America's digital infrastructure belongs to you

When was the last time you thought about the fiber optic cables and satellites that keep you connected to the internet — making it possible to stream shows, book doctor’s appointments, send emails or read this article? Or the network of monitors throughout reservoirs, aqueducts, pipes and treatment facilities that enable us to drink and wash in clean water? When many people hear the word “infrastructure,” larger projects like bridges, roads and dams might come to mind. But unlike hard infrastructure, digital infrastructure is often invisible to even its most frequent users. That lack of visibility is often a function of infrastructure’s elegance and effectiveness; it is invisible because it is working. 

This digital infrastructure tends to enter the wider public consciousness only when it breaks. Which highlights the urgent challenge of convincing policymakers, who control how taxpayer dollars are invested, and the public, whose hard-earned money funds this infrastructure, of the critical need to prioritize upkeep before these systems fail or lose essential functionality.

Since January 20, we’ve seen unprecedented attacks on our nation’s federal digital infrastructure — from inside the federal government itself. Agency websites have gone offline and come back online missing important information. Critical datasets and tools have been removed or restricted. And many staff that collect, manage and create insights from this data are operating on significantly reduced budgets while others are losing their jobs altogether. This not only impacts agencies’ abilities to protect public health and the environment, but also our farmers, elders, educators and community members t ..

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