Chapter 8:
Computer
Reliability
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Chapter Overview
• Introduction
• Data entry or data retrieval errors
• Software and billing errors
• Notable software system failures
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8.1 Introduction
• Computer systems are sometimes unreliable
– Erroneous information in databases
– Misinterpretation of database information
– Malfunction of embedded systems
• Effects of computer errors
– Inconvenience
– Bad business decisions
– Fatalities
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8.2 Data-Entry or Data-Retrieval
Errors
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Two Kinds of Data-related Failure
• A computerized system may fail because
wrong data entered into it
• A computerized system may fail because
people incorrectly interpret data
they retrieve
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Disfranchised Voters
• November 2000 general election
• Florida disqualified thousands of voters
• Reason: People identified as felons
• Cause: Incorrect records in voter database
• Consequence: May have affected election’s
outcome
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False Arrests
• Sheila Jackson Stossier mistaken for Shirley Jackson
– Arrested and spent five days in detention
• Roberto Hernandez mistaken for another Roberto
Hernandez
– Arrested twice and spent 12 days in jail
• Terry Dean Rogan arrested after someone stole his
identity
– Arrested five times, three times at gun point
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Accuracy of NCIC Records
• March 2003: Justice Dept. announces FBI
not responsible for accuracy of NCIC
information
• Exempts NCIC from some provisions of
Privacy Act of 1974
• Should government take responsibility
for data correctness?
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Dept. of Justice Position
• Impractical for FBI to be responsible for
data’s accuracy
• Much information provided by other law
enforcement and intelligence agencies
• Agents should be able to use discretion
• If provisions of Privacy Act strictly followed,
much less information would be in NCIC
• Result: fewer arrests
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Position of Privacy Advocates
• Number of records is increasing
• More erroneous records more false
arrests
• Accuracy of NCIC records more important
than ever
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Act Utilitarian Analysis:
Database of Stolen Vehicles
• Over 1 million cars stolen every year
• Just over half are recovered, say 500,000
• Assume NCIC is responsible for at least 20%
• 100,000 cars recovered because of NCIC
• Benefit of $5,000 per car (owner gets car back; effects on national
insurance rates; criminal doesn’t profit)
• Total value of NCIC stolen vehicle database: $500,000/year
• Only a few stories of false arrests
• Assume 1 false arrest per year (probably high)
• Assume harm caused by false arrest $55,000 (size of award to Rogan)
• Benefit surpasses harm by $445,000/year
• Conclusion: Good to have NCIC stolen vehicles database
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Quiz 12-12-18
• What is data mining? Give two
examples of how data mining is being
used on information collected from
social networks.
• Explain the difference between an opt-
in policy and an opt-out policy.
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8.3 Software and Billing Errors
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Errors When Data Are Correct
• Assume data correctly fed into
computerized system
• System may still fail if there is an error
in its programming
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Errors Leading to System Malfunctions
• Qwest sent incorrect bills to cell phone customers
• Faulty USDA beef price reports
• U.S. Postal Service returned mail addressed to
Patent and Trademark Office
• Spelling and grammar error checkers increased
errors
• New York City Housing authority overcharged renters
• About 450 California prison inmates mistakenly
released
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Errors Leading to System Failures
• Ambulance dispatch system in London
• Chicago Board of Trade
• BMW limousine
• Japan’s air traffic control system
• Los Angeles County + USC Medical Center
laboratory computer system
• Comair’s Christmas Day shutdown
• Boeing 777 (MA)
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Comair Cancelled All Flights on
Christmas Day, 2004
AP Photo/Al Behrman, File
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Analysis: E-Retailer Posts Wrong
Price, Refuses to Deliver
• [Link] in Britain offered iPaq for £7
instead of £275
• Orders flooded in
• [Link] shut down site, refused to
deliver unless customers paid true price
• Was [Link] wrong to refuse to fill
the orders?
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Rule Utilitarian Analysis
• Imagine rule: A company must always
honor the advertised price
• Consequences
– More time spent proofreading advertisements
– Companies would take out insurance policies
– Higher costs higher prices
– All consumers would pay higher prices
– Few customers would benefit from errors
• Conclusion
– Rule has more harms than benefits
– [Link] did the right thing 1-19
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Kantian Analysis
• Buyers knew 97.5% markdown was an
error
• They attempted to take advantage of
[Link]’s stockholders
• They were not acting in “good faith”
• Buyers were in the wrong, not
[Link]
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8.4 Notable Software System
Failures
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Patriot Missile
• Designed as anti-aircraft missile
• Used in 1991 Gulf War to intercept Scud missiles
• One battery failed to shoot at Scud that killed 28
soldiers
• Designed to operate only a few hours at a time
• Kept in operation > 100 hours
• Tiny truncation errors added up
• Clock error of 0.3433 seconds tracking error of
687 meters
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Patriot Missile Failure
Figure from SCIENCE 255:1347. Copyright ©1992 by The American
Association for the Advancement of Science. Reprinted with permission.
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Tokyo Stock Exchange
• First day of trading for J-Com
• Mizuho Securities employee mistakenly enters
order to sell 610,00 shares at 1 yen, instead of 1
share at 610,000 yen
• Employee overrides computer warning
• After sell order posted on exchange’s display
board, Mizuho tries to cancel order several times;
software bug causes attempts to fail
• Mizuho loses $225 million buying back shares
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Ariane 5
• Satellite launch vehicle
• 40 seconds into maiden flight, rocket self-destructed
– $500 million of uninsured satellites lost
• Statement assigning floating-point value to
integer raised exception
• Exception not caught and computer crashed
• Code reused from Ariane 4
– Slower rocket
– Smaller values being manipulated
– Exception was impossible
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AT&T Long-Distance Network
• Significant service disruption
– About half of telephone-routing switches crashed
– 70 million calls not put through
– 60,000 people lost all service
– AT&T lost revenue and credibility
• Cause
– Single line of code in error-recovery procedure
– Most switches running same software
– Crashes propagated through switching network
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AT&T Long Distance Network Failure
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Robot Missions to Mars
• Mars Climate Orbiter
– Disintegrated in Martian atmosphere
– Lockheed Martin design used English units
» Foot-pound (Foot-pound= 4.45 Newtons)
– Jet Propulsion Lab design used metric units
» Newtons
• Mars Polar Lander
– Crashed into Martian surface
– Engines shut off too soon
– False signal from landing gear
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Denver International Airport
• BAE built automated baggage handling system
• Problems
– Airport designed before automated system chosen
– Timeline too short
– System complexity exceeded development team’s ability
• Results
– Added conventional baggage system
– 16-month delay in opening airport
– Cost Denver $1 million a day
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Direct Recording Electronic Voting
Machines
• After problems with 2000 election, Congress passed
Help America Vote Act of 2002
• HAVA provided money to states to replace punch
card voting systems
• Many states used HAVA funds to purchase direct
recording electronic (DRE) voting machines
• Brazil and India have run national elections using DRE
voting machines exclusively
• In November 2006 1/3 of U.S. voters used DRE voting
machines
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Diebold Electronic Voting Machine
© AP Photo/Rogelio Solis 1-31
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Issues with DRE Voting Machines
• Voting irregularities
– Failure to record votes
– Overcounting votes
– Mis-recording votes
• Lack of a paper audit trail
• Vulnerability to tampering
• Source code a trade secret, can’t be examined
• Possibility of widespread fraud through malicious
programming
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