Global Computer Outages Reveal Vulnerabilities of Internet Centralization

As the world’s communications and operations become more concentrated among a handful of tech oligopolies, they become both more efficient and more vulnerable. This became apparent last week as an antivirus software update issued on the evening of July 18 by CrowdStrike, a security software company, caused more than a billion Windows-based computers to cease to function, taking down essential operations at airports, hospitals, 911 centers, police departments, trains, jails, and other municipal services, as well as corporate operations. Appearing exhausted at times, CrowdStrike CEO George Kurtz spent July 19 issuing apologies on X and in television interviews, attempting to explain the error and the company’s efforts to resolve it....