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 continues to lead the World Wide Web Consortium, which is developing open web standards. That gives him great influence, but now the internet is all over the world, and multi-billion dollar governments and companies are holding most of its power. Many of the problems he points out and we will see below are not new, but as he states "I am more and more worried about three new trends" during the last 12 months.Berners-Lee

1. Loss of control over personal data

Ο Berners-Lee acknowledges that everyone who uses the internet has accepted labyrinthine terms of service in order to be able to “enjoy” private . Βλέπε Google, Facebook κλπ. Αναγνωρίζει επίσης το θέμα με την κυβερνητική εποπτεία. Οι κυβερνήσεις συλλέγουν δεδομένα και παρακολουθούν τις επικοινωνίες χωρίς να ζητάνε κάποια άδεια. Ο Berners-Lee φοβάται ότι η 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 ! Ναι, και όπως όλοι μας, ο Berners-Lee παρακολουθεί το φαινόμενο να μεγαλώνει στις online επικοινωνίας. Τα κοινωνικά δίκτυα έχουν δημιουργήσει ένα ώριμο τοπίο για διανομής ψευδών πληροφοριών. Συγκεκριμένα αναφέρει ότι “η χρήση της επιστήμης των δεδομένων και οι στρατοί των bots” θα ξεγελάσουν το .

3. Online political advertising needs transparency and understanding

He worries about politicians using specific groups who cannot understand what a real politician is . "Targeted advertising allows a campaign to be completely different, potentially with conflicting things to 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 collaborated with MIT and the Qatar Computing Research Institute on 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 the μεγαλύτερο έλεγχο στα δεδομένα τους επιτρέποντας στις εταιρείες όπως το Facebook ελάχιστη their information, but will also enable them to revoke access to that 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 affect our lives. It states values ​​such as justice, accountability and transparency in should be defined very specifically.

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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