Newsgroup: comp.risks

RISKS-LIST: Risks-Forum Digest  Monday 18 April 2005  Volume 23 : Issue 84

ACM FORUM ON RISKS TO THE PUBLIC IN COMPUTERS AND RELATED SYSTEMS (comp.risks)
Peter G. Neumann, moderator, chmn ACM Committee on Computers and Public Policy

***** 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/23.84.html>
The current issue can be found at
  <http://www.csl.sri.com/users/risko/risks.txt>

  Contents:
Ch7 Australia off-air due to multiple system failures (Andrew Goodman-Jones)
310,000 Lexis-Nexis records accessed by identity thieves (PGN)
Polo Ralph Lauren customer database attacked (Mohl/Bray via Monty Solomon)
Tufts alumni data compromised (Hiawatha Bray via Monty Solomon)
BofA agent gives out personal information to finder of lost VISA card
  (Caskey L. Dickson)
Computer-generated gibberish conference paper accepted (PGN)
Vatican's prescient Web masters (Diomidis Spinellis)
Bullet trains with faulty speed controls (Dennis Mullin)
Michigan message board says speed limit 100 mph (Monty Solomon)
Israeli system for secure e-mail with the government (Shoshannah Forbes)
The risks of phone number rollover procedures (Karl Klashinsky)
"War"driving a minefield? (Rob Slade)
Online security with usability problems (Ed Taft)
So is this a phishing attack or not? (Jim Horning)
Re: Short links and phishing (Alan D. Zimmerman)
Re: Times change ... problems don't (Michael Bacon)
Medical errors/usability (Jim Jewett)
Comcast cable daylight savings change over problem (Mark A. Biggar)
Abridged info on RISKS (comp.risks)

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

[...]

Date: Sat, 09 Apr 2005 10:46:39 +0400
From: Diomidis Spinellis <dds@aueb.gr>
Subject: Vatican's prescient Web masters

The "Vacancy of the Apostolic See" Web page appears to have been prepared
one day BEFORE the Pope's death.

The page's <http://www.vatican.va/gpII/documents/index_en.htm>
HTML markup contains the following meta tags:

<meta name="title" content="vacancy of the Apostolic See" />
<meta name="creator" content="Vacancy of the Apostolic See" />
<meta name="subject" content="Vacancy of the Apostolic See, death of
John Paul II, Holy Father" />

<meta name="date.created" content="2005-04-01" />
<meta name="date.issued" content="2005-04-03" />
<meta name="date.expires" content="" />

Thus it appears that the web page was created on April 1st, yet the Pope's
death certificate clearly indicates that the Pope died on April 2nd.

"His Holiness John Paul II (Karol Woytyla) born in Wadovice (Crakow, Poland)
the 18th of May 1920, resident of Vatican City, expired at 9:37 on the
evening of April 2, 2005"

It is a well-known fact that journalists prepare in advance obituaries of
public figures that appear to be nearing their life's end.  See for example
the article "Quirk in British Computer Privacy Laws" (RISKS-11.63).

Nevertheless, for the Vatican's content creators to advertise the fact that
they were creating the "Vacancy of the Apostolic See" Web page while the
Pope was still alive and struggling is at the very least a sign of poor
taste; worse, the fact will now provide food to conspiracy theorists who
thrive on these details.

The risk: accurate metadata is not always appropriate.

Diomidis Spinellis - http://www.spinellis.gr

------------------------------
[...]
End of RISKS-FORUM Digest 23.84
************************

Unless otherwise expressly stated, all original material on this page created by Diomidis Spinellis is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 3.0 Greece License.