Sir Oliver Letwin Under Fire For Saying 'Some Autistic Person' Could Bring Down Global Networks
Former Tory cabinet minister Sir Oliver Letwin has come under fire after saying on live radio that global networks could be attacked by “some autistic person”.
His comments came during an interview on BBC Radio 4′s Today programme about his new book, Apocalypse How?, which is set in 2037 and explains how the world is moving towards becoming dependent on “one network”.
“If that network goes down, everything we rely on stops,” Letwin said during the interview on Wednesday.
“There are so many ways these networks could be attacked,” he said, arguing that technology is vulnerable to changes in nature and terrorist attacks.
“Or in fact just some autistic person or some strange youth sitting in some place in the world who is connected to our network by the internet, who gets in and does something.
“And my point therefore is – you can’t have perfect protection,” he added, calling for an “analogue fallback” to global systems.
Letwin’s comments sparked anger among listeners, who called him “offensive” and accused him of “perpetuating myths” about autistic people.
One listener tweeted: “Just heard ex-minister Sir Oliver Letwin on R4 describing his novel Apocalypse How and saying that ‘it would only take some autistic person or strange youth to ...’ to attack the network.
“Am livid! The dismissive way he referred to autistic people is offensive.”
Oliver Letwin promoting his new book on cyber crime said on risks “some autistic person who gets in” The second time in a couple of weeks that @BBCr4today has conflated autistic people with criminality. I’m in tears of frustration here. It’s just routine now. https://t.co/xhAImNpsqz
— Nicky Clark (@MrsNickyClark) March 4, 2020
Oliver Letwin on the radio describing 'some autistic person' as the harbinger of societal collapse, no challenge from @JustinOnWeb, good grief #r4today
— Views from Nowhere (@ViewsFrmNowhere) March 4, 2020
