Governments everywhere seek constantly to take over and control the world’s computer systems–frequently claiming people’s computer are vulnerable to failure, sabotage, hacking or “cyberterror.” When these messages fail to gain traction, governments claim they must control everyone’s computer use to stop corporations from charging differently for different speeds, or from charging the poor more than the rich; or something.
Yet governments have terrible track records regarding their own abilities to keep their computer systems up and running. In 20010 the U.S. government’s ‘Obamacare’ websites completely failed for weeks and even months despite outlays of millions of dollars of tax money. (A private, free, website which helped viewers identify and find health insurance options was up and running throughout the entire period.)
Now the government of Oregon has admitted that for a period of 8 to 48 hours around June 9, 2018, the entire State computer system of networks utterly failed. The State of Oregon spends millions annually on the systems, but claims that all 4 or its primary servers simultaneously failed or would not function properly.
