Risks to the public in computers and related systems

Edited by Peter G. Neumann (Risks Forum Moderator and Chairman of the ACM Committee on Computers and Public Policy), plus personal contributions by others, as indicated. Opinions expressed are individual rather than organizational, and all of the usual disclaimers apply. We address problems relating to software, hardware, people, and other circumstances that affect computer systems. To economize on space, we tersify most items and include pointers to items in the online Risks Forum: (R i j) denotes RISKS vol i number j. Cited RISKS items generally identify contributors and sources, together with URLs. Official RISKS archives are available at www.risks.org (which redirects to Newcastle and gets you nice html formatting and a search engine courtesy of Lindsay Marshall; http://catless.ncl.ac.uk/Risks/i.j.html gets you (R i j); and at ftp://www.sri.com/risks.A cumulative summary of RISKS and SEN items is available at http://www.CSL.sri.com/neumann/illustrative.html as well as ftp://ftp.csl.sri.com/illustrative.ps and pdf. Please send RISKS-related items to risks@CSL.sri.com. Read RISKS as a newsgroup (comp.risks), or subscribe via the automated list server at risks-request@CSL.sri.com. "Inside Risks" columns from the Communications of the ACM are also online (http://www.csl.sri.com/neumann/insiderisks.html).