Digital force field

The internet is already beyond the control of the people who are supposed to be running it, says US technologist David Auerbach.

- PAUL LITTLE

You may not have heard of New York-based tech writer and software engineer David Auerbach, but you are almost certainly familiar with his work. In fact, it's possible you've used one or two of his innovations today.

He has had stints working at both Microsoft and Google. "Really arcane backend server stuff," he tells the Listener on Zoom from his home. While at Microsoft in 1999, he introduced smiley face emoticons to Messenger. And then, as the title of a blog he once wrote had it, "I Built That 'So-and-So Is Typing' Feature in Chat. And I'm not sorry." Yes, he's the three-blinking dots guy. "Unlike emoticons, this was done alongside some other people. But my name is on the patent," he says.

Since then, he has written widely, perceptively and often critically, mainly on internet and tech issues. Much of his work can be found at his website, davidauerba.ch. But it's his early hits that people remember and talk to him about.

The musical analogy is one with which he would be comfortable. Before we even start the interview about his new book, the ominously titled Meganets: How Digital Forces Beyond Our Control Commandeer Our Daily Lives and Inner Realities, he has something he needs to say.

"I've been a close follower of New Zealand music for a long time. I've heard a lot of bands from Dunedin and Christchurch. I saw the Chills in New York last October. I'd last seen [Martin Phillipps] 25 years earlier. And actually, I don't know if you know Bailter Space, but they're playing here next week."

So far, so Flying Nun fanatic, but how did he get to be a software engineer and respected commentator?

"I always loved computers," he says. "I programmed from a young age. At the same time, I was very aware of how they didn't capture the world. And I was also into literature and philosophy."