Hacker Newsnew | past | comments | ask | show | jobs | submitlogin

> suddenly flip upside down

https://catless.ncl.ac.uk/Risks/3.44.html (1986): early F-16 software would flip the plane upside down on crossing the equator :)



Wh..oa.

From the above page:

> From Dagens Nyheter [Stockholm], Aug. 22, 1986. My translation, abridged.

> The chairman of the governmental data- and public-access committee [offentlighetskommitt'en], Carl Axel Petri, rejects the criticisms which have recently been brought by the moderate party [conservative] and folk-party [liberal conservative] concerning sales of personal information from computer data banks.

> "It is important to quickly get a law that stops general sales. We have allowed some exceptions, nine specified computer companies, but even their sales shall, in the future, be controlled by parliament. Nobody should be allowed to earn money by [selling] personal information. Sales should have a public interest, in principle, the new law will forbid sales" said Petri. ...

I'm removing a bit of context from the above, but it's nice/interesting that this was being discussed in this way back then. Ha.


Yup, it's not a new idea: http://www.legislation.gov.uk/ukpga/1984/35/contents/enacted .. dating back to 1984, when access would have been over 300 baud modems.

The fact that this was largely ineffective against giant US multinationals that didn't respect local law is what lead to the giant international reach of GDPR.


Thanks for that! Now I'll have sweaty palms going past the equator in airplanes.


It's good for everyone in their career to read some of RISKS. Reduces your chance of writing a self-driving car that doesn't see pedestrians. And many of the reports have an entertaining style to them. But if you inhale too much of it you'll want to go live in a computerless cabin in a computerless wood.




Guidelines | FAQ | Lists | API | Security | Legal | Apply to YC | Contact

Search: