[continued from previous message]

bubble mentality. Again and again, we have seen riches for a relative few
and losses for many.

Cryptocurrencies such as Bitcoin have several things in common. One is their reliance on what is called the blockchain, a decentralized ledger that keeps track of all transactions. Although it has some problematic features,
including big energy consumption, blockchain is a genuine innovation.

With major financial institutions, not just startups, investing in cryptocurrency research and development, why are we so skeptical about the current state of affairs? Here are some of the reasons.

First, in many jurisdictions, cryptocurrencies exist in a largely
unregulated environment. To their promoters, that is a feature. To us, it is
a bug.

David J. Farber and Dan Gillmor https://asia.nikkei.com/Opinion/Cryptocurrencies-remain-a-gamble-best-avoided

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

Date: Tue, 15 Feb 2022 12:12:06 -0500
From: "Andrew Duane" <e91.waggin@gmail.com>
Subject: Re: Fiber cut takes out cell service to a large portion of SW
Colorado (ouraynews)

I work in this industry, and see fiber cuts all the time. A well designed network should have effectively zero impact from a fiber cut, as long as:

1) There is circuit redundancy properly designed, so other fibers can take
over traffic (there are lots of protocols for managing this).
2) Those other fibers *AREN'T IN THE SAME CONDUIT*.

It's surprising how many network providers spend a fortune to get #1 right
and completely forget about #2.

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

Date: Wed, 9 Feb 2022 19:43:25 -0600
From: Robert Wilson <rlwilsonjr@charter.net>
Subject: Re: Teslas rolling through stop signs

The response that says "police will ticket drivers for disregarding stop
signs" must come from some idealized world, and certainly not one where I
have lived (quite a few places). Where I am now (southern Wisconsin) drivers regularly roll through stop signs with no help from software. The saying
that used to be "stop and go" has become "roll and stroll": I have
frequently heard people say exactly that!

The official response to accident rates is to lower speed limits (often
without then enforcing them.) I can calculate kinetic energy and I know the danger of more serious injury in a high speed accident. But speed rarely is
the actual cause of an accident involving two cars. Accidents almost always involve at least one vehicle being in the wrong place, not necessarily at a high speed. But we almost never see enforcement of laws about where a
vehicle should be, e.g. which lane to be in. Once upon a time I had a competition license, given after classes and testing, and I wish that we required drivers to show more than how to parallel park.

Maybe Tesla's programmers were basing their product on what they saw in
the real world.

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

Date: Sat, 12 Feb 2022 12:40:30 +0200
From: "Amos Shapir" <amos083@gmail.com>
Subject: Re: Ancient Programming Language Is Way More Common Than We Thought
(RISKS-33.05)

Something which had happened to a friend of mine highlights yet another risk
of COBOL: He was employed as a COBOL programmer for a bank in London. One
day he was called by his boss: "I've heard that you know Hebrew. We have a project for you -- in Brazil!".

It turned out that the bank's Brazilian branch had employed an Israeli programmer who had left, and no one was able to decipher his code. Since
COBOL contains about 300 reserved words, programmers have to be careful not
to step on one; this programmer's solution was to name all his variables
with Hebrew words...

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

Date: Sat, 12 Feb 2022 12:43:28 +0200
From: "Amos Shapir" <amos083@gmail.com>
Subject: Re: A crypto breakthrough? Western states consider taking digital
currency (RISKS-33.05)

In the same issue of the Risks digest, there is another headline: "$325
Million Vanishes From Crypto Platform Wormhole After Apparent Hack".

As they say in court dramas: I rest my case.

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

Date: Sat, 12 Feb 2022 12:51:55 +0200
From: "Amos Shapir" <amos083@gmail.com>
Subject: Re: The New York Times Buys Wordle (RISKS-33.05)

Calling these saboteurs "malicious hackers" is an insult to hackers... It doesn't take more than a control-U and another click, to get into the full
list of plain text words, in order of appearance.

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

Date: Mon, 1 Aug 2020 11:11:11 -0800
From: RISKS-request@csl.sri.com
Subject: Abridged info on RISKS (comp.risks)

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