

Ban on unscientific "bomb detector" after $85M sales - jodrellblank
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/programmes/newsnight/8471187.stm

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DougBTX
_Whether it's magic or scientific, what I care about is it detects bombs_

I suppose, if most cars don't have bombs in them, and it never detects bombs,
it is right most of the time...

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joeyo
Yeah but the false negatives are a bitch!

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tptacek
The parallels with the information security products industry here are stark.

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jmtulloss
Data/IP loss doesn't really compare to loss of life, if you ask me.

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Confusion
That's a straw man, as that isn't what tptacek is saying. He is obviously
talking about parallels in the _causes_ of security incidents. That the
_consequences_ are different, and arguably incomparable, is irrelevant to the
correctness of his observation.

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cookingrobot
Wow I hate corruption. The fact that this was a UK company is interesting,
because it means there's actually a chance of some kind of justice. The execs
of this company should be tried for fraud + multiple manslaughter, or at least
product liability resulting in multiple deaths. The investigators should also
dig to find out if they bribed any officials to make the sales.. in which case
I consider this mass-murder.

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ryanwaggoner
How does bribery switch the crime from multiple manslaughter to mass murder in
your mind?

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cookingrobot
One feels like allowing people to die (offering a dangerous product), and the
other feels like forcing people to die (coercing officials to require use of a
dangerous product).

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seldo
I don't understand. Why would the Iraqis buy these devices? Nobody else is
using them and there's no evidence it works. It's not like they're idiots. Are
they just desperate for anything to improve the situation?

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warfangle
Why do people pay dowsers to tell them where to dig a well? Why do people -
some very intelligent - pay a fortune teller to tell them their future? Why do
people - some very intelligent - tithe to protect their soul in the afterlife?

Never underestimate how easy it is to separate a desperate man from his money.

And the the related: you can't con an honest man.

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philk
_And the the related: you can't con an honest man._

Of course you can. Here's three types of cons that would work on honest men:

1) Romance scams: The con artist develops a relationship with the target
(mark). The con artist then develops a range of fraudulent reasons that they
need money from the mark, from needing the money to travel to the mark's
country to see them to needing the money for cancer treatment.

2) Various fake medical cures. There's a huge industry of these preying on
cancer victims, for instance.

3) The melon drop: a scammer will pretend to bump into the mark and drop a
package that's already broken, then demand compensation.

There are many, many more. Merely being "honest" is no protection.

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Hexstream
"Mr McCormick told the BBC in a previous interview that "the theory behind
dowsing and the theory behind how we actually detect explosives is very
similar"."

That about sums it up...

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watmough
I'm not trying to suggest this device works.

On the other hand, we hired a guy to dowse and dig a water well when I was a
kid. He dowsed, and drilled a well.

Just an 'anecdatum'.

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science4sail
I'm under the impression that groundwater is reachable from almost anywhere,
provided that one digs deep enough.

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InclinedPlane
Yup, that's why they call it a water table. There are exceptions if one
happens to live in very dry areas with interesting geology, but generally any
piece of land is good enough for a well if you dig deep enough.

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touseefliaqat
"The government has just banned the export of these devices to some countries
on the grounds that they could put the lives of UK forces at risk, but they
are still able to export to other countries."

Because "lives of UK forces" are at risk and only they needed to be protected
by evil entrepreneur of UK. Evil what???

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touseefliaqat
1\. Invade 2\. Destroy infrastructure 3\. Create chaos 4\. Let bombs blow
people 5\. Now sell arms to other opponent as well 6\. Now sell them faulty
machinery for defense 7\. Wait!!! we got some our people there too 8\. So stop
selling there.... but because we care about money so let these be sold to
other idiots. We Rock! We peace lovers! We humans, the most civilized in
history!!!

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philk
I can't help but feel that perhaps Mr McCormick should be out there himself
searching for bombs with his device.

