On May 7, 15:26, James B. DiGriz wrote:
> Trying to get in something at least a little on-topic, I've heard of
> people being killed accidently by industrial robots and such, or the
> prospect of the imminent demise of hospital patients due to script
> kiddies screwing around with medical records databases or life support
> equipment, but does anyone know of an instance where a computer was used
> to kill someone? Including military or intelligence cases?
The only documented case I recall immediately is the famous Therac-25 case.
This was essentially a case of misdesign, which led to half a dozen
deaths. A Google search for "therac" or "leveson" will find plenty of
references.
Some time ago, when I was doing a course on Software Engineering for Safety
Critical Systems, I came across a book with several other reports, but I
can't remember the title or author :-( I don't recall any other fatal
incidents, though.
--
Pete Peter Turnbull
Network Manager
University of York
Received on Mon May 07 2001 - 14:51:07 BST