Vulnerability of modern life -- Il-vulnerabbiltà tal-ħajja moderna

 

There have been two snippets of news, one of them recent and the other from a year ago, which caused me to think about the organisation of modern life, that based on an efficient economy and global trade, and advanced information technology accessible virtually to anyone, and on which we depend, is in fact very fragile.

 

The recent one is the observation of a Chinese oceanographic vessel outside the coast of Western Australia.  The activity consisted of the mapping of the Indian Ocean floor, in areas considered strategic to Australia, being used by submarines from my adoptive land on their way to the South China Sea.1

 

This activity, of a scientific but also military nature, is neither illegal nor outlandish.  I’m convinced that similar activity is carried out by many advanced nations, and is nothing more than obtaining information and intelligence whose immeasurable wealth can be appreciated in times of military conflict.  Intelligence gathering has been carried out in some way or another for centuries, with the technologies existing at the time.

 

Just imagine for a while a country being an enemy of yours, knowing where seagoing vessels it could hide under the surface of the sea without being caught, also knowing the routes of all telecommunication cables, all electrical power cables on which yours depends (as your neighbout countries can produce it cheaper) etc.  In times of conflict, the threat that these might be summarily cut makes me shudder.

 

This is not a new threat, being just a modern version of the threat to international commerce.  One example surely familiar to the Maltese diaspora is the Santa Maria convoy, which is a story from World War II with a happy ending, where a number of merchant and military shipts were sunk by the then German enemy, but others arrived by miracle at their destination and saved our beloved famished and wounded country.

 

The other story I referred to at the start was a decision by the Russian government to work on a plan so that if finds itself under a cyber attack, it would be in a position to isolate the country’s internet from the rest of the world.2  You can imagine a castle surrounded by a deep moat across which it would have a couple of drawbridges, and when finding itself under attack, raise the bridges.

 

You will realise that many internet services today are spread out around the globe, usually the consume would have no idea which country hosts the servers which are offering the services being used, and many times these would in fact be spread amongst multiple countries.

 

If is easy to realise that in case of conflict, although the internet is designed to be resilient to the loss of part of the network, if part of the infrastructure of a particular service is switched off or isolated, that service has a good chance of not being accessible.

 

This is also relevant for new services based on the blockchain, where information ideally is held of a large number of computers spread throughout the world.  If countries around the world start isolating their internet infrastructure, these can end up creating internet islands, and can also disrupt operations of the blockchain notwithstanding it being designed not to have central points of failure.

 

What lessons can be had from this?

 

Everyone can answer this for himself or herself.  From my perspective, I get three main and related messages:

 

a) you cannot assume that advanced technolgical system will always be available, or if they are interruped, will be restored in a short time;

 

b) in the meantime, it would be in your interest to know how, be able to, and have some rudimentary tools, to build and mend things, grow and harvest food for your own family and do this in concert with small local communities.  In other words, it would be good to have a measure of self-sufficiency;

 

c) countries would do well to protect indigenous industries not only if they are economically viable but also if they provide a strategic capability of self sufficiency in time of crisis

 

This is the opposite of what the modern economy entices you to do today, that is to specialise in one thing and leave the rest to others in a global and complex market for work.

 

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Kien hemm żewġ aħbarijiet, waħda riċenti, u oħra ta’ xi sena ilu, li ġiegħlitni naħseb ftit fuq kemm l-organizzazzjoni tal-ħajja moderna, dik ibbażata fuq ekonomija effiċjenti u negozju globali, u teknoloġija avvanzata tal-informazzjoni li hija aċċessibbl kważi għal kulħadd, li fuqha niddependu lkoll, hija fil-fatt fraġli għall-aħħar.

 

Il-waħda riċenti hija l-osservazzjoni ta’ vapur oċeanografiku Ċiniż barra mill-kosta ta’ Western Australia.  L-attività tikkonsisti fl-immappjar tal-qiegħ tal-Oċean Indjan, f’inħawi meqjusa strateġiċi għall-Awstralja, għax jintużaw mis-sottomarini tal-pajjiż adottiv tiegħi fi triqthom lejn il-baħar South China Sea.1

 

Din l-attività, xjentifika imma wkoll militari, mhix illegali u lanqas ta’ barra minn hawn.  Persważ li attività simili ssir minn ħafna pajjiżi avvanzati, li mhi xejn ħlief il-kisba ta’ informazzjoni u intelliġenza li jistgħu jiswew mitqlu deheb fi żmien ta’ kunflitti militari.  Il-ġbir ta’ intelliġenza ilha ssir b’xi forma jew oħra għal sekli sħat, bit-teknoloġiji li kienu jeżistu dakinhar.

 

Immaġinaw ftit li pajjiż għadu ta’ pajjiżek, ikun jaf minn fejn biċċiet tal-baħar jistgħu jistaħbew taħt il-wiċċ tal-baħar mingħajr ma jinqabad, u jkun jaf ukoll minn fejn għaddejjin il-kejbils tat-telekomunikazzjoni, u l-kejbils tal-kurrent elettriku li tiddependi predominantement fuqu (għax il-pajjiżi ġirien tiegħek jipproduċuh irħas) eċċ.  Fi żmien ta’ kunflitt, it-theddida li dawn jistgħu jinqatgħu ħesrem lili xxoqqli l-għaraq.

 

Din mhix xi theddida ġdida, għax hija biss verżjoni moderna tat-theddida għall-kummerċ internazjonali.  Eżempju li żgur familjari għad-dijaspora Maltija hija l-Konvoj ta’ Santa Marija, li hija storja tat-Tieni Gwerra Dinjija fil-fatt bi tmiem pożittiv, fejn numru ta’ vapuri tal-merkanzija u oħrajn ta’ skorta militari ġew mgħarrqa mill-għadu Ġermaniż ta’ dakinhar, imma oħrajn waslu b’miraklu fid-destinazzjoni tagħhom u salvaw lill-pajjiżna maħbub imġewwah u ferut.

 

L-istorja l-oħra li rreferejt għaliha fil-bidu kienet deċiżjoni tal-gvern Russu biex jaħdem fuq pjan sabiex jekk isib ruħu taħt attakk ċibernetiku, ikun f’pożizzjoni li jiżola lin-netwerk tal-internet tal-pajjiż mill-bqija tad-dinja.2  Tista’ timmaġina kastell imdawwar b’ħandaq fond li fuqu jkollu xi pont jew tnejn, u meta jsib ruħu taħt attakk, itella’ l-pontijiet.

 

Illum tirrealizza li ħafna servizzi fuq l-internet huma mxerrda madwar id-dinja, ħafna drabi l-konsumatur ma’ jkollu l-ebda idea f’liema pajjiż ikunu stallati s-servers li qiegħdin joffru s-servizz li jkun qed juża, u ħafna drabi fil-fatt ikunu mifruxa f’diversi pajjiżi.

 

Huwa faċli li tirrealizza li f’każ ta’ kunflitt, għalkemm l-internet huwa ddiżinjat biex ikun jiflaħ għat-telf ta’ parti min-netwerk, jekk parti mill-infrastruttura ta’ servizz partikulari jintefa jew jiġi iżolat, dak is-servizz għandu ċans tajjeb li ma jkunx aċċessibbli.

 

Dan jgħodd ukoll għal servizzi ġodda bbażati fuq il-blockchain, fejn l-informazzjoni idealment tinżamm fuq numru kbir ta’ kompjuters imxerrda mad-dinja.  Jekk pajjiżi ta’ madwar id-dinja jibdew jiżolaw l-infrastruttura tal-internet tagħhom, dawn jispiċċaw jikkreaw gżejjer tal-internet, u jistgħu iħarbtu l-operazzjoni wkoll ta’ sistema blockchain minkejja li kienet iddiżinjata li ma jkollhiex postijiet ċentrali li jistgħu ifallu u jwaqqfu kollox.

 

X’tagħlima jista’ wieħed jieħu minn dan?

 

Kulħadd jista’ jwieġeb għalih innifsu.  Jien għalija hemm tliet messaġġi prinċipali u relatati:

 

a) ma tistax tassumi li sistemi teknoloġiċi avvanzati dejjem se jkun hemm, jew jekk jieqfu jaħdmu għall-għarrieda, jerġgħu lura għan-normal fi żmien qasir;

 

b) fil-frattattemp, ikun ta’ vantaġġ kbir jekk tkun taf kif, tkun kapaċi u jkollok xi għodda rudimentali, biex tibni u ssewwi affarijiet, tkabbar u taħsad ikel għall-familja tiegħek stess, u tagħmel dan kollu bi sħab ma’ komunitajiet żgħar lokali.  Fi kliem ieħor, li wieħed ikun jista’ jfendi xi ftit jew wisq għal rasu;

 

ċ) pajjiżi jagħmlu sew jekk jipproteġu industriji indiġeni mhux biss jekk irendu ekonomikament imma wkoll jekk jagħtu l-kapaċita strateġika ta’ awtosuffiċjenza f’każijiet ta’ kriżi.

 

Dan huwa l-oppost li l-ekonomija moderna tħajrek tagħmel illum, jiġifieri li tispeċjalizza f’ħaġa waħda u li tħalli l-bqija għall-ħaddieħor f’suq globali u kumpless tax-xogħol.

 

1https://www.abc.net.au/news/2020-03-02/chinese-research-vessel-tracked-defence-subs-western-australia/12009708, retrieved 3/3/2020

2https://www.bbc.com/news/world-europe-50259597, retrieved 3/3/2020

1https://www.abc.net.au/news/2020-03-02/chinese-research-vessel-tracked-defence-subs-western-australia/12009708, retrieved 3/3/2020

2https://www.bbc.com/news/world-europe-50259597, retrieved 3/3/2020