Short Takes – 8-27-24

Recent Massive Data Breaches. WHMurray.blogpost.com post. Pull quote: “Business should rely on full name and address or name and place and date of birth, not SSNs, as identifiers; no one else with my name lives where I live or was born at the same place and time.  SSNs were necessary when storage (in 80 column cards) was dear.  They are not even necessary in modern databases and cheap storage.  The last four digits of the SSN may be used for verification and as tie breakers in some applications.”

A skeptic’s guide to humanoid-robot videos. TechnologyReview.com article. Interesting things to look for. Pull quote: “Lastly, is the video sped up? Oftentimes that can be totally reasonable if it’s skipping over things that don’t demonstrate much about the robot (“I don’t want to watch the paint dry,” Goldberg says). But if the video is sped up to intentionally hide something or make the robot seem more effective than it is, that’s worth flagging. All of these editing decisions should, ideally, be disclosed by the robotics company or lab.”

System Safety Assessments. Federal Register FAA final rule. May have cybersecurity implications. Summary: “The FAA is amending certain airworthiness regulations to standardize the criteria for conducting safety assessments for systems, including flight controls and powerplants, installed on transport category airplanes. With this action, the FAA seeks to reduce risk associated with airplane accidents and incidents that have occurred in service, and reduce risk associated with new technology in flight control systems. The intended effect of this rulemaking is to improve aviation safety by making system safety assessment (SSA) certification requirements more comprehensive and consistent.” Effective Date: “September 26^th, 2024.

Harris County settles lawsuit against Arkema over 2017 chemical plant fire. HoustonPublicMedia.org article. Pull quote: “Under the $1.1 million settlement, Arkema agreed to implement safety and flood mitigation measures at the Crosby plant, like upgrading fire safety and reinforcing buildings. The company also agreed to notify the public and government agencies within two hours “after becoming aware of any release of pollutants with potentially adverse health or safety impacts.””

'The tropics are broken:' So where are all the Atlantic hurricanes? USAToday.com article. Pull quote: “"The Atlantic tropics are broken – for now," meteorologist Ryan Maue posted on X Sunday, adding that developing storms near Africa are encountering at least one problem: "Ocean temperatures at this latitude are way too cool to sustain a rain shower."”