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The day my script killed 10k phones in South America

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Re: The day my script killed 10k phones in South America

#31

Post by junon »

tcskeptic wrote: post #21
leephillips wrote: post #18

“the main product was an app...that would lock the phone if it was stolen, or if the customer stopped paying. The app was built as part of the Android OS, so you couldn't uninstall it. It would lock the low-level features that allowed you to make calls, use Wifi...until you paid up. All good.” No, not all good. There’s the problem right there. If I stop paying you can stop providing me the service I’m paying for. Usi…

Why do you assume the users own the phones? There are plenty of business models where the company owns the phones and the user gets to use it by paying a monthly fee. One of the services being provided may well be the use of the phone itself.

Great so if my employer decides that I shouldn't have the phone anymore I can't even call 911 in an emergency.

Re: The day my script killed 10k phones in South America

#32

Post by Ginden »

mcintyre1994 wrote: post #11

What on Earth? This company just locks random people's phones as part of their testing, and nobody realised that was a problem until they did it to thousands at once?

What is even worse - this company can lock phones that aren't their property.

Re: The day my script killed 10k phones in South America

#33

Post by treesknees »

cycomanic wrote: post #15
quenix wrote: post #2

This feels incredibly negligent. It seems obvious that generating thousands of random phone numbers and locking them without any other checks would lock some real phones. I'm puzzled that the author did not consider this when writing the script, let alone testing it or running it on live prod servers.

Too me this is another example showing how much behind "software engineering" is behind most otherl engineering disciplines. Processes in other disciplines are build very much into the practice that these things don't happen because people die if a plane crashes or a bridge collapses. Also that somehow software gets away with absolving itself of any liability (i.e. the usual "this software is provided as is...") is q…

You're just not looking in the right places, and your comment is a bit disingenuous. You're cherry-picking examples that don't represent an entire industry.

NASA for example has an _extremely_ tight tolerance on software specifications, testing, and proofs [1]. Medical devices and other core infrastructure also has very robust development cycles to ensure bugs don't bring down the power grid or overcharge someones heart in a pacemaker.

Meanwhile you can look at the auto industry and find example after example of shoddy engineering or manufacturing processes putting hundreds of thousands of drivers and families at risk. [2] [3] [4]

1 - https://www.nasa.gov/isd-robust-software-engineering 2 - https://news.yahoo.com/chevy-bolts-stressful-recall-16170005... 3 - https://www.consumerreports.org/car-recalls-defects/takata-a... 4 - https://www.cars.com/articles/explaining-the-toyota-floormat...

Re: The day my script killed 10k phones in South America

#35

Post by otrahuevada »

I've done this, but with manager-vetted data.

Conversation (in writing)

- "We NEED to run this incredibly risky thing yesterday"

- "Ok, I'm going to use this data. Is this data OK to you?"

- "Yes"

- "Running"

Great way to avoid getting thrown under the bus if it all goes south.

Re: The day my script killed 10k phones in South America

#36

Post by tim333 »

shantnutiwari wrote: post #24
leephillips wrote: post #18

“the main product was an app...that would lock the phone if it was stolen, or if the customer stopped paying. The app was built as part of the Android OS, so you couldn't uninstall it. It would lock the low-level features that allowed you to make calls, use Wifi...until you paid up. All good.” No, not all good. There’s the problem right there. If I stop paying you can stop providing me the service I’m paying for. Usi…

The product was for phones that had not been paid off-- if you get a phone on a 2 year contract, you dont "own" the phone until it is paid off

Not usually the case under UK law at any rate.

Re: The day my script killed 10k phones in South America

#37

Post by inquist »

scollet wrote: post #28
kingcharles wrote: post #20

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I once ran a query on a live production web site thinking I was doing a SELECT but somehow ran an UPDATE which set all the millions of users' gender to 'M', regardless of their selection. Restoring from backups would have been a nightmare. And telling my supervisor would have been a nightmare. So I used everyone's selected title (Mr, Ms, Mrs etc) to reset their gender setting, and then put the keyboard down and went…

I think you made the wrong call here.

On the plus side, why are they storing gender info in the first place?

Re: The day my script killed 10k phones in South America

#38

Post by slingnow »

I believe everything you need to know about who would be responsible for this kind of "mistake" is right here from the article:

> Our own internal tool worked well (I would like to say it was all due to me, which would be an arrogant thing to say, but also 100% true, so I will say it: It was all or mostly due to me)

This is a person who is incredibly overconfident in their limited skills and hasn't yet developed any sort of self-awareness or self-reflection. The fact that the rest of the article blames everyone else for his mistakes further proves the point.

> I could have tested it better, but that would have meant working late into the night. No thanks. I had already worked a few late nights/weekends and I was done.

Uh huh.

Re: The day my script killed 10k phones in South America

#39

Post by karteum »

tcskeptic wrote: post #21
leephillips wrote: post #18

“the main product was an app...that would lock the phone if it was stolen, or if the customer stopped paying. The app was built as part of the Android OS, so you couldn't uninstall it. It would lock the low-level features that allowed you to make calls, use Wifi...until you paid up. All good.” No, not all good. There’s the problem right there. If I stop paying you can stop providing me the service I’m paying for. Usi…

Why do you assume the users own the phones? There are plenty of business models where the company owns the phones and the user gets to use it by paying a monthly fee. One of the services being provided may well be the use of the phone itself.

Even if/when they don't fully "own" the phones, users ought to always be able to access their data (at least for backup) and call emergency services (which is a legal requirement in many countries).

More generally and regardless of time pressure, I can't believe someone can "play" with such test a script (used with a production tool) without even thinking it might fuck up and hit real phone numbers... (and if the developer was aware that his approach might fuck up, then he should make his boss aware that he had no time to fully test the feature rather than play russian roulette. Time pressure is not an excuse for everything...)

Re: The day my script killed 10k phones in South America

#40

Post by emaginniss »

tim333 wrote: post #36
shantnutiwari wrote: post #24

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The product was for phones that had not been paid off-- if you get a phone on a 2 year contract, you dont "own" the phone until it is paid off

Not usually the case under UK law at any rate.

The headline says South America. I don't think they use UK law.
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