5 ms·

An object lesson in getting funny with automated systems that have the power to inflict consequences.

• thih9 2y ago
  To be fair, the consequences are very much inadequate. This should have been a letter saying “we allowed you to register that plate by mistake, change it asap”. If anything, this is a lesson to not build systems that can issue tickets to the wrong person - and allow the system’s decisions to be easily overridden at the very least.
  • vsnf 2y ago
    That's the takeaway for people in charge of the software development, sure. But really, is it even actually a lesson? To my knowledge, there was no accountability, no backlash, no one got fired or reprimanded, no manager was denied a promotion. What lesson was learned by the stewards of the system, really? Meanwhile, a lesson was very much learned by Mr. Tartaro who, as a DEFCON speaker, should have absolutely known better. He was playing with fire, and now he's suffering the consequences. I don't want to come across as defending the system in use, although it seems to be as much of a social issue as a technical one with people interpreting the text field as being invalid, but this was clearly a dumbass thing to do.
    • thih9 2y ago
      Then again, if a DEFCON speaker didn't expect this level of a clusterfuck of an outcome, then who would have?