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Links for 2017-11-30

  • Introducing the Amazon Time Sync Service

    Well overdue; includes Google-style leap smearing

    (tags: time-sync time aws services ntp ops)

  • The Impenetrable Program Transforming How Courts Treat DNA Evidence | WIRED

    ‘So the lab turned to TrueAllele, a program sold by Cybergenetics, a small company dedicated to helping law enforcement analyze DNA where regular lab tests fail. They do it with something called probabilistic genotyping, which uses complex mathematical formulas to examine the statistical likelihood that a certain genotype comes from one individual over another. It’s a type of DNA testing that’s becoming increasingly popular in courtrooms. ‘ […] ‘But now legal experts, along with Johnson’s advocates, are joining forces to argue to a California court that TrueAllele—the seemingly magic software that helped law enforcement analyze the evidence that tied Johnson to the crimes—should be forced to reveal the code that sent Johnson to prison. This code, they say, is necessary in order to properly evaluate the technology. In fact, they say, justice from an unknown algorithm is no justice at all.’

    (tags: law justice trueallele software dna evidence statistics probability code-review auditing)

  • Meet the man who deactivated Trump’s Twitter account

    Legend!

    His last day at Twitter was mostly uneventful, he says. There were many goodbyes, and he worked up until the last hour before his computer access was to be shut off. Near the end of his shift, the fateful alert came in. This is where Trump’s behavior intersects with Duysak’s work life. Someone reported Trump’s account on Duysak’s last day; as a final, throwaway gesture, he put the wheels in motion to deactivate it. Then he closed his computer and left the building.

    (tags: twitter trump bahtiyar-duysak abuse reporting funny)