The Hidden Screens
I. Introduction
Every single digital system has a hidden screen. Not one you can ever see, but one they can see. Behind any digital system is a genie, which grants a lot of power to anyone who uses it.
II. Surface vs. Backend
You and I mostly see front-facing interface. For example, in your Tesla you control the maps or the music. On X (formerly Twitter), you can make private drafts or like posts. You can talk to ChatGPT on your own account. But, what most people fail to realize is there is always an administrator view. A view where the person using it can see not just your chats, but everyone's chats, posts, likes, map usage, everything. That admin view is accessed by various people at the company, from support people, to moderators. They can override your decisions, control your access to services, and see any and all of your data.
III. Everyday Examples
There are several examples, after all, this is applicable to essentially every digital system you can think of. Here are a few:
- School: Teachers/admins can edit grades, attendance, or profiles. Staff can also make a comprehensive report of the student's grades.
- Work: Managers have HR dashboards, can and do access logs, modify permissions panels, and also manage employee emails/accounts.
- Web Platforms: Support teams can reset your password, ban users, or view activity.
- Tech Companies: Tesla can disable your unsafe Tesla from charging, Apple can enable and disable their devices remotely with Activation Lock
- Social Media: Moderators can delete posts without your consent or ban users silently, and can refuse to acknowledge attempts for unbans.
IV. The Power Dynamic
This backend existing and having restricted access to it creates an inherent digital hierarchy. The internet is mostly democratic in a way, the people can decide whether to use a service or not. But even in this equal system, there is always someone at the tip top who can see more and hence decides more. And these systems can be surprisingly simple given how much power they contain. All it takes a checkbox or some code to ban an IP address, disable a phone or car, shadowban someone, or disable an employee's access to their email.
V. The Desire to Access
There are two types of people on the internet: those in control and those not in control. You are either in control of the website or you are not. There's a room (or rooms) in company headquarters where decisions about users happen. Should we check the box and ban this person, only to have support take weeks to respond to them? What if we expose a famous person's bookmarked posts? Why should we even tell someone we fired them when we could just reset their email password? There is a high degree of control they have, a large amount of destruction that is possible.
VI. The Risks
The fact that access to this backend exists makes every single digital system vulnerable. A company could be as private as they want, but as long as company backdoors exist, there will be vulnerabilities. This is why smart hackers rarely attack your regular Joe. They attack employees in order to phish the boss, and the boss has access to the admin panel. Essentially, when you trust a system, you also trust who is behind the curtain. You and I trust them to not abuse their backdoor access, and to protect the backdoor from others.
VII. Closing / Reflection
Every digital system has a hidden layer of control. Who controls the systems you use? What would you do with access to the hidden screen?
Thank you for reading!