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AS OF 2017, 72 per cent of people in the UK have smartphones. What this means for society depends on more than the strength of their mobile signal and battery life 鈥� it depends on governments and whether they demand exceptional access to devices.

In her book Listening In, Susan Landau, a cybersecurity expert and academic, argues that in an increasingly insecure cyberworld, 鈥渟ociety is best served by securing communications and devices even if that鈥� makes government investigations more difficult鈥�.

The impasse between the FBI and Apple over a locked iPhone containing potential evidence about the 2015 San Bernadino shootings is Landau鈥檚 narrative thread, as she weaves a sometimes circuitous path through the digital revolution to the networked world and its implications for national security. The first two chapters in particular read like a textbook on the internet for future students.

But her ultimate prognosis for a world in which governments are granted 鈥渂ackdoors鈥� to individual devices is bleak. Forcing Apple et al. to develop a universal solution to unlock suspects鈥� phones creates a mechanism that could easily be hijacked by a country like Russia. Indeed, the Kremlin targeted 鈥渃ivil society鈥檚 soft underbelly鈥� in the 2016 US elections, asserts Landau, adding that the only solution is to make both communication mode and device secure. Rather than pursuing a universal key, law enforcement should invest in more hackers.

While better cybersecurity can protect data and systems, it won鈥檛 win the war of words Russia and others are fighting. But if Landau鈥檚 account makes readers worry that they are powerless in the face of their state, let alone other states seeking to weaponise their data, they can rest assured that at no time in modern history have individuals had more power to shape conflict than the present.

In War in 140 Characters, journalist David Patrikarakos uses engaging case studies from the Israel-Palestine war, the Russia-Ukraine conflict and the rise of ISIS to explain a new plane of warfare. This can empower individuals to do good, as when a volunteer in Ukraine used social media to organise donations of gear, clothing and gifts for poorly equipped soldiers. Patrikarakos writes 鈥渁s the state fails, Homo digitalis rises to take its place鈥�.

鈥淏etter cybersecurity can protect, but it won鈥檛 win the war of words Russia and others are fighting鈥�

But the state can also seize these powers for ill. Patrikarakos profiles a member of Russia鈥檚 infamous troll factory, where hundreds of employees post fake comments and news stories to sway public opinion in favour of Russia, and gives a case study of the emotional connections forged between a disaffected French citizen and her ISIS recruiters. These show the impact of a savvy state (or pseudo-state) that understands social media. States that do not, including, according to Patrikarakos, the US and to a lesser extent Israel, cede control of an increasingly vital battleground: the internet.

Like Landau, his prognosis is grim: 鈥淥ur information environment is sick鈥�; his antidote is an investment in journalism. Both authors focus on supply-side, field-specific solutions to the challenges: better security, better reporting. But both stop short of solving the demand-side. Even without hacked information, increasingly polarised societies fuel fake news and poor journalism 鈥� which are then weaponised by foreign powers or serve domestic aims. It is this polarisation, driven largely by the online information environment, that can affect society more than any single smartphone for decades to come.

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This article appeared in print under the headline 鈥淏ackdoor to the future鈥�