From: "Brian W. Buchanan" <brian@smarter.than.nu>
Date: Sat, 22 Nov 1997 11:52:18 +0800
To: cypherpunks@cyberpass.net
Subject: What REALLY happened to Flight 800...
Message-ID: <Pine.BSF.3.96.971121151429.349B-100000@thought.calbbs.com>
MIME-Version: 1.0
Content-Type: text/plain



Algebra.com is down, so I'm resending this through cyberpass.  Gotta love
distributed mailing lists.

---------- Forwarded message ----------
Date: Thu, 20 Nov 1997 21:50:36 -0800 (PST)
From: "Brian W. Buchanan" <brian@smarter.than.nu>
To: cypherpunks@algebra.com
Subject: What REALLY happened to Flight 800...

>From comp.risks:
| An article `Windows added to cockpit choices' in Flight International, 5-11
| November 1997, p 25, explains that the US company Avidyne has certificated
| an avionics system based on Windows NT.  The hardware supplier is Electronic
| Designs, who has recently received approval from the FAA (approval for what
| is not specified). Avidyne is apparently working on Level-C approval, which 
| will allow use of its moving-map display for IFR navigation. One of the 
| benefits is said to be the wide range of interfaces available to other 
| devices. 

 
"Good afternoon, Microsoft technical support."

"This is TWA Flight 800.  Our avionics system just shit itself!  Something
about a segmentation violation in the hydrolics interface driver!"

"Hmm.  Did you try rebooting it?"

"Yes, several times!  Losing attitude control!"

"Hmm.  This may require a reinstall of the operating system then.  Please
hold for a moment while I connect you to one of our reinstallation support
technicians."

"No! Wait!  The center fuel tank's thermostat control dialog is full of
random garbage now!  *SCREAM* *BOOM*"


... And in today's news, despite a leaked report from the NTSB that it was
not "digital sabotage," but a critical bug in Microsoft Windows NT for
Avionics that was responsible for the crash of TWA Flight 800, President
Clinton has asked Congress to introduce legislation that would enable the
FBI to monitor so-called computer hackers more carefully through digital
wiretaps and mandatory key escrow, to "save the children from the
info-terrorists on the other side of the Bridge to the Twenty-First
Century."  Microsoft is not commenting at this time, but a source within
the company has informed us that a fix for the "center fuel tank bug" will
be included in NT for Avionics Service Pack 4, to be released in the first
quarter of 1998.

-- 
Brian Buchanan                                      brian@smarter.than.nu
"War is peace.  Freedom is slavery.  I'm from the government, and I'm here
 to help you."
No security through obscurity!  Demand full source code!
4.4BSD for the masses - http://www.freebsd.org