Many sectors increasingly dependent on U.S. tech industry despite security concerns

Not just government institutions, but also the education, science, banking, journalism, and energy sectors are becoming more and more dependent on American tech companies. The sectors are becoming increasingly aware of the risks, but they are not taking any action to solve it as of yet, said Mariëtte van Huijstee of the Rathenau Instituut. “It is hard for organizations to leave big tech companies like Microsoft and Google.”

Van Huijstee works as a research coordinator. She is involved in the research into the consequences of digital dependence. The research team is seeing that many sectors use large U.S. tech companies. Many sectors lean on the cloud services of Microsoft, Amazon, and Google, but the dependence is wider.

For example, the educational sector works with teaching platforms that are owned by Google, Microsoft, and Apple. News media companies are partly dependent on social media for their visibility and findability.

A significant example of this came recently when it was reported that the main prosecutor of the International Criminal Court (ICC) in The Hague had no access to his e-mail because Microsoft had blocked the account upon a U.S. request.

“We are seeing that the attention for the subject and the awareness of the risks is increasing,” Van Huijstee said. She thinks that this is due to U.S. President Donald Trump’s close ties with the large tech companies.

“The dangers were hypothetical until a year ago. Now people are seeing that Trump is willing to use his influence to put parties under pressure in order to achieve his goals.” Although people are more aware of this, there has not been a decrease in companies using these services within the sector.

Van Huijstee admitted that this is easier said than done. “It takes a lot of effort to change the system,” she said. One of the main reasons for this is that the large tech companies often provide several services at the same time. Examples of this are video calls, emails, and document managers. Alternatives do not connect the same way. This requires a specialist who arranges it. The current way is a lot easier.”

It therefore takes a lot of energy and patience before organizations have made the switch. "For a private organization, the risks may be less, but if all hospitals are dependent on big tech, the risk and consequences of abuse of power and sabotage become much greater."