What lies beneath: transparency in online service supply chains

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.