Technology's grip on modern life is pushing us down a dimly lit path of digital land mines

SAN FRANCISCO (AP) — “Move fast and break things,” a high-tech mantra popularized 20 years ago by Facebook founder Mark Zuckerberg, was supposed to be a rallying cry for game-changing innovation. It now seems more like an elegy for a society perched on a digital foundation too fragile to withstand a defective software program that was supposed to help protect computers — not crash them.

The worldwide technology meltdown caused by a flawed update installed earlier this month on computers running on Microsoft's dominant Windows software by cybersecurity specialist CrowdStrike was so serious that some affected businesses such as Delta Air Lines were still recovering from it days later.

It's a tell-tale moment — one that illustrates the digital pitfalls looming in a culture that takes the magic of technology for granted until it implodes into a horror show that exposes our ignorance and vulnerability.

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

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

“It might be time to look at how the internet works and then question why the internet works this way. Because there is a lot of gum and shoelaces holding things together,” said Gregory Falco, an assistant professor of engineering at Cornell University.

The risks are being amplified by the tightening control of a corporate coterie popularly known as “Big Tech": Microsoft, whose software runs most of the world's computers; Apple and Google, whose software powers virtually all of the world's smartphones; Amazon, which oversees data centers responsible for keeping websites running (another key service provided by Microsoft and Google, too, 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 a few corridors open to a network of smaller companies such as CrowdStrike — a company with $3 billion in annual revenue, a fraction of the nearly $250 billion in annual sales that Microsoft reels in. All of the key players still tend to put a higher priority on the pursuit of profit than 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 quick as possible and then fix it when you find out you have a problem,’" Nti Asar said. “We should be moving slower and demanding better technology instead of giving ourselves up to these feudal lords.”

But is Big Tech to blame for that situation? Or is it 21st-century society that obliviously allowed us to get to this point — consumers eagerly buying their next shiny devices while gleefully posting pictures online, and the seemingly overmatched lawmakers elected to impose safeguards?

“Everybody wants to point the blame somewhere else," Saffo said, “but I would say you better start looking in the mirror.”

If our digital evolution seems to be headed in the wrong direction, should we change course? Or is that even possible at a juncture where some credit card companies charge their customers a fee if they prefer to have their monthly billing systems delivered to them through a U.S. Postal Service that has become known as “snail mail” because it moves so slowly?

Remaining stuck in a different era worked out well for Southwest Airlines during the CrowdStrike snafu 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. That sword has another, less appealing edge, though: Behaving like a Luddite hobbled Southwest 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's becoming increasingly untenable to toggle back to the analog and early digital era of 30 or 40 years ago when more tasks were done manually and more records were handled on pen and paper. If anything, technology appears destined to become even more pervasive now that artificial intelligence seems poised to automate more tasks, including potentially writing the code for software updates that will be checked by a computer — that will be overseen by another computer to make sure it's not malfunctioning.

That doesn't mean individual households still can't revert to some of their old tricks as a backup for when technology falters, said Matt Mittelsteadt, research fellow for Mercatus Center, a research institution at George Mason University. “There is this creeping realization that some of the things we once mocked, like putting a password on a Post-It note, isn't necessarily the worst idea."

At this juncture, experts believe both the government and the private sector need to devote more time mapping out the digital ecosystem to get a better understanding of the weaknesses in the system. Otherwise, society as a whole may find itself wandering through a field of digital land mines — while blindfolded. Says Mittelsteadt: “We have no intelligence about the environment we are operating in now other than that there is this mass of ticking time bombs out there.”

An IT field services technician works on software on an information display during a global technology outage near United Airlines gates at Chicago O'Hare International Airport, in Chicago, Friday, July 19, 2024. (AP Photo/Carolyn Kaster)

A "blue screen of death" is displayed instead of flight information at Chicago O'Hare International Airport after a software glitch caused widespread outages as reported by airlines around the world, Friday, July 19, 2024, in Chicago. (AP Photo/Erin Hooley)

Pedestrians walk by blacked out screens due to a global technology outage in Times Square, Friday, July 19, 2024, in New York. (AP Photo/Yuki Iwamura)

FILE - The Google logo is displayed at their offices, Nov. 1, 2018, in London. The dependence — and extreme vulnerability — starts with the interconnections that bind our computers, phones and other devices. (AP Photo/Alastair Grant, File)

Passengers line up for manual check-in at the Hong Kong International Airport during a global technology outage in Hong Kong, Friday, July 19, 2024. (AP Photo/Kanis Leung)

FILE - The Apple logo is illuminated at a store in Munich, Germany, Nov. 13, 2023. The dependence — and extreme vulnerability — starts with the interconnections that bind our computers, phones and other devices. (AP Photo/Matthias Schrader, File)

A passenger takes a nap inside a terminal at Harry Reid International Airport on Friday, July 19, 2024, after a faulty CrowdStrike update caused a major internet outage for computers running Microsoft Windows. (AP Photo/Ty ONeil)

Travelers stand in line at a Delta Air Lines counter during a global technology outage at Reagan National Airport on Friday, July 19, 2024, in Arlington, Va. (AP Photo/Mark Schiefelbein)

A Delta Air Lines jet leaves the gate during a global technology outage at Logan International Airport, Friday, July 19, 2024, in Boston. (AP Photo/Michael Dwyer)

Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg talks with reporters about the global technology outage at the White House, Tuesday, July 23, 2024, in Washington. (AP Photo/Julia Nikhinson)

The folklore music group "Misquillahualy," from the Mexican state of Hidalgo, waits for a new flight to Colombia after theirs was canceled during a a global technology outage at Benito Juárez International Airport in Mexico City, Friday, July 19, 2024. (AP Photo/Marco Ugarte)

Passengers wait in front of check-in counters at the capital's Berlin Brandenburg Airport, in Schönefeld, Germany, Friday, July 19, 2024, after a widespread technology outage disrupted flights, banks, media outlets and companies around the world. (Christoph Soeder/dpa via AP)

The logo for CrowdStrike and a Spirit Airlines webpage with a Travel Advisory about a third Party Outage impacting their Reservation System are shown on a computer screen and mobile phone screen, in New York, Friday, July 19, 2024. (AP Photo/Richard Drew)

Tiffany McAllister and Andres Bernal try to rebook their flight to Iowa while at Hartsfield Jackson International Airport in Atlanta, Friday, July 19, 2024, as a major internet outage disrupts flights, banks, media outlets and companies across the world. (AP Photo/Ben Gray)

NEW YORK (AP) — Sean “Diddy” Combs is due in court Tuesday on federal sex trafficking and racketeering charges. An indictment says the music mogul “engaged in a persistent and pervasive pattern of abuse toward women and other individuals.”

Combs was arrested late Monday in Manhattan, roughly six months after federal authorities conducting a sex trafficking investigation raided his luxurious homes in Los Angeles and Miami.

Over the past year, Combs has been sued by people who say he subjected them to physical or sexual abuse. He has denied many of those allegations, and his lawyer, Marc Agnifilo, said outside the courthouse Tuesday morning that Combs, 54, would plead not guilty and that he would “fight like hell” to get his client released from custody.

Here is the Latest:

Prosecutors say the violence Combs exacted on his victims was so extreme that he should be denied bail.

In a detention letter written for the federal judge overseeing the music mogul's case, prosecutors described how Combs would assault women, employees and others “by throwing objects at them, choking them, pushing them, kicking them, and slamming them against walls and on to the ground.”

The letter says the violence was sometimes spontaneous and sometimes premeditated, including “resorting to kidnapping and arson when the defendant’s power and control were threatened.”

Prosecutors say Combs’ “disposition to violence cannot be reasonably prevented through bail conditions.”

The letter also says Combs should be denied bail because he has already reached out to potential witnesses in the case and that further attempts at witness tampering are likely.

U.S. Attorney Damian Williams says Combs did not act alone.

During a news conference Tuesday, Williams said Combs’ security and household staff, as well as operators high up in the music industry were complicit. Williams says they cleaned up damaged hotel rooms and "delivered large quantities of cash to Combs to pay for the commercial sex workers.”

Williams says the investigation is ongoing, and is urging "anyone with information about this case to come forward and to do it quickly.”

U.S. Attorney Damian Williams, whose office is bringing the case against Sean “Diddy” Combs, says the music mogul led a criminal organization that carried out kidnapping, forced labor and sex trafficking, among other crimes.

Speaking at a news conference Tuesday, Williams said authorities will seek to have Combs detained while he awaits trial.

He spoke before a display board showing images of some of the items recovered in searches of Combs’ homes in Los Angeles and Miami in March, including AR-15s and a drum magazine containing dozens of rounds of ammunition. He says agents also seized electronic devices that contain images and videos of sexual encounters.

Williams says: “Combs led and participated in a racketeering conspiracy that used the business empire he controlled to carry out criminal activity, including sex trafficking, forced labor, kidnapping, arson, bribery, and the obstruction of justice.”

Combs' lawyer, Marc Agnifilo, has said he will fight to keep his client free. He says Combs is innocent and will plead not guilty.

Comb’s former longtime girlfriend, whom he was seen attacking in a March 2016 security video, has declined to comment on the federal case against him.

Douglas Wigdor, an attorney for the singer Cassie Ventura, said in a statement released before Combs was due to appear in court Tuesday that neither he nor his client have anything to say on the matter.

Wigdor says: “We appreciate your understanding and if that changes, we will certainly let you know.”

Ventura reached a settlement with Combs last November, one day after filing a lawsuit containing allegations of beatings and abuse by the music producer.

Outside the Manhattan courthouse early Tuesday, Combs’ lawyer, noted that his client came to New York City voluntarily because they knew the charges were coming.

Marc Agnifilo said: “Not a lot of defendants do that. He came to New York to, to basically engage the court system and start the case.”

Though the indictment was not unsealed at the time of his comments, Agnifilo said they know what the charges will be and that Combs is “innocent of these charges.” He vowed to “fight like hell” to get Combs released from federal custody.

The indictment alleges Combs hit, kicked and threw objects at victims, and sometimes dragged them by their hair, causing injuries that often took days or weeks to heal. It says Combs also threw people around, choked and shoved them.

Prosecutors say his employees and associates witnessed his violence and, rather than intervening, helped him cover it up, including by preventing victims from leaving, and locating and contacting victims who attempted to flee.

The indictment describes Combs as the head of a criminal enterprise that engaged or attempted to engage in activities including sex trafficking, forced labor, interstate transportation for purposes of prostitution, drug offenses, kidnapping, arson, bribery and obstruction of justice.

He’s accused of striking, punching and dragging women on numerous occasions, throwing objects and kicking them, and enlisting his personal assistants, security and household staff to help him hide it all.

Lawrence Stark, of the Bronx borough of New York, makes comments in support of Sean "Diddy" Combs, outside Manhattan federal court, Tuesday, Sept. 17, 2024, in New York. (AP Photo/Eduardo Munoz Alvarez)