I suppose I misunderstood what the "random error" was supposed to mean. I wouldn't call a network error a "random error" because it's caused by things that are internal to the system (entities using a network). A bit flip is caused by an external factor: cosmic radiation. To me, that's what a "random" error is.

If your network goes down because of a DDOS, or part of your system overheating, that's an internal issue you had control over.

If a bit flips because of cosmic radiation, you can't really do anything about that, and it's utterly unpredictable. That's "random" to me.