RISKS-LIST: Risks-Forum Digest Sunday 22 October 2023 Volume 33 : Issue 91

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/33.91>
The current issue can also be found at
<http://www.csl.sri.com/users/risko/risks.txt>

Contents:
Failed software upgrade stops Toronto-area trains (Mark Brader)
How AI reduces the world to stereotypes (RestofWorld)
Another reason ChatGPT needs to ace the LSAT (Henry Baker)
AI and the end of photographic truth (Politico)
AI training vs intellectual property rights (Peter Knoppers)
>From High Life Hackers to National Menace: The Rise and Fall of Digital
Bandits 'ACG' (40media)
The Botched Hunt for the Gilgo Beach Killer (NYTimes)
The Race to Save Our Secrets From the Computers of the Future (NYTimes)
How to find and book mistake airfares (WashPost)
The origin of hacking attempts (Turgut Kalfaoglu)
The Great Zelle Pool Scam (via Monty Solomon)
Re: False news spreads faster than the truth (back and forth with
Shapir, Ward, Shapir, Ward, Shapir, Ward, Shapir)
Re: Your old phone is safe for longer than you think (Bacher)
Abridged info on RISKS (comp.risks)

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Date: Fri, 20 Oct 2023 01:02:38 -0400 (EDT)
From: Mark Brader <msb@Vex.Net>
Subject: Failed software upgrade stops Toronto-area trains

This happened on 3 Oct 2023, but I don't think it's come up in RISKS.

Trains to and from Toronto are operated by several companies or
organizations:

- GO Transit (Metrolinx) for suburban/regional commuter trains
- UP Express for trains serving the international airport
- VIA Rail Canada for long-distance trains

But all of them depend at least partly on Canadian National Railway (CN)
for dispatching and signals.

At 12:30 pm that day, CN attempted to perform an "internal systems
upgrade", which "affected CN's ability to connect to the Internet"
with the result that trains could not be authorized to proceed and
had to stop and wait at stations. It took until 3:45 pm to get
some trains moving, and hours after that to restore normal services.

At least the TTC's subway is completely separate and was not affected.

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

Date: Sun, 22 Oct 2023 02:07:18 -0400
From: Monty Solomon <monty@roscom.com>
Subject: How AI reduces the world to stereotypes (RestofWorld)

Rest of World analyzed 3,000 AI images to see how image generators visualize
different countries and cultures.

https://restofworld.org/2023/ai-image-stereotypes/

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

Date: Sun, 22 Oct 2023 21:22:04 +0000
From: Henry Baker <hbaker1@pipeline.com>
Subject: Another reason ChatGPT needs to ace the LSAT

So-called 'Section 230', the Gardol invisible shield which protects
Microsoft/Google/X(nee Twitter)/etc., from liability, apparently won't cover
AI's which mouth off on their own, thereby putting the AI's owner at
risk. Forget about simply 'pulling the plug'; perhaps much of the danger
from AI's will be averted by lawsuits bankrupting their owners/developers.
Can AI's also face criminal penalties and be incarcerated?

https://www.lawfaremedia.org/article/section-230-wont-protect-chatgpt

Section 230 Won't Protect ChatGPT

Generative AI products won't receive the same Section 230 protections
as other tech products

Matt Perault, LawFare, 22 Feb 2023, 1:11 PM

The emergence of products fueled by generative artificial intelligence (AI)
such as ChatGPT will usher in a new era in the platform liability
wars. Previous waves of new communication technologies--from websites and
chat rooms to social media apps and video sharing services--have been
shielded from legal liability for content posted on their platforms,
enabling these digital services to rise to prominence. But with products
like ChatGPT, critics of that legal framework are likely to get what they
have long wished for: a regulatory model that makes tech platforms
responsible for online content. [...]

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

Date: Sat, 21 Oct 2023 12:13:19 +0007
From: Peter Neumann <Neumann@CSL.SRI.COM>
Subject: AI and the end of photographic truth (Politico)

Gian Volpicelli, Politico, 20 Oct 2023

Call it The Tale of Two Selfies.

Shortly after two members of the Indian wrestling team were arrested in New
Delhi while protesting alleged sexual harassment by the president of the
national wrestling federation, two nearly identical photos of the duo began
circulating online.

Both showed the two women inside a police van among officers and other
members of their team. But in one they looked glum. In the other, they were
beaming gleefully -- as if the arrest had been nothing more than a charade.

For hours, the picture of the smiling wrestlers zipped across social media,
reposted by supporters of the federation president, even as journalists,
fact-checkers and the two women derided it as fake. It was only much later
that an analysis comparing their smiles with earlier photos proved the grins
were not genuine. They had been added afterward, most
likely<https://www.bbc.com/news/world-asia-india-65757400?source=email> by
free, off-the-shelf software such as FaceApp, which uses artificial
intelligence to digitally manipulate images.

Stories like this one point to a rapidly approaching future in which nothing
can be trusted to be as it seems. AI-generated images, video and audio are
already being deployed in election campaigns. These include fake pictures of
former President Donald Trump hugging and kissing the country's top Covid
adviser Anthony Fauci; a video in Poland mixing real footage of right-wing
Prime Minister Mateusz Morawiecki with AI-generated clips of his voice; and
a deepfake recording of the British Labour Party leader Keir Starmer
throwing a fit.

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

From: Peter Knoppers <buttonius@gmail.com>
Date: Fri, 20 Oct 2023 14:21:33 +0200
Subject: AI training vs intellectual property rights

I sincerely dislike the way that AI tools are routinely trained by scraping
the web without permission, without proper crediting and without
compensation to the creators of the parsed documents. Hoping that, someday,
I'll be able to "get even" I've added the following copyright sting
paragraph to the end of the main page of my web site:

The information on this site was written by Peter Knoppers and -- per the
Berne Convention for the Protection of Literary and Artistic Works
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Berne_Convention> -- is copyrighted by me.
Any use related to the development, or training of AI systems without
prior, written permission is prohibited. Personal use, indexing for
Internet search engines, etc. is intended, permitted and encouraged. Any
reproduction of the documents on this site should be clearly marked as
copied from this site.

The hyperlink points to the Wikipedia page about the Berne Convention. I
encourage anyone in charge of a website to add a similar sting paragraph.
This abuse of our intellectual work without prior, explicit permission is
dishonest and must be stopped. Disclaimer: I am not a lawyer.

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

Date: Sun, 22 Oct 2023 02:05:50 -0400
From: Monty Solomon <monty@roscom.com>
Subject: From High Life Hackers to National Menace: The Rise and
Fall of Digital Bandits 'ACG' (40media)

Hackers 'ACG' popped champagne and bought sports cars. Then the group and
its associates ushered in a bold new era of crime where anything is
possible.

https://www.404media.co/high-life-hackers-national-menace-acg-the-comm-braiden-williams/

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

Date: Sun, 22 Oct 2023 11:24:45 -0400
From: Monty Solomon <monty@roscom.com>
Subject: The Botched Hunt for the Gilgo Beach Killer (NYTimes)

For 13 years, police failed to scrutinize the man now accused of the
infamous murders. Why did it take so long?

https://www.nytimes.com/2023/10/19/magazine/gilgo-beach-killer-suffolk-police.html

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

Date: Sun, 22 Oct 2023 18:40:42 -0400
From: Monty Solomon <monty@roscom.com>
Subject: The Race to Save Our Secrets From the Computers of the
Future (NYTimes)

Quantum technology could compromise our encryption systems. Can America
replace them before it’s too late?

https://www.nytimes.com/2023/10/22/us/politics/quantum-computing-encryption.html

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

Date: Sun, 22 Oct 2023 14:31:14 -0400
From: Gabe Goldberg <gabe@gabegold.com>
Subject: How to find and book mistake airfares (WashPost)

Christmas morning started off rather uneventfully for Paul Jebara. In 2014,
the New York-based travel writer was scanning flight fares online in the
hopes of stumbling across some bargain beckoning him to a part of the globe
he had yet to explore. Nothing out of the ordinary, given his chosen line of
work. After landing on the Etihad Airways site, however, he was about to
receive the holiday gift of a lifetime.