The first product that could risk public safety if managed by over-networked systems is self-driving cars. Given the highly technical nature of self-driving cars, much of their AV systems need to be put into networks or cloud databases. As a result, this greatly increases the vulnerability points for hackers to gain access to these networked systems and hack into the cars. Even having one AV be hacked by bad actors into could risk the lives of not only those in the AV but everyone around them. Furthermore, there is also the possibility that an entire fleet of AVs get hacked into in which case the damage could be further compounded. Networks that control any decision making process or physical controls in the car should never have access to the internet and should be carefully guarded in the networks. There may be aspects like GPS tracking or smart features that require connection to the internet but these features should at the very least be silo-ed off from the main controls of the car in order to prevent any possible breach from seemingly less important features allowing access to more important functions.
It is very likely that if Sara hadn’t spoken up that the company would never have considered unplugging as a potential solution. Instead, given the hold that digitization seems to have on the rest of the company, it’s likely that they would have spent more money on technologies to further secure their network and potentially create even more vulnerabilities. If the CEO had ignored her or also not taken her advice seriously, it is likely that other employees would be less likely to speak out/challenge ideas in the future. The company would lose a critical level of thought diversity and would likely barrel down some wrong paths. Sara challenged the idea that more technology is better, that the mostly male-dominated engineering teams are right, that her boss has more authority over the company.
Given that my project is a B2C product like the one discussed in the reading, I think that it is especially relevant to keep in mind that although technology may make a lot of processes easier (chatbots for 24/7 bike repair advice, packing bots to pack up bikes, etc.), few technologies can beat thoughtful and considerate human-service.
