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  • Risks Digest 31.59 (1/2)

    From RISKS List Owner@21:1/5 to All on Fri Feb 21 19:18:30 2020
    RISKS-LIST: Risks-Forum Digest Friday 21 February 2020 Volume 31 : Issue 59

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

    ***** See last item for further information, disclaimers, caveats, etc. ***** This issue is archived at <http://www.risks.org> as
    <http://catless.ncl.ac.uk/Risks/31.59>
    The current issue can also be found at
    <http://www.csl.sri.com/users/risko/risks.txt>

    Contents:
    Bluetooth-Related Flaws Threaten Dozens of Medical Devices (WIRED)
    Electronic voting systems (Ross Anderson)
    Orbital Debris Summary (Aerospace.org)
    Fraud Case in Charleston SC Shines Light on Web's Dark Corners (WSJ)
    Israel Says Hamas Targeted Its Soldiers in Honey Trap's Cyberattack (WSJ)
    Your Doorbell Camera Spied on You. Now What? (NYTimes)
    Sex robots may cause psychological damage (BBC)
    Electrical Tape on Sign Tricked a Tesla Into Speeding in a Test
    (Yahoo Finance)
    Spooky Video shows self-driving cars being tricked by holograms (Inverse) Microsoft Surface Battery Fail (Larry Werring)
    Hundreds of Millions of PC Components Still Have Hackable Firmware (WIRED)
    EU Commission white paper On Artificial Intelligence - A European approach
    to excellence and trust (Europa via Diego Latella)
    How smartphone addiction changes your brain: Scans reveal how grey
    matter of tech addicts physically changes shape and size in a similar way
    to drug users (Daily Mail)
    US Govt Warns Critical Industries After Ransomware Hits Gas Pipeline
    Facility (CISA)
    Hackers Are Using the Coronavirus Panic to Spread Malware (Malware Bytes) Flywheel owners found out that their bikes were bricked through Peloton
    (The Verge)
    Scientists Warn `Insect Apocalypse' Could Doom Humanity (The Guardian) Mysterious GPS outages are wracking the shipping industry (Fortune)
    UN/CCW/GGE documents on Autonomous Weapon Systems (Diego Latella)
    IBM, Marriott, and Mickey Mouse Take on Tech's Favorite Law (David McCabe,
    NYTimes, 4 Feb 2020)
    Re: A lazy fix 20 years ago means the Y2K bug is taking down computers
    (John Levine, Martin Ward)
    Re: Debunking the lone woodpecker theory (Gabe Goldberg)
    My smart car rental was a breeze - until I got trapped in the woods
    (The Guardian)
    Today in sharing economy struggles: our app-powered rental car
    lost cell service on the side of a mountain in rural California and now I
    live here I guess (Kari Paul)
    Re: Car renter paired car to FordPass, could still control car long ...
    (Jeremy Epstein, R. G. Newbury)
    Re: The Intelligence Coup of the Century (David Lesher)
    How the Iowa Caucuses Came Crashing Down (WashPost)
    'The only uncertainty is how long we'll last': a worst-case scenario for
    the climate in 2050 (The Guardian)
    Like Something Out of The Book Of Exodus Locust Armies Are Devouring Entire
    Farms In Kenya In As Little As 30 Seconds (CGTN)
    Abridged info on RISKS (comp.risks)

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

    Date: Fri, 21 Feb 2020 14:44:48 -0500
    From: Gabe Goldberg <gabe@gabegold.com>
    Subject: Bluetooth-Related Flaws Threaten Dozens of Medical Devices (WIRED)

    Hundreds of smart devices -- including pacemakers -- are exposed thanks to a series of vulnerabilities in the Bluetooth Low Energy protocol.

    The Bluetooth Special Interest Group, which oversees development of the Bluetooth and BLE standards, did not a return a request from WIRED for
    comment about the findings. Bluetooth and BLE implementation issues <https://www.wired.com/story/bluetooth-complex-security-risk/> are common, though, partly because the Bluetooth and BLE standards are massive and
    complex.

    "Some of the vendors we contacted originally, the engineers said, 'Well, the reason you're getting these issues is that you're putting in values that are not expected, not within the specification,'" Chattopadhyay says. "But you can't only be testing for a benign environment. We're talking about an
    attacker here. He doesn't care about what's expected."

    https://www.wired.com/story/bluetooth-flaws-ble-internet-of-things-pacemakers/

    Unfair! Testing unexpected values not in specifications...

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

    Date: Sun, 16 Feb 2020 15:42:04 +0000
    From: Ross Anderson <Ross.Anderson@cl.cam.ac.uk>
    Subject: Electronic voting systems

    (Note MIT's Voatz item, RISKS-31.58)

    So now both America and Russia have deployed thoroughly unimpressive
    electronic voting systems that claimed to have a blockchain feature.

    Last week at Financial Crypto, Sasha Golovnev talked on Breaking the
    encryption scheme of the Moscow Internet voting system. A new system for electronic voting in three wards of the city of Moscow in 2018 had a public testing period, in which Sasha and Pierrick Gaudry broke it twice. There was
    no spec, but the source code was put online a day before the first public
    test. It turned out that it used ElGamal encryption with keys under 256
    bits; the encryption was done three times with different keys, and the designers were unaware that triple encryption doesn't strengthen ElGamal the way it does DES! Their first attack was simple key recovery as CADO-NFS
    could do the discrete logs on a laptop in ten minutes. The election
    authorities changed to 1024-bit ElGamal, whereupon a second attack was
    found: a one-bit leak from a subgroup attack – enough to distinguish between the two candidates in the election. The developers denied that this attack worked but silently changed the code anyway. There was also an ethereum blockchain for vote tallying, which vanished after the election result was declared, and the link between the decryption and he blockchain was broken
    when they keysize was increased. Other things were wrong too.

    See http://fc20.ifca.ai/preproceedings/178.pdf

    The link to the liveblog from which this is taken is here:
    https://www.lightbluetouchpaper.org/2020/02/10/fc-2020/

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

    Date: Sun, 16 Feb 2020 10:43:05 -0800
    From: Richard Stein <rmstein@ieee.org>
    Subject: Orbital Debris Summary (Aerospace.org)

    https://aerospace.org/article/space-debris-and-space-traffic-management

    The URL gives a table summarizing the current statistics on orbital space debris by size, quantity estimates, collision effect equivalence (hit by a
    bus or a bomb), and whether or not the detritus is track-able.

    Any object less than 5 cm cross-section cannot be tracked. Objects at or
    above 10 cm cross-section are subject to tracking. The catalog for 10 or 10+
    cm debris objects numbers is in the 100s of thousands. I have not found a public inventory on the Internet, though space-track.org lists satellite records using a standard 2 line summary format that identifies the name and their orbital ephemerides.

    An estimated tens of millions of debris objects between 1 mm and 5 cm
    currently orbit Earth at various altitudes.

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

    Date: Mon, 17 Feb 2020 11:45:08 -0500
    From: Monty Solomon <monty@roscom.com>
    Subject: Fraud Case in Charleston SC Shines Light on Web's Dark Corners
    (WSJ)

    Micfo and its founder pleaded not guilty in case revolving around IP
    addresses and the American Registry for Internet Numbers

    https://www.wsj.com/articles/fraud-case-in-charleston-s-c-shines-light-on-webs-dark-corners-11581944400

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

    Date: Mon, 17 Feb 2020 11:51:39 -0500
    From: Monty Solomon <monty@roscom.com>
    Subject: Israel Says Hamas Targeted Its Soldiers in Honey Trap's Cyberattack
    (WSJ)

    The Israeli military said operatives of the Palestinian militant group Hamas targeted its soldiers in a months-long operation that duped them into downloading spyware with the false promise of exchanging illicit photos with young women.

    Dozens of Israeli soldiers downloaded the spyware, but the scheme was
    detected early enough to prevent important secrets from getting out and the Hamas servers hosting the operation were destroyed, the military said on Sunday.

    The phishing operation, known as a honey trap, is the third such scheme
    since 2017 and shows how Hamas exploits social media to elicit information
    from enemy soldiers -- and how difficult it is for Israel and others to
    prevent such attacks.

    https://www.wsj.com/articles/israel-says-hamas-targeted-its-soldiers-in-honey-trap-cyberattack-11581874491

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

    Date: Thu, 20 Feb 2020 10:22:13 -0500
    From: Gabe Goldberg <gabe@gabegold.com>
    Subject: Your Doorbell Camera Spied on You. Now What? (NYTimes)

    Amazon's popular Ring security cameras have gaping security holes. Here's
    how to protect yourself.

    tech fix: Your Doorbell Camera Spied on You. Now What?

    Amazon's popular Ring security cameras have gaping security holes. Here's
    how to protect yourself.

    Has there ever been a tech product more polarizing than Ring?

    The Internet-connected doorbell gadget, which lets you watch live video of
    your front porch through a phone app or website, has gained a reputation as
    the webcam that spies on you and that has failed to protect your data. Yet people keep buying it in droves.

    Ring, which is owned by Amazon and based in Santa Monica, Calif., has
    generated its share of headlines, including how the company fired four employees over the last four years for watching customers' videos. Last
    month, security researchers also found that Ring's apps contained hidden
    code, which had shared customer data with third-party marketers. And in December, hackers hijacked the Ring cameras of multiple families, using the devices' speakers to verbally assault some of them.

    This week, Ring announced new protocols to strengthen the security of its products, such as mandating two-factor verification, which requires you to punch in a temporary code before logging into your account to see your
    footage. A Ring spokeswoman said the company was focused on constantly enhancing its security.

    Yet security experts said that Ring had been slow to react and that its solutions were weak.

    https://www.nytimes.com/2020/02/19/technology/personaltech/ring-doorbell-camera-spying.html

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

    Date: Mon, 17 Feb 2020 08:44:16 -0700
    From: geoff goodfellow <geoff@iconia.com>
    Subject: Sex robots may cause psychological damage (BBC)

    *US researchers have warned that the availability of sex robots with
    artificial intelligence (AI) poses a growing psychological and moral threat
    to individuals and society*

    They say the technology is escaping oversight because agencies are too embarrassed to investigate it.
    The scientists want action to prevent the unregulated use of such robots.

    Dr Christine Hendren of Duke University told BBC News that "the stakes were high". "Some robots are programmed to protest, to create a rape scenario,
    Some are designed to look like children. One developer of these in Japan is
    a self-confessed paedophile, who says that this device is a prophylactic against him ever hurting a real child. But does that normalise and give
    people a chance to practise these behaviours that should be treated by just stamping them out?"

    Dr Hendren was speaking at the annual meeting of the American Association
    for the Advancement of Science.

    - New law of robotics: Humans must flourish
    <https://www.bbc.com/news/technology-40423595>
    - Call to ban killer robots in wars
    <https://www.bbc.com/news/science-environment-47259889>
    - Robots adapt to damage in seconds
    <https://www.bbc.com/news/science-environment-32884768>

    A number of sex robots are advertised online. A US-based firm, Realrobitix,
    has posted a video marketing its Harmony robot for between $8,000 and
    $10,000.

    It is a life-sized doll which can blink and move its eyes and neck, and
    also its lips as it talks. [...]

    https://www.bbc.com/news/science-environment-51330261

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

    Date: Wed, 19 Feb 2020 08:48:20 -0800
    From: geoff goodfellow <geoff@iconia.com>
    Subject: Electrical Tape on Sign Tricked a Tesla Into Speeding in a Test
    (Yahoo Finance)

    Researchers were able to trick a Tesla vehicle into speeding by putting a
    strip of electrical tape over a speed limit sign, spotlighting the kinds of potential vulnerabilities facing automated driving systems.

    Technicians at McAfee Inc. placed the piece of tape horizontally across the middle of the `3' on a 35 mile-per-hour speed limit sign. The change caused
    the vehicle to read the limit as 85 miles per hour, and its cruise control system automatically accelerated, according to research released by McAfee
    on Wednesday.

    McAfee says the issue isn't a serious risk to motorists. No one was hurt and the researcher behind the wheel was able to safely slow the car.

    But the findings, from 18 months of research that ended last year,
    illustrate a weakness of machine learning systems used in automated driving, according to Steve Povolny, head of advanced threat research at
    McAfee. Other research has shown how changes in the physical world can
    confuse such systems. [...]

    https://finance.yahoo.com/news/electrical-tape-sign-tricked-tesla-090000044.html
    https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2020-02-19/electrical-tape-on-sign-tricked-a-tesla-into-speeding-in-a-test

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

    Date: Fri, 21 Feb 2020 13:44:02 +0100
    From: Diego Latella <Diego.Latella@isti.cnr.it>
    Subject: Spooky Video shows self-driving cars being tricked by holograms
    (Inverse)

    https://www.inverse.com/innovation/us-regulators-greenlight-nuros-r2-autonomous-delivery-vehicle

    Hackers can trick a Tesla into accelerating by 50 miles per hour (MIT Tech Rev)

    https://www.technologyreview.com/s/615244/hackers-can-trick-a-tesla-into-accelerating-by-50-miles-per-hour/

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

    Date: Tue, 18 Feb 2020 16:00:41 -0500
    From: Larry Werring <lwerring@nrtco.net>
    Subject: Microsoft Surface Battery Fail

    Given the hype about how dangerous lithium batteries can be and the emphasis placed by the International Air Travel Association (IATA) and International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO) on the safety of lithium batteries on aircraft (https://www.iata.org/en/programs/cargo/dgr/lithium-batteries), I
    am surprised that the recent lithium battery troubles being experienced by Microsoft Surface users has not gained more attention.

    I'm being a bit selfish here because I'm one of the users experiencing the problem and my interactions with Microsoft technical support have been less than satisfactory. A bit of background - I own both a Microsoft Surface Book (1st Gen) and a Microsoft Surface Pro 3. Until recently, I considered these
    to be great products. A few weeks ago I noticed that there were signs
    of burn-through occurring near the edge of the screen on my Surface Book. On closer examination this past weekend, I noticed that the frame of my Surface Book is warped and the screen itself has begun to bulge outwards. Research (Google is your friend) led me to discover that there are numerous
    complaints about Microsoft Surface products failing because the lithium
    battery built into them have swollen.  These swollen batteries have led
    to cracked/warped screens and the screen almost popping off the
    computer.  Unfortunately, these batteries cannot be removed or replaced.

    Armed with this information I contacted Microsoft Customer Support.  
    They immediately confirmed that the lithium battery in my Surface Book is likely swelling.   I was told to immediately stop using and unplug the computer because the failed battery could lead to a loss of all my data -
    not because the swollen battery is dangerous but because I might lose my
    data. He also confirmed that the battery cannot be removed or replaced, I
    must dispose of the computer. I asked the technician whether the swelling battery was dangerous and could cause a fire or explosion. He denied this insisting that only my data was at risk. However, he did say that they would send me special packaging so I could SAFELY ship my computer back to
    Microsoft for disposal, this because our Post Office won't ship swollen
    lithium batteries (I wonder why?).  He told me my computer is out of
    warranty but did offer to sell me a replacement for $810 CDN.  I told him
    that I wasn't paying that much for a 6-year old computer but that I was more concerned about the safety issues associated with defective lithium
    batteries. I noted that there are owners of these computers living and traveling around the world who could also be unknowingly experiencing
    swelling batteries and, thus, could be at risk, particularly if the device
    is taken on an aircraft.   He dismissed my concerns outright saying that
    only my data was at risk.

    I have discovered that there are a lot of folks experiencing the same
    problem (swelling Surface batteries) and that Microsoft has known about the problem for a while. The company appears to have chosen to essentially do
    and say nothing about the risks, and there are risks.  At least one user
    has reported that the swollen battery in their Surface computer has caught fire. (https://answers.microsoft.com/en-us/surface/forum/all/surface-pro-3-swollen-battery-safety-hazard/cbf0e621-508f-4e71-a45b-ab8c6e7c888b?page=2)

    So, here we have a battery safety issue that, in the past, has resulted in
    at least one major device recall and an outright ban of those devices on aircraft. Yet this popular product by Microsoft is experiencing the same problems and they choose to say and do nothing. People's property and lives could be at risk. Microsoft should man up and recall all affected Surface products. (https://www.cnet.com/news/galaxy-note-4-refurbished-batteries-recall/)

    As an aside, my Surface Pro 3 doesn't look like the battery is swelling
    (yet) but I've had to disable the touch screen because the mouse cursor repeatedly keeps wanting to jump to the same spot.   I suspect that there
    may be pressure on the back of the touch screen causing that problem... suggesting that its battery may also be beginning to swell. Sooo, two
    Microsoft products are going to be disposed of - before one of them burns my house down.

    Heads up people.   If you own a Microsoft Surface Book (1st Gen) or a
    Surface Pro 3 or 4, you may have safety problems with the lithium battery. Please be diligent.   If you own a later Microsoft Surface product, ask Microsoft if your device is safe.   I believe the risk could be reduced
    in newer products if Microsoft would redesign the internal battery so it can easily be removed and replaced at the first sign of problems.  
    Considering their price tag, it seems stupid to dispose of a perfectly good computer simply because the battery is swelling.

    On that note - I'm off to buy myself a new non-Microsoft laptop...

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

    Date: Tue, 18 Feb 2020 18:11:42 -0500
    From: Gabe Goldberg <gabe@gabegold.com>
    Subject: Hundreds of Millions of PC Components Still Have Hackable Firmware
    (WIRED)

    The lax security of supply chain firmware has been a known concern for years
    -- with precious little progress being made.

    https://www.wired.com/story/firmware-hacks-vulnerable-pc-components-peripherals/

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

    Date: Wed, 19 Feb 2020 16:46:49 +0100
    From: Diego Latella <Diego.Latella@isti.cnr.it>
    Subject: EU Commission white paper On Artificial Intelligence - A European
    approach to excellence and trust (Europa)

    You might be interested in the EU Commission WHITE PAPER On Artificial Intelligence: A European approach to excellence and trust, which has been
    just published. https://ec.europa.eu/info/sites/info/files/commission-white-paper-artificial-intelligence-feb2020_en.pdf

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

    Date: Wed, 19 Feb 2020 08:45:21 -0800
    From: geoff goodfellow <geoff@iconia.com>
    Subject: How smartphone addiction changes your brain: Scans reveal how grey
    matter of tech addicts physically changes shape and size in a similar way
    to drug users (Daily Mail)

    - German researchers examined the brains of 48 participants using MRI
    images
    - Total of 22 people smartphone addicts and 26 non-addicts made up the
    cohort
    - Researchers found diminished grey matter volume in key regions of the
    brain
    - Similar phenomenon observed in people who suffer with substance
    addiction [...]

    https://www.dailymail.co.uk/sciencetech/article-8016779/Brains-people-addicted-smartphone-physically-change.html

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

    Date: Wed, 19 Feb 2020 08:46:14 -0800
    From: geoff goodfellow <geoff@iconia.com>
    Subject: US Govt Warns Critical Industries After Ransomware Hits Gas
    Pipeline Facility (CISA)

    The U.S. Department of Homeland Security's Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency (CISA) earlier today issued a warning to all industries operating critical infrastructures about a new ransomware threat that if
    left unaddressed could have severe consequences.

    The advisory <https://www.us-cert.gov/ncas/alerts/aa20-049a> comes in
    response to a cyberattack targeting an unnamed natural gas compression
    facility that employed spear-phishing to deliver ransomware to the
    company's internal network, encrypting critical data and knocking servers
    out of operation for almost two days.

    "A cyber threat actor used a spear-phishing link to obtain initial access to the organization's information technology network before pivoting to its operational technology network. The threat actor then deployed commodity ransomware to encrypt data for impact on both networks," CISA noted in its alert.

    As ransomware attacks continue to escalate in frequency and scale, the new development is yet another indication that phishing attacks continue to be
    an effective means to bypass security barriers and that hackers don't always need to exploit security vulnerabilities to breach organizations. [...] <https://thehackernews.com/2019/12/zeppelin-ransomware-attacks.html> <https://thehackernews.com/2019/11/everis-spain-ransomware-attack.html> https://thehackernews.com/2020/02/critical-infrastructure-ransomware-attack.html

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

    Date: Fri, 21 Feb 2020 11:50:54 -0700
    From: geoff goodfellow <geoff@iconia.com>
    Subject: Hackers Are Using the Coronavirus Panic to Spread Malware
    (Malware Bytes)

    *Hackers are posing as the CDC and public health organizations to get
    people to open virus-laden files*
    EXCERPT:

    Hackers are using the public's fear of the coronavirus to steal passwords
    and spread malware, according to multiple cybersecurity firms and computer security. The setup is usually simple -- a malicious actor sends a mark on
    an email or message that appears to come from an official government source, such as the Centers for Disease Control, and gets the mark to click a link
    that asks for personal info. It's an old scam updated to prey on people's coronavirus fears. <https://blog.malwarebytes.com/social-engineering/2020/02/battling-online-coronavirus-scams-with-facts/>
    <https://www.trustwave.com/en-us/resources/blogs/spiderlabs-blog/multiple-phishing-attacks-discovered-using-the-coronavirus-theme/>
    <https://nakedsecurity.sophos.com/2020/02/05/coronavirus-safety-measures-email-is-a-phishing-scam/>

    ``The most prominent coronavirus-themed campaign targeted Japan,
    distributing emotet...in malicious email attachments feigning to be sent by
    a Japanese disability welfare service provider,'' California-based cyber security company Check Point said in a report, ``The emails appear to be reporting where the infection is spreading in several Japanese cities, encouraging the victim to open the document which, if opened, attempts to download emotet on their computer.'' <https://blog.checkpoint.com/2020/02/13/january-2020s-most-wanted-malware-coronavirus-themed-spam-spreads-malicious-emotet-malware/>

    Emotet is a trojan malware program that, once installed, sits on the
    victim's computer and gathers personal information. Not every coronavirus-themed malware requires the user to install software. Many of
    them are simple phishing attempts with a coronavirus theme.

    In a typical example, described at in Trustwave's SpiderLabs Blog <https://www.trustwave.com/en-us/resources/blogs/spiderlabs-blog/multiple-phishing-attacks-discovered-using-the-coronavirus-theme/>,
    a strange email address pretending to come from the CDC will reach out to a victim telling them a city near them has reported a coronavirus outbreak.
    The email asks the victim to click a link for more info. The link appears to
    be legitimate but redirects to a phishing website that replicates a Windows login and asks the users for their email and password. [...] https://www.vice.com/en_us/article/n7jdxw/hackers-are-using-the-coronavirus-panic-to-spread-malware

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

    Date: Fri, 21 Feb 2020 11:51:38 -0700
    From: geoff goodfellow <geoff@iconia.com>
    Subject: Flywheel owners found out that their bikes were bricked through
    Peloton (The Verge)

    After a patent settlement with Peloton, Flywheel users are left reeling
    with how the company handled news of its bikes suddenly shutting down.
    Every morning at 4:30AM, Shani Maxwell would throw on her Flywheel T-shirt
    and hop on her Fly Anywhere bike. An avid fan who's been riding with
    Flywheel since 2013, she'd leapt at the chance to own the company's branded bike when the company released its Peloton competitor in 2017. [...]

    https://www.theverge.com/2020/2/20/21145349/flywheel-bike-shut-down-email-user-reactions-peloton-trade-in

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

    Date: Fri, 21 Feb 2020 11:52:44 -0700
    From: geoff goodfellow <geoff@iconia.com>
    Subject: Scientists Warn `Insect Apocalypse' Could Doom Humanity
    (The Guardian)

    For several years, a crescendo of scientists have sounded alarms over an
    insect apocalypse -- a global dying-off of what may already amount to as
    much as 80 percent of the global bug population. <https://www.motherjones.com/environment/2020/02/car-splatometer-tests-reveal-huge-decline-in-the-number-of-insects/>
    <https://www.nytimes.com/2018/11/27/magazine/insect-apocalypse.html>

    Now, in a grim update, 25 scientists around the world have published a stark warning: If humankind doesn't manage to save the global bug population, it could spell doom for human life.

    Extinction Event

    In a pair of strongly-worded open letters published in the journal *Nature Conversation, *the researchers decried the pollution, habitat destruction,
    and climate change they believe is causing the mass death of the world's insects. <https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0006320719317823?via%3Dihub#bb0910>
    <https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0006320719317793?via%3Dihub#bb0135>

    ``Each species represents an unrepeatable part of the history of life,'' the scientists wrote. ``In turn, each species also interacts with others and
    their environment in distinctive ways, weaving a complex network that
    sustains other species, including us.'' Bug Hunt

    The scientists wrote, poetically, that the ``fates of humans and insects are intertwined.'' In other words, our collective ecological footprint doesn't
    just threaten our fellow Earthlings -- it could also effectively kick the ladder out from under our own position in the ecosystem.

    Insects, per the study provide humans with ``[everything] from pollination
    and decomposition, to being resources for new medicines, habitat quality indication'' and more. Turns out, it's a bug's world, and humans are just living off of it. The question is: Without their help, for how much longer? <https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0006320719317823?via%3Dihub#bb0910>,

    READ MORE: *Fates of humans and insects intertwined, warn scientists* <https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2020/feb/20/fates-humans-insects-intertwined-scientists-population-collapse>
    [*The Guardian*]

    More on insects:
    *University Deletes Press Release Claiming Evidence of Bugs on Mars* <https://futurism.com/university-deletes-press-release-claiming-mars-bugs>

    https://futurism.com/the-byte/scientists-warn-insect-apocalypse-could-doom-humanity

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

    Date: Thu, 20 Feb 2020 10:26:24 -0500
    From: Gabe Goldberg <gabe@gabegold.com>
    Subject: Mysterious GPS outages are wracking the shipping industry (Fortune)

    [See RISKS-31.48,54, etc.]

    For the global maritime shipping industry, spotty satellite navigation is a disaster waiting to happen.

    The call came in by radio one evening last September, at around 9 p.m. On
    the line was the master of a tanker, approaching the end of a month-long journey from the Port of South Louisiana and carrying more than 5,000 metric tons of ethanol. The message was urgent: The ship's GPS signal had suddenly disappeared -- leaving the crew to navigate Cyprus's shoreline in the dark.

    On the other end of the line was the pilots' office at the Vasiliko oil terminal, whose staff oversees shipping traffic at Vasiliko's harbor on Cyprus's arid, palm-fringed southern coast. Stelios Christoforou, the pilot
    on duty, recognized the gravity of the situation right away. In daylight, an experienced ship captain can maneuver using paper maps, markers, and the coastline as guides. But at night, GPS becomes a critical tool in unfamiliar waters -- especially near Cyprus, where NATO and Russian warships
    roam. And any accident could spill the tanker's cargo across miles of coastline.

    https://fortune.com/longform/gps-outages-maritime-shipping-industry/

    Seems to need free account to read full article, which is
    interesting/alarming.

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

    Date: Fri, 21 Feb 2020 15:33:33 +0100
    From: Diego Latella <Diego.Latella@isti.cnr.it>
    Subject: UN/CCW/GGE documents on Autonomous Weapon Systems

    The links to the following UN/CCW/GGE documents

    Report of the 2019 session of the Group of Governmental Experts on Emerging Technologies in the Area of Lethal Autonomous Weapons Systems <https://undocs.org/en/CCW/GGE.1/2019/3> CCW/GGE.1/2019/3 - Sept. 25, 2019

    Chair's Summary - Report of the 2019 session of the Group of Governmental Experts on Emerging Technologies in the Area of Lethal Autonomous Weapons Systems CCW/GGE.1/2019/3/Add.1 - November 8, 2019 <https://www.unog.ch/80256EDD006B8954/%28httpAssets%29/931FC63728F1B052C12584AD004A6628/$file/1919338E.pdf>
    are now available at the page on Computers: National Security, War, and
    Civil Rights (http://www.uspid.org/compwa.html <http://www.uspid.org/compwa.html>) of the USPID (www.uspid.org <http://www.uspid.org/>) web site.

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

    Date: Tue, 18 Feb 2020 09:36:54 -0700
    From: geoff goodfellow <geoff@iconia.com>
    Subject: IBM, Marriott, and Mickey Mouse Take on Tech's Favorite Law
    (David McCabe, NYTimes, 4 Feb 2020)

    A motley group of powerful companies have their knives out for Section 230, which shields platforms from lawsuits over content posted by users.

    An unusual constellation of powerful companies and industries are fighting
    to weaken Big Tech by limiting the reach of one of its most sacred laws. The law, known as Section 230, makes it nearly impossible to sue platforms like Facebook or Google for the words, images and videos posted by their users.

    - - - -

    Corporations are working with the Trump administration to control online
    speech (Ron Wyden, Dem-OR, *The Washington Post*, 14 Feb 2020) https://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/corporations-are-working-with-the-trump-administration-to-control-online-speech/2020/02/14/4d3078c8-4e9d-11ea-bf44-f5043eb3918a_story.html

    Some of the biggest corporations in the United States are brawling over the future of the law that allows free speech and innovation to thrive
    online. Under the guise of getting rid of lies and protecting children,
    they're working with the Trump administration and top Republicans to
    undermine Americans' rights and give the government unprecedented control
    over online speech.

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

    Date: 17 Feb 2020 16:22:09 -0800
    From: "John Levine" <johnl@iecc.com>
    Subject: Re: A lazy fix 20 years ago means the Y2K bug is taking down
    computers, now (Ward, RISKS-31.58)

    [And there won't be any COBOL programmers around when we hit Year 2100,
    PGN]


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