It’s that time of the year that is unabashedly American: July 4th, picnics, trips to the beach, weekends in the park. Thanks to the efforts of the American military and a great democratic system, we can enjoy it. However. (There is always a “however” in this blog). Slightware, those nasty glitches that damage brands and perceptions, was thoroughly unpatriotic this month.
Give Me Your Tired, Your Poor, Your Randomly Selected By Computer Application…
Several weeks ago Ilya Smirnov’s life changed in an instant. The 26-year-old Siberian native was living in the United States on a temporary visa and had applied to the State Department’s Diversity Lottery. He was notified that he had been selected to permanently settle in the US and receive a green card. Ilya said, “We were so happy, we couldn’t sleep for two nights.” He called his mother in Russia and told her to sell his car and put his Moscow apartment on the market.
And then his life changed back.
Two weeks later, the following message appeared on the State Department’s website: “We regret to inform you that because of a computer programming error…the results of the 2012 Diversity Lottery (DV2012) have been voided.”
He was one of 22,000 people who’d been informed that they won a Green Card only to find out that the notification was the result of a…computer glitch. The State Department declined to comment other than to say it was “investigating” what happened.
At Least The Real Estate Market Is Improving – Oh, Never Mind
In Illinois things are looking up. Maybe not. The Illinois Association of Realtors found that a computer glitch had inflated their reported median sale prices from November 2010 to May 2011. The glitch failed to load some data and 11 percent of the records per month were dropped.
“We pride ourselves in having solid, accurate data,” said Mary Schaefer, IAR Communications Director, “and it was a malfunction related to uploading to the system and it has been corrected.”
Welcome to America, Slowly Please
Border crossings with both Canada and Mexico experienced massive delays earlier this month when an automated system that scans license plates malfunctioned. All plates needed to be entered into the system by hand. Some people reported waiting up to three hours. The customs service had a different perspective. A rep stated, “”That long of a wait would require us to create a report, and I haven’t received one.” So, it didn’t happen then?
Justice, or Stupidity, Has Been Served
In traditional hang-em-high fashion a local police department in Texas distributes a weekly Featured Fugitive release to the local media. Unfortunately a computer system glitch generated the wrong photo for one of the fugitives. Talk about dodging a bullet. Not satisfied with high-tailing it out of town, the fugitive decided to try to use the glitch to his advantage. He called the police and told them his wallet had been stolen and that the man in the picture was probably the person who stole it. The police quickly sorted through the glitch and the fugitive was arrested.
So, as the sun fades into the red, white and blue screen of death remember, our country may be glitchy, but its still a great place live.
Kenneth J. Weiss is the author of the book, Slightware – The Next Great Threat to Brands. Download the first chapter for free atwww.Slightware.com
Follow him on Twitter @kennethjweiss or connect on Linkedin: linkedin.com/in/kennethjweiss
The June Slightware Report: It Is Criminal
June 28, 2011
“Software” and “Government.” Context is the great determining factor in what you think of these terms. When the context includes criminals and terrorists, the humor disappears.
A Terrifying Glitch
Government budget issues are forcing states to make tough decisions. In California, a software application was used to help decide on how to reduce the prison population. The software got it wrong: 450 inmates who were deemed to have a “high risk for violence” were released on unsupervised parole due to a glitch. The parole status was: “non-revocable parole.” The inmates do not have to report to parole officers and can only be sent back to prison if they are caught committing another crime. An additional 1,000 convicts said to present a risk for future drug crimes and property crimes were also released. And it gets worse: State prison officials have been given two years to slash the 143,335-prisoner count by around 33,000.
A Terrifying Lack of Interest
In 2009 a group of researchers and students at UCLA were experimenting with a massive data store and a theory. “Island biogeography” theory was developed to provide insight how a species moves within environments. They decided to use it for something different: Finding Osama Bin Laden.
The data and theory drove them to some chilling conclusions:
- He would not be in a cave. He would be in a house within a high-walled compound.
- He would not be in a rural area. He would be in a small city.
- He would not be in Afghanistan. He would be in Pakistan.
The findings were shared with the media. No one in the government or the intelligence community ever contacted the project leader about the work.
Sadly, they even picked an exact location, and missed by less than 300 miles.
Facial recognition technology, data mining, data modeling and other software applications are now a part of the government’s arsenal for fighting crime and the war on terror. Let’s hope they get it right sooner rather than later.
Kenneth J. Weiss is the author of the book, Slightware – The Next Great Threat to Brands. Download the first chapter for free at www.Slightware.com
Follow him on Twitter @kennethjweiss or connect on Linkedin: linkedin.com/in/kennethjweiss
