RISKS-LIST: Risks-Forum Digest Thursday 16 June 2022 Volume 33 : Issue 29

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/33.29>
The current issue can also be found at
<http://www.csl.sri.com/users/risko/risks.txt>

Contents:
Self-driving car crashes (NHTSA bia Monty Solomon)
Musk Achs: Twitter, Tesla, and SpaceX (Lauren Weinstein via PGN)
Two Israeli intel soldiers and a teenager charged with exposing classified
information online (Haaretz)
Crypto's Price Plunge Exposes Industry's Unstable Roots (NYTimes)
Physics-Based Cryptocurrency Transmits Energy Through Blockchain (LLNL)
The NSA Says that There are No Known Flaws in NIST's Quantum-Resistant
Algorithms (Bruce Schneier)
The "Sentient AI" story (Lauren Weinstein)
DVFS and Hertzbleed (Cliff Kilby)
Facebook Is Receiving Sensitive Medical Information from Hospital Websites
(The Markup)
Facebook plans to show content mainly from strangers (The Verge)
BEREC network neutrality guidelines (Barbara via Schewick via LW)
Privacy bill would set out rules on use of personal data, artificial
intelligence (CBC)
Executive Order 14028 and the death knell of jSCH (Cliff Kilby)
Re: How Henry Ford Would Deal With Today's Supply Chain Upheaval
(Amos Shapir)
Re: Long-term planning and Optimization (Dick Mills, Amos Shapir)
Re: The Billionaires Seeking a U.S. Chip-Making Revival (Arthur Flatau))
Re: 5GSec Convergence Accelerator Proposal (Cliff Kilby)
Abridged info on RISKS (comp.risks)

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Date: Wed, 15 Jun 2022 22:04:32 -0400 From: Monty Solomon <monty@roscom.com>
Subject: Self-driving car crashes (NHTSA)

[3 items PGN-merged]

NHTSA: 'Self-driving' cars were linked to 392 crashes in 10 months
https://www.engadget.com/self-driving-car-technology-crash-data-172606258.html

NHTSA report shows Tesla Autopilot led the pack in crashes, but
the data has gaps (techcrunch)
https://techcrunch.com/2022/06/15/tesla-autopilot-nhtsa-crashes-fatalities/

NHTSA data shows Teslas using Autopilot crashed 273 times in less than a year
https://arstechnica.com/cars/2022/06/teslas-using-autopilot-crashed-273-times-in-less-than-a-year/

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

Date: Thu, 16 Jun 2022 11:04:18 -0700
From: Lauren Weinstein <lauren@vortex.com>
Subject: Musk Achs: Twitter, Tesla, and SpaceX

[PGN retitled with German grunt-pun, combining several contributions from
Lauren into a single RISKS item. PGN

* More Musk
Musk essentially told Twitter employees that it's OK for Twitter to
become a cesspool of hate speech and disinformation, so long as
Twitter doesn't promote it and individuals can block any given sender.
This would still turn Twitter into a hellhole. Hate campaigns could
drive individuals off the platform, unable to block so many senders.
Crazies would spread hate amongst themselves. And all of this conflicts
with the push to monitor social media for law enforcement purposes.
A total mess.

* Musk vs. the EU
Twitter operates internationally. Any given tweet thread may have
participants from anywhere in the world. The EU is rapidly ramping up
prohibitions on hate speech and disinformation. Think about it.

* Elon Musk, Tesla and SpaceX Hit With $258 Billion Dogecoin Lawsuit
https://decrypt.co/103089/elon-musk-tesla-spacex-dogecoin-lawsuit

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

Date: Wed, 15 Jun 2022 18:14:15 +0300
From: Amos Shapir <amos083@gmail.com>
Subject: Two Israeli intel soldiers and a teenager charged with exposing
classified information online (Haaretz)

State prosecutors charge a reserve soldier and a service soldier of the
Intelligence Corps, and a teenager, with publishing classified military
information online. According to charges, one of the soldiers used his
access to secret information to share it with the other, who shared it with
the teenager, who posted it on social media.

https://www.haaretz.com/israel-news/2022-06-13/ty-article/.premium/israeli-intel-soldier-minor-accused-of-posting-secrets-on-social-media/00000181-5ccd-d8b6-abdd-dccf0a990000

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

Date: Wed, 15 Jun 2022 11:37:24 PDT
From: Peter Neumann <neumann@csl.sri.com>
Subject: Crypto's Price Plunge Exposes Industry's Unstable Roots (NYTimes)

David Yaffe-Bellany and Erin Griffith
*The New York Times*. 15 Jun 2022, National Edition front page +A13

A global industry worth hundreds of billions of dollars rose up practically
overnight. Now it is crashing down.

For years [cryptocurrencies] have been marketed as a hedge against inflation
caused by central banks flooding the economy with money. ... But now, with
stocks crashing, interest rates soaring and inflation high, cryptocurrency
prices are also collapsing, showing they have become tied to the overall
market.

p.A13 summary fragment:
Companies are laying off staff and freezing withdrawals.

[Coinbase layoffs were noted briefly in RISKS-33.28, and extensively
in this *Times* article. PGN]

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

Date: Wed, 15 Jun 2022 12:01:04 -0400 (EDT)
From: ACM TechNews <technews-editor@acm.org>
Subject: Physics-Based Cryptocurrency Transmits Energy Through Blockchain
(LLNL)

Anne M. Stark, Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory, 13 Jun 2022,
via ACM TechNews, 15 Jun 2022

Researchers at the U.S. Department of Energy's Lawrence Livermore National
Laboratory (LLNL) have developed E-Stablecoin, a physics-based
cryptocurrency that connects electrical energy with blockchain technology.
LLNL's Maxwell Murialdo and Jon Belof said the energy-information link
supports the generation of a cryptocurrency token directly backed by and
convertible into one kilowatt-hour of electricity, making E-Stablecoin the
first digital token to be collateralized by a physical asset. Said Belof,
"Through thermodynamic reversibility -- to the extent that it is allowed by
a modern understanding of statistical mechanics -- we envision a future
blockchain that is not only rooted in real-life assets like energy usage,
but also is a more responsible steward of our natural resources in support
of the economy."

https://orange.hosting.lsoft.com/trk/click?ref=znwrbbrs9_6-2ec97x2345b0x070443&

[Tom Berson's reaction to this item was helpful:
I was surprised to be told that a kWh of electricity is a physical
asset. It is 3.6 megajoules of energy. I suppose it is convertible to
mass by Einstein's equation. I was also surprised that the cost of
generating a kWh is somehow stable. These cryptocurrency folk will stop
at nothing. TB]

[What could possibly go wrong? We need more stewards who are actually
responsible, but today's stewards are running everything into the
ground, particularly with respect to climate change. How much energy is
wasted in trying to make this link? Also, we may need a Skewered
Steward to assuredly pin the blockchain to statistical mechanics. We
may also need an E-Stable to house the blockchained E-horses that
E-touts are betting will win the race (overseen by trusted racing
E-stewards) for the best and most stable cryptocurrency, once they are
let free from their blockchains and converted to real-world constraints.
But this LLNL item seems seriously overhyped, way beyond the inherent
limitations of already overhyped cryptocurrencies. Hyperbolic in the
over-the-top sense, or on a nonconverging infinite hyperbolic geometry
curve? PGN]

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

Date: Wed, 15 Jun 2022 06:25:17 +0000
From: Bruce Schneier <schneier@schneier.com>
Subject: The NSA Says that There are No Known Flaws in NIST's
Quantum-Resistant Algorithms

Excerpt from CRYPTO-GRAM, 15 Jun 2022
https://www.schneier.com/crypto-gram/

Bruce Schneier, Fellow and Lecturer, Harvard Kennedy School
schneier@schneier.com, https://www.schneier.com

NSA says there are no known flaws in NIST's quantum-resistant algorithms
16 May 2022

https://www.schneier.com/blog/archives/2022/05/the-nsa-says-that-there-are-no-known-flaws-in-nists-quantum-resistant-algorithms.html

Rob Joyce, the director of cybersecurity at the NSA, said so in an
interview:
https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2022-05-13/nsa-says-no-backdoor-in-new-encryption-scheme-for-us-tech

``The NSA already has classified quantum-resistant algorithms of its own
that it developed over many years. But it didn't enter any of its own in
the contest. However, the agency's mathematicians worked with NIST to
support the process, trying to crack the algorithms in order to test their
merit.

``Those candidate algorithms that NIST is running the competitions on all
appear strong, secure, and what we need for quantum resistance. We've
worked against all of them to make sure they are solid, The purpose of the
open public international scrutiny of the separate NIST algorithms is to
build trust and confidence.''