What lies beneath: transparency in online service supply chains
Open accessAbstract
There is a noticeable trend towards the increased centralisation of Internet-based services. Though much focus is on the dominance of organisations such as Facebook, Google and Netflix, popular consumer-facing services, there has been considerably less discussion regarding the organisations providing the infrastructure that supports online services. This bears consideration, given that many online services rely on a range of platforms and services operated by third-parties. As such, this paper explores issues of consolidation as regards the systems supply chains that underpin and drive online services. Specifically, we note that while there are trends towards the increased centralisation and dominance in the provision of supporting technical infrastructure, the nature of these technical supply chains are relatively hidden. We explore the broader societal implications of this with regards to power and resilience, emphasising the lack of means, legal or technical, for uncovering the nature of the supply chains on which online services rely. Given society's ever-growing reliance on data-driven technology, we argue that more can be done to increase levels of transparency over the supply arrangements of technical infrastructure. This is a necessary precursor to determining what interventions, if any, may be required to deal with issues of consolidation in online infrastructure.
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- Authors
- Cobbe, J., Norval, C., & Singh, J.
- Affiliations
- University of Cambridge (GB)
- Corresponding author
- Singh, Jatinder
- Venue
- Journal of Cyber Policy
- Publisher
- Informa UK Limited
- Published
- 2020-01-02
- Volume
- 5
- Issue
- 1
- Pages
- 65-93
- ISSN
- 2373-8871 (ISSN-L)
- 2373-8898
- OpenAlex
- W3016038385
- Cited by
- 13
- References
- 23
- Citations by year
- 2026: 3 · 2025: 1 · 2023: 3 · 2021: 3 · 2020: 3
- FWCI
- 2.40
- Type
- journal article
- Language
- en
- Open access
- hybrid
- doi.org
- Locations
- Journal of Cyber Policy (publishedVersion, cc-by)
- SSRN Electronic Journal (submittedVersion)
- RePEc: Research Papers in Economics (submittedVersion)
- Apollo (University of Cambridge) (submittedVersion, cc-by)
- Apollo (cc-by)
- Funders
- Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council (EP/R033501/1, EP/P024394/1)
- Topics
- Social Sciences › Business, Management and Accounting › Strategy and Management › Diverse Legal and Medical Studies
- Social Sciences › Law › Digitalization, Law, and Regulation
- Social Sciences › Political Science and International Relations › Cybersecurity and Cyber Warfare Studies
- Keywords
- supply chain transparency, technological infrastructure, online services, centralization, consolidation, third-party platforms, power, resilience, data-driven technologies, internet infrastructure
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