What Tim Berners-Lee said about the 28 years of the World Wide Web

Yesterday was 28 the anniversary of the day that the Tim Berners-Lee submitted his proposal for the World Wide Web. To honor the occasion, he published a letter describing how far he had spread something that feared him as he distorted his original vision.

Berners-Lee still directs the World Wide Web Consortium that develops open standards for the web. This gives it a lot of influence, but now the internet is worldwide, and governments and multi-billion dollar corporations hold most of its power. Many of the which he points out and we will see below is not new, but as he states "I am increasingly worried about three new trends" during of the last 12 months.Berners-Lee

1. Loss of control over personal data

Ο Berners-Lee recognizes that everyone who uses the internet has accepted tortuous terms of service in order to be able to "enjoy" private technologies. See Google, Facebook etc. Also recognizes the issue with government surveillance. Governments collect data and monitor communications without asking permission. Berners-Lee fears that the data from governments will have a chilling effect on how we feel using the internet and with our every online conversation.

2. Misinformation is very easy to spread on the internet

Fake News! Yes, and like all of us, Berners-Lee is watching the growth of online communications. Social networks have created a mature landscape for the dissemination of false information. In particular, he states that "the use of data science and the armies of bots" will fool the system.

3. Online political advertising needs transparency and understanding

He worries about politicians using certain groups who cannot understand what the real political message is. "Targeted advertising allows a campaign to be completely different, possibly with conflicting things in different groups."

What can we do about the above? Tim is not entirely sure, but at least he took the position of describing some solutions.

1. “Data pods” could be a way to give more control over personal data. Berners-Lee has worked with MIT and Qatar Research Institute in a project called "Solid" (social linked data). Although still in the early stages of development, the idea of ​​storing personal data away from big companies sounds promising. In theory at least this will give users more control over their data by allowing companies like Facebook minimal access to their information, but also giving them the ability to revoke access to said information.

2. Subscriptions and micropayments as a solution for publications and other businesses that use ads to make their costs. The idea is apparently to disconnect Internet traffic from the use of personal data for targeted marketing.

3. Fighting government oversight through the courts, if necessary.

4. Facebook and Google should "continue their efforts" to combat fake news.

5. Greater transparency in the ways algorithms are used to influence our lives. He says that values ​​such as fairness, accountability and transparency in Machine Learning should be very specific.

6. Settings of online advertising policies to the same standards required by other media such as TV and radio.

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Unfortunately, we have known all of the above for years now. What has changed in recent years is that the global community has realized the magnitude of government oversight. Continued hacking, which results in very large leaks, confirms that there can be no security on the internet. Companies, on the other hand, have built their entire business model in the exclusive possession and use of our personal data.

Berners-Lee seems to be quite romantic if he believes all of the above will be resolved soon.

The letter was posted to The Guardian

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Written by giorgos

George still wonders what he's doing here ...

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