Technology’s control over modern life is pushing us down a dimly lit path of digital landmines

SAN FRANCISCO — SAN FRANCISCO (AP) — “Move fast and break things,” a high-tech mantra popularized 20 years ago by Facebook founder Mark Zuckerberg, should be a rallying cry for disruptive innovation. Now it seems more like an elegy for a society based on a digital foundation too fragile to resist a flawed software program that was supposed to help protect computers – not bring them down.

The global technological collapse caused by a failed update installed earlier this month on computers running Microsoft’s dominant Windows software for CrowdStrike cybersecurity expert was so serious that some companies affected like Delta Air Lines they were still recovering days later.

It’s a revealing moment – ​​one that illustrates the digital pitfalls that lie ahead in a culture that takes the magic of technology for granted until it implodes in a horror show that exposes our ignorance and vulnerability.

“We are completely dependent on systems we don’t even know exist until they break,” said Paul Saffo, a Silicon Valley analyst and historian. “We have become a bit like Blanche DuBois in that scene from ‘A Streetcar Named Desire’ where she says, ‘I’ve always depended on the kindness of strangers.’ ”

Dependency — and extreme vulnerability — begins with the interconnections that link our computers, phones and other devices. This generally makes life easier and more convenient, but it also means that outages can have more far-reaching ripple effects, whether they are caused by a mistake like the one made by CrowdStrike or the malicious intent of a hacker.

“Maybe it’s time to look at how the Internet works and then question why it works the way it does. Because there’s a lot of gum and shoelaces holding things together,” said Gregory Falco, assistant professor of engineering at Cornell University.

The risks are being amplified by the increasingly tight control of a business circle popularly known as “Big Tech”: Microsoft, whose software manages most of the world’s computers; Apple and Google, whose software powers virtually every smartphone in the world; Amazon, which oversees data centers responsible for keeping websites running (another important service provided by Microsoft and Google, in addition to its e-commerce bazaar, and Meta Platforms, the social networking hub that owns Facebook, Instagram and Whatsapp);

It’s a highly concentrated empire, with some corridors open to a network of smaller companies, like CrowdStrike — a company with $3 billion in annual revenue, a fraction of the nearly $250 billion in annual sales that Microsoft makes. tend to place a higher priority on the pursuit of profit than on a commitment to quality, said Isak Nti Asar, co-director of the cybersecurity and global policy program at Indiana University.

“We have built a cult of innovation, a system that says. ‘Get technology into people’s hands as quickly as possible and then fix it when you find you have a problem,'” said Nti Asar. “We should move slower and demand better technology, rather than giving in to these feudal lords.”

But is Big Tech to blame for this situation? Or has it been 21st century society that has unwittingly allowed us to get to this point: consumers eagerly buy their next shiny gadgets while happily posting photographs online, and seemingly defeated legislators are elected to impose safeguards?

“Everyone wants to point the blame elsewhere,” Saffo said, “but I would say you better start looking in the mirror.”

If our digital evolution seems to be heading in the wrong direction, should we change course? Or is this even possible in a situation where some credit card companies charge their customers a fee if they prefer to have their monthly billing systems delivered to them via a US postal service that has become known as “snail mail” because moves very slowly?

Staying stuck in a different era worked well for Southwest Airlines during the CrowdStrike mess because its system is still running on Windows software from the 1990s. It’s such antiquated technology that Southwest doesn’t rely on CrowdStrike for security. This sword has another, less attractive advantage: behaving like a lame Southwest Luddite during the 2022 holiday travel season when thousands of its flights were canceled because its technology was unable to properly adjust crew schedules.

But it is becoming increasingly unsustainable to return to the analogue and digital era of 30 or 40 years ago, when more tasks were done manually and more records were handled with pen and paper. In fact, the technology looks set to become even more widespread now that artificial intelligence appears poised to automate more tasks, including potentially writing the code for software updates that will be checked by a computer – which will be overseen by another computer to ensure that not malfunction.

That doesn’t mean individual families can’t still fall back on some of their old tricks as backup when technology fails, said Matt Mittelsteadt, a researcher at the Mercatus Center, a research institution at George Mason University. “There is a frightening realization that some of the things we once scoffed at, like putting a password on a post-it note, are not necessarily the worst idea.”

At this juncture, experts believe that both the government and the private sector need to devote more time to mapping the digital ecosystem to gain a better understanding of the system’s weaknesses. Otherwise, society as a whole could find itself wandering through a field of digital landmines – blindfolded. Says Mittelsteadt: “We have no information about the environment in which we operate now, other than that there are a mass of ticking time bombs out there.”