New IT scandals at Post, Boeing and BBC revealed in killer computer book – Tech | Business

IN THIS REPORT:

• Alan Bates will appear at the Post Inquiry tomorrow. Today a new book reveals new details about the Horizon IT scandal and other killer computer scandals and gives the public advice on how to protect themselves.
• The book uncovers a new scandal in which direct debit errors led to prosecutions in the awarding of television licenses, with the BBC admitting technical incidents in the system.
• The findings came after news in March of the death of a Boeing whistleblower, IT failures at McDonald's, Sainsbury's, Tesco, Greggs and Nationwide Building Society, and a previously unreported outage at the Metropolitan Police.

Today the Post Office Horizon IT investigation is set to begin hearings for phases 5 and 6 of the inquiry, with Alan Bates scheduled to be the first witness.

Other witnesses planned include Paula Vennells, notable politicians and the engineer who designed Horizon, Gareth Jenkins.

A new book “How to protect yourself from killer computers” has uncovered a series of catastrophic computer failures, including a new unreported scandal and new details about the Horizon IT scandal.

The book also gives the public advice on how to protect themselves from “killer computers” and explains how such problems can be prevented.

As part of the research in the book, the author Dr. Junade Ali CEng FIEThas determined that a scandal similar to Horizon is likely to continue.

Following a significant number of cases where TV license withdrawals failed, numerous people have been prosecuted, including a woman with Down syndrome and a woman who is now suffering from a “PTSD reaction” after a foiled prosecution.

Now the author has received an admission from the BBC that there have been technical incidents in the TV licensing direct debit system.

Although there are error conditions in the direct debit system and the code of conduct for prosecutors in England and Wales requires that “in conducting an investigation, the investigator should pursue all appropriate lines of inquiry, whether these apply to or away from the suspect,” it says It also confirmed that there is no “information from the BBC about the policies or practices relating to the conduct of TV licensing or prosecution in the event that a direct debit fails”.

The statistical analysis contained in the book estimates that around 1,450 people a year could be prosecuted after being visited on their doorstep by TV Licensing Authority officials after they were unaware that they had lost their TV licenses due to IT failures.

When asked under the Freedom of Information Act 2000 to disclose the underlying details of technology and software errors in the TV licensing system, the BBC instead issued a statement published in the book acknowledging the existence of the errors, the relevant information however, did not disclose, although it did not claim any legal exemption for non-disclosure of this information.

After an internal review was not completed by the deadline (although it was extended by the BBC), the BBC finally presented the author with damning evidence suggesting the last time a significant incident occurred (although the true extent was redacted to protect Capita's commercial interests). The issue was only discovered after a customer reported that no money had been withdrawn from their bank account, and it took 17 days for the issue to be resolved.

In another case, the BBC admitted a direct debit breach – “Breach of BACS regulations within 2 working days – Capita will deal with the message if the issue occurs with BACS.”.

While public image was a risk that was taken into account in the incident report, the risk of miscarriages of justice was not taken into account. The BBC did not provide any information about the individual direct debit errors (on which the author based his estimate of 1,450 unlawful investigations) for cost reasons.

In addition to a new technical analysis of the Horizon IT scandal, presented in plain English, the book reveals how the architect of the Horizon IT system and the Post's professional witness in criminal prosecution cases, Gareth Jenkins, misled courts about the integrity of the Horizon was able to convince with its IT system despite a lack of IT training and errors in the Horizon IT system.

The book also reveals that the British Computer Society (BCS), which secured the regulated professional status for Gareth Jenkins previously accepted by the court as an expert witness, failed to intervene, even after writing 10 articles in Computer Weekly over more than four years about the scandal, with the book revealing details of how the BCS continues to attempt to hide its role in the scandal to this day.

Recently; McDonald's, Sainsbury's, Tesco, Greggs and Nationwide Building Society have all experienced payment system failures, although it remains unclear who or what is responsible for these failures.

The book sheds new light on how a global payments technology giant, Worldpay, used a gag clause to circumvent public interest disclosure laws in relation to a whistleblowing charge, with the Financial Conduct Authority apologizing to the book's author for doing so he didn't respond to the notification correctly had these problems.

Among these failures discussed in the book, London police officers used social media on March 20, which had not previously been reported in the media, after the Metropolitan Police's Connect IT system “imploded”. As of August 2023, the cost of the outsourced police IT system is estimated to be £214 million.

The book ends with a new analysis of the events on Qantas Flight 72, in which an Airbus A330-303 went into a “death dive” due to a software error.

Timely given the software problems that affected the Boeing 737 Max aircraft and the recent death of a Boeing whistleblower. Insights into what's happening, not just in the cockpit but on the computers, are provided, and new advice is given on how to avert catastrophic computer problems.

The book was written by Dr. Junade Ali CEng FIETa British computer scientist who has more than a decade of experience in software engineering, including developing critical Internet infrastructure in Silicon Valley and working on human transportation systems.

Dr. Ali is a Chartered Engineer, the final regulatory status for engineers in the UK, and was elected the youngest Fellow of a professional engineering institution in 2023. Dr. Ali earned a Master's degree at the age of 17 and holds both an MSc and a Doctorate in Computer Science.

Comment on the book: Dr. Junade Ali CEng FIET said:

“The deeper we integrate technology into the fabric of society, the more severe the consequences of failure become. This work not only sheds light on past software tragedies, but also serves as a call to society to consider people as an essential part of ensuring the resilience of technical systems. “In addition, the statistics of retaliation against software developers who report misconduct are alarming and represent a systemic problem that must be addressed to ensure that technology serves the interests of society.”

Dr. Ali drove away:

“In the Post Office In the Horizon IT scandal, we saw a clear example of what happens when an unconditional belief in computers collides with serious problems that are swept under the rug. This case shows that killer computers emerge from toxic cultures. We see disturbing parallels between the TV Licensing Direct debit system and the Horizon scandal. The research carried out in the book reveals shocking evidence that more and more people are being prosecuted as a result of a faulty IT system, including the most vulnerable in society. Not only have we now seen several examples that raise serious questions about the integrity of TV Licensing's direct debit system, but we also now have an admission from BBC that there were technical incidents.”

Finally, Dr. Ali said:

“The lessons from this book are clear: people are an integral part of the integrity of computer systems, and when they try to cover up or ignore problems, these scandals happen.”

“How to protect yourself from killer computers” is now available as a paperback (currently exclusive directly from Engprax) and as an e-book (currently exclusive from Amazon), with an audio book and wider distribution coming soon. Visit Here to get the latest shopping information.