Debugging the New Millennium by Brian Dexter M. Medija Published in his column Surfboard on SunStar Davao Weekend Edition January 7, 2001.
When pyrotechnics flared in the skies at midnight on the eve of January 1, 2001, the official start of the new millennium set in. (Puritans assert that that is the real start of the 21st century, not January 1, 2000 as was popularly believed.) Yet, this millennium turnover passed without the tension that was upon every corner of the globe a year ago, the hype that took humanity by storm—it was about a bug that failed to bite.
But then, bugs have always been there. Since the onset of the computer age, bugs have continuously crippled systems and challenged programmers and inventors alike, who subsequently come up with better and better systems. Thus, we owe a lot to the bugs, although they may cause some to stockpile up to two years’ worth of groceries and withdraw their entire life savings.
Bugs are a big factor in the evolution of computers, and of technology as a whole. At the threshold of the new millennium, the technology that we know today will again suffer another bugging—hopefully for the better.
It’s no surprise that this year, the battering will be perpetrated by nothing more than the bugs that have incessantly brought the computer world to its knees—computer hacking and viruses (the common bugs?) These bugs have little to do with glitches in the machines (although hardware bugs are here to stay); they have more to do with holes in today’s software or security flaws on networks.
No, the tension this time is not upon the entire humanity, but only on a fraction thereof, comprising of the digerati (the computer experts), online investors, and the netizens (people who access the Internet).
Indeed, hacking and viruses have become by-words of the tech world. While it’s true that high internet technology has brought forth much promise in e-commerce, these cyberpests, if you may, have put a cloud of doubt over such promise, by ceaselessly undermining the security and integrity of online systems and transactions.
An article on online MSNBC says the year 2000 was a good year for the bad guys and that if the Internet revolution is to continue, the good guys need to make a comeback. Indeed so, as the last year of the 20th century was marked by pestilence on the online world, incurring billions of dollars in losses and affecting millions of people the world over, digerati and non-digerati alike.
Cybercrimes were not much of a front page issue prior to last year, however, because of the enormity of the damage by cybercriminals, the year 2000 had become the best year for the bad guys, where front page headlines of many of the world’s publications splurged worldwide attention on online security issues and other defects of the Internet.
Credit heists on e-commerce sites such as CD Universe from which hackers stole thousands of credit card records and distributed them on the Web for free picking; the hacking the world’s biggest websites such as Yahoo!, Amazon, eTrade and Excite by a 15-year-old Canadian nicknamed “mafiaboy” on a whim; the “love bug,” created by a disgruntled Filipino yuppie, spreading like an eclipse over the globe and downing 10 percent of the world’s computers. These are merely a few.
All these have hurt the online turf, and brought down domains that capitalized on the promise of the Internet revolution. Stocks that have gained five or six hundred percent of their value upon their initial public offering now almost cost nothing. Internet stocks have been flushed down the drain like waste, hinting the dismal yet imminent demise of e-commerce.
That should be the bug of the new millennium.
Computer hacking and viruses have exposed the vulnerability of cyberspace, which translated to lost trust and falling Internet stocks, cueing the imminent death of online commerce. If the bad guys have succeeded for too long in spreading bugs and unmasking the frailties of today’s technology, then probably it’s a good year for the good guys to make a counterstrike. ¤