60 years old | Petteri Järvinen, an IT expert, also believed that the Internet would improve the world: “Now that hope seems shamefully naive”

“Me too I believed in media democracy in the 90s. That when everyone has access to information and people from all over the world get to know each other, the world will get better and the wars will end. Now that hope feels ashamedly naive, ” Petteri Järvinen wondering.

One of Finland’s leading IT experts is saddened that the Internet did not improve the world, but provided a megaphone for extremist thinking and conspiracies, both theoretical and real, in the elections of other countries.

In spring 1980 Järvinen notices that computers were brought to high school. Students were not allowed to touch them. They were only meant to teach teachers. Annoyed by the lakes. He had already read books on computers in the library.

Better luck went to the computer store, which opened in Tampere in the summer. A friendly salesman gave Järvinen a try.

“I was immediately hooked. It was awesome to have a screen and be able to program something small. It wasn’t very wonderful yet, the graphic demos running around the screen in the store’s display window. ”

Järvinen helped the store for free, then did summer work there. He next studied at Tampere University of Technology. Järvinen has been busy with everything except computers – maybe a little surprisingly.

“Nerds are playful and there were computer games back in the 70s. Their history is an integral part of the history of computers, but I’m not interested in them. ”

Internet instead, he became interested in Järvi early on. In the 1980s, it was not easy to get. Student Järvinen heard that it had been installed on the assistant’s machine, but even in the university world it was not only available.

“Everything changed in 1993 as the knowledge highway thinking spread from America. The following year, the Internet began to spread to consumers. At first, it worked over the phone and was slow. But it spread quickly. Hesarik opened his own pages already in 1995, ”Järvinen reminds. Many also read this story from there.

Its knowledge highway was believed to spread media democracy everywhere and make people equal. Everyone would make their voices heard and could debate. Many raised their voices, but few wanted to talk, at least with anyone other than those in their bubble.

It can be seen in Järvinen’s work. He has published almost a shelf-meter of books in his field, 35 copies. At first there were guidebooks. From the PC User’s Guide (1986) took another edition of ten editions and a new version of Mokoma. Järvinen estimates that a total of 300,000 copies of his books have been sold.

Järvinen began talking about computer viruses as early as the 1980s, but then not everyone even believed they existed. First they spread on floppy disks, then in the 1990s via email.

“The scariest stuff on the net in the 90s was porn and spam. Finnish banks were pioneers. KOP set up e-banking as early as 1988. It now seems incredible that banks switched to the network in 1994 over an unsecured connection. The consumer breakthrough came in the early 2000s. ”

In Järvinen’s catalog of works, the change is striking in 2002. At that time, manuals and nicknames appeared after the manuals. Security and privacy. Now the network is already on our phones. It is hugely beneficial and can no longer be given up. Few would like to.

When you want to deal with the network and its problems, Järvinen is one of the most popular experts who are asked for their views. He thinks now the biggest threat to ordinary people online is that the savings of an elderly person or other bona fide person can be cleared at the touch of a button and cannot be undone.

“Those scams became more common in the last decade as people started spending money online. I don’t understand why all accounts need to have a feature that allows money to be transferred abroad. Not everyone needs it. It could very well be optional. ”

World is becoming more and more technical. Järvinen admits that sometimes he has problems too. A graduate engineer may have difficulty figuring out the payment of a parking fee. Many people have to study everyday life all the time.

Järvinen says that the much-maligned Facebook is useful and gives a hint that many can hardly follow. He doesn’t use Facebook at all on the phone. That way, 90 percent of the follow-up drops out.

Then there are the big things that worry an expert, like cybersecurity. In Järvinen’s opinion, that term is used carelessly. He would limit it to the level of national security. There would be enough work in that too.

“Finland spent just ten billion on fighters. It is an ancient military thinking. At the same time, the opinions of citizens can be affected or overthrown by the electricity grid. I was startled by its complexity as I became acquainted with it Cyber ​​threats and somes war for my book. ”

In The book, published in 2018, is Järvinen’s 32nd. Everyone is dependent on Yankee waste, like Google.

“America has money and all our information. It is not known whether Google search results are actually the best or how they are adjusted. Those companies are opaque. The EU data protection regulation was supposed to address it, but years have passed and nothing has changed. ”

One visible consequence of the EU regulation was. We all have to accept cookies all the time. A new bump came on the information highway.

Artificial intelligence is not of great concern in Järvinen so far, but its rapid development is of interest. A book on the effects of artificial intelligence on humans is in the works.

“The next challenge may be to defend privacy. It may not work. Zuckerberg would like to create artificial reality. It has been talked about for years. Maybe something happens that you can’t predict. That’s how things have often gone before. ”