Digital Disasters

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Ben Davis ()
Thu, 16 Oct 1997 15:05:56 -0800

Shelly Taylor (GCI) and Martin Diekhoff (GII) have begun a
list of "digital disasters" that mark the fragility of digital
record keeping. They are drawn from the film Into the Future
by Terry Saunders (see the Background section of the T&B
Website for details) and a quick scan of the Web. If you
have additions or have heard some vague reference
please send it along and we will track it down. These will be
posted on the site in the Background area as well.

Thanks
Ben Davis

In Oregon, the primary national database for people with
disabilities - vanished.

In New York, the corporate records of Pennsylvania
Railroad - erased.

In several large states, irreplaceable land use data
became unusable because of missing software.

"Comprehensive History of Viruses" - The National Institute
of Standards and Technology
http://csrc.ncsl.nist.gov/nistir/threats/subsubsection3_3_1_1.html

"Do We Expect Too Much of Computers?" - Hugh Jackson
http://www-students.doc.ic.ac.uk/~hafj/article1/index.html

"The Risks Digest: Forum on Risks to the Public in
Computers and Related Systems" - Peter G. Neumann,
moderator
http://catless.ncl.ac.uk/Risks/10.15.html

"The 1998 RSA Data Security Conference" - RSA
http://www.rsa.com/conf98/html/index2.html