread November.

California Governor Gavin Newsom signed an order this month ensuring that
every registered voter in his state will receive a mail-in ballot this
fall. Michigan Secretary of State Jocelyn Benson said Tuesday that every
voter there will be sent an application to cast a ballot by mail. Other
states will probably expand their absentee options. This is understandable
in a pandemic, but it's worth keeping in mind what can go wrong.

In 2016 almost a quarter of votes were carried by the post, according to the federal Election Assistance Commission. But roughly 1% of submitted absentee ballots were rejected. About half of the time, the voter's signature was missing or didn't match the John Hancock on file. Another quarter of these ballots arrived after the deadline. All in all, 319,000 votes were thrown
out.

Black and Hispanic mail voters in Florida had rejection rates in 2018 that
were twice as high: 2% and 2.1%, compared with 0.9% for whites, according to
a study <https://www.aclufl.org/sites/default/files/aclu_florida_-_report_on_vote-by-mail_ballots_in_the_2018.pdf?mod=3Darticle_inline>
by the state chapter of the American Civil Liberties Union. In several
counties the minority rejection rates passed 3% or 4%. Among first-time
voters, 3.1% of ballots were thrown out. That call is often made by local officials, who are simply eyeballing the voter's signature against the
version on record. [...] https://www.wsj.com/articles/a-vote-by-mail-nightmare-11590189749?shareToken=3Dste0c5e9b690614029b514e99ef1af6597

------------------------------

Date: Sun, 24 May 2020 07:01:55 -1000
From: geoff goodfellow <geoff@iconia.com>
Subject: Cannonball Run record is broken *seven* times over five weeks after
illegal racers took to the empty streets during coronavirus lockdown to
drive from NYC to LA in under 26 hours (Daily Mail)

- New record holders, who were not named, completed 2,800-mile road
journey in under 26 hours
- Previous record was set in April at 26 hours and 38 minutes
- Stay-at-home orders and social distancing have emptied roads
nationwide, prompting more to take on the challenge
- Some Cannonball fans have said doing a Cannonball Run during the
COVID-19 trial is irresponsible and should not count against pre-pandemic
record

EXCERPT:

The Cannonball Run record has been broken seven times over a five-week
period after illegal road racers took to the empty streets during
coronavirus lockdown to drive from New York City to Los Angeles.

The newest record holders, who have not been named, completed the
2,800-mile cross-country journey in less than 26 hours, beating last
month's record of 26 hours and 38 minutes.

Not much is known about the latest champions, including the car they drove
or the actual time, but the team reportedly averaged a speed of 120mph, according to 2013 record breaker Ed Boilan.

Boilan, whose record is 28 hours and 50 minutes, revealed more drivers
have been taking up the challenge after coronavirus lockdowns cleared
roadways across the country.

'Certainly, we had some over 110[mph] averages through states, they were
over 120[mph] through several states,' he said on his YouTube channel last week.

'They had over 30 spotters, an amazingly well-prepared car, and everything
just went about as well as they could have hoped.'

It comes after a team of three people set a new speed record last month,
taking off from Red Bull Garage - the traditional race start point - in New York City around 11:15pm on April 4.

Just a little over one day later, the team arrived at the traditional
finish line at the Portofino Hotel & Marina in Redondo Beach, California <https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/california/index.html>. They have not publicly disclosed which route they took. [...]

https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-8350745/Cannonball-Run-record-broken-SEVEN-times-five-weeks.html

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Date: Sat, 23 May 2020 04:47:13 +0900
From: Dave Farber <farber@gmail.com>
Subject: The Fate of Elevators in the Post-Pandemic City (CityLab)

https://www.citylab.com/transportation/2020/05/elevator-anxiety-coronavirus-health-risks-design-history/611032/

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Date: Sun, 24 May 2020 11:22:53 -0400
From: Monty Solomon <monty@roscom.com>
Subject: Risks of immunity passports (The New Yorker)

https://www.newyorker.com/tech/annals-of-technology/immunity-passports-and-the-perils-of-conferring-coronavirus-status

------------------------------

Date: Sun, 24 May 2020 11:42:59 -0400
From: Monty Solomon <monty@roscom.com>
Subject: Can We Track COVID-19 and Protect Privacy at the Same Time?
(The New Yorker)

https://www.newyorker.com/tech/annals-of-technology/can-we-track-covid-19-and-protect-privacy-at-the-same-time

------------------------------

Date: Sat, 23 May 2020 13:02:57 +0800
From: Richard Stein <rmstein@ieee.org>
Subject: Re: A Case for Cooperation Between Machines and Humans (RISKS-31.85)

Per the NY Times essay, "Since then, Dr. Shneiderman has argued that
designers run the risk not just of creating unsafe machines but of absolving humans of ethical responsibility of the actions taken by autonomous systems, ranging from cars to weapons."

Ethical responsibility seldom restrains corporate conduct, especially as it pertains to promoting products that endanger public health and safety. See "Profit Without Honor" by Pontell, et.al.

Product liability insurance would serve an important role should widespread commercial autonomous machine deployment materialize.

Historically, software licenses typically state indemnification terms which, when agreed to by the customer, hold the manufacturer or supplier harmless against damages arising from licensed use. One expects to find analogous
terms for driverless vehicle deployment. Before hailing a driverless taxi, check the app terms and conditions carefully.

Mandatory product liability ownership for vehicle manufacturer and fleet operators will alter corporate profit/loss risk curves. Carbon-free,
autonomous machine deployment should not mean fault-free if or when
incidents arise.

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Date: Sun, 24 May 2020 11:09:54 +0300
From: Amos Shapir <amos083@gmail.com>
Subject: Re: The ultimate Turing test (RISKS-31.84)

10 years ago I was hired over the phone by a big international company for remote working. (I could have worked from home, but preferred a local
office.) During the entire 2 years of employment, I met my boss in person
only once, and have never met any other members of my team; I even have no
idea what they look like (there was no Zoom then).

The problem of "virtual employees" is not new either. In one famous case an
IT service guy was working in parallel at two companies, across the street
from each other. He managed this by always being available on call, and was caught only when his manager at one company visited a friend at the other company.

Another infamous case happened in Germany in the 1970's (AFAIR). A soldier clerk employed by a military paymaster unit got bored and made up a fake recruit, filed all the necessary reports to promote him through the ranks,
all the while collecting the virtual soldier's pay checks. He managed to
get away with it for a few years, I think that by the time he was caught he
was managing a whole virtual company of fake servicemen.

------------------------------

Date: Sat, 23 May 2020 12:55:37 -0400
From: David Lesher <wb8foz@panix.com>
Subject: Re: Satellites and spacecraft malfunction as Earth's magnetic field
mysteriously weakens (RISKS-31.85)

Unmentioned is this article is a potential second issue.

Some/many satellites use magnatorquers; electromagnetic coils energized to
work against the planet's field to rotate/stabilize the satellite in all 3 dimensions, necessary to optimize antenna and solar cell aiming. Unlike thrusters, magnatorquers have an ongoing fuel supply.

However, when the earth's field weakens, it will take more current through
the coils to get the same torque. That in turn impacts the energy budget.

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Date: Mon, 14 Jan 2019 11:11:11 -0800
From: RISKS-request@csl.sri.com
Subject: Abridged info on RISKS (comp.risks)

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End of RISKS-FORUM Digest 31.86
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