Fat fingers

09 December 2005

Pity the poor trader at Mizuho Securities who accidentally sold 600,000 shares at 1 yen rather than the 1 share at 600,000 yen he was supposed to. Apparently it’s not the first such incident, and I’m sure it won’t be the last.

The Times’ leader has some wise words for everyone involved with software: “Foolproof computer systems do not take into account the ingenuity of fools”.

I’d add to this. As long as there are foolish people, there will be no such thing as a foolproof computer system.

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Published on 9th December, 2005 by admin

Posted in Miscellaneous |

2 Responses to “Fat fingers”

  1. Raph
    11 December 2005
    8:43 pm

    That’s a bit harsh. He isn’t foolish, probably just under pressure.

  2. Niall Cook
    15 December 2005
    11:06 am

    Sorry Raph, I wasn’t suggesting he was foolish, just that foolproof computer systems don’t really exist.

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