It's the Internet τόσο υγιές όσο ήταν; Είναι μια ερώτηση που θα συζητήσουμε παρακάτω, αλλά για να την απαντήσουμε θα πρώτα πρέπει να καθορίσουμε τι εννοούμε με τον όρο υγιές διαδίκτυο.
Of course, today's Internet is much larger than the time it was launched, and its current infrastructure is stronger than ever. New interactive experiences have replaced almost all static text pages, and there are thousands of other applications and innovations nowadays that we take for granted.
But there is also the feeling that the Internet is less healthy than before. The idealism of the early days has been replaced by cynical manipulations.
The Mozilla Foundation makes an annual effort measuring the health of the Internet from the point of view of individual users.
In this year 's analysis, Mozilla reports some positives that indicate that the Internet - and our relationship with it - is becoming healthier.
The Mozilla Foundation reports that privacy requests are becoming more and more frequent, thanks to several high-profile episodes such as its scandal Cambridge Analytica, as well as the use of new user-friendly frameworks for digital privacy and security, such as the GDPR which has been legislated and applied by Europe. It is very likely that we will see similar laws applied elsewhere too soon.
Some small steps have also been taken to ensure that the use of artificial intelligences will be responsible and widely understood, while questions about the role and responsibility of artificial intelligence continue to grow.
Today we seem to have a better understanding that when we use "free" services Internet, to search, our e-mail or social networks, we sign an agreement, and the price may be much higher, in terms of our privacy, than if we were asked to pay.
Mozilla also mentions some reasons that make it less optimistic for the future.
He says that governments around the world continue to limit access to the Internet in many ways, including 188 Internet holidays all over the world last year, as well as slow down Internet services as much as making them useless.
He says the use of biometric data and digital identities to track individuals does not help protect privacy and warns that artificial intelligence will "reinforce injustice" as it can distinguish groups based on erroneous data or false assumptions.
Of course, answering the question: is the Internet healthy? depends both on where we are and on who we are.
The most positive of all the above may be that at least we seem to understand better the effects and symptoms. We may not be quick to diagnose and make decisions, but at least we do not live in ignorance before Snowden era.
Φυσικά η λήψη αποφάσεων για το κοινό καλό δεν είναι εύκολη, αφού τα επιχειρηματικά models των μεγάλων εταιρειών, αλλά και οι μυστικές υπηρεσίες βασίζονται στη συλλογή όσο το δυνατόν περισσότερων προσωπικών πληροφοριών. Έτσι η εξεύρεση μιας βιώσιμης λύσης μπορεί να είναι πολύ δύσκολη.
Some of the damage that has already been caused to the Internet to make some companies gain more profits may seem random, but there is more and more evidence of a deliberate damage. The internet is not only sick but it seems to have been poisoned with telemetry, advertisements, bots, spiders, and all kinds of technologies aimed at gaining through data collection.
But the problem is that there are too many governments and regimes that rely on censorship, use surveillance and the absence of privacy and see all these as benefits of the new technologys, and not failures.
They have already seized the opportunity to use technology to quell dissent and impose their own opinions. So the challenge seems to be clear and not so difficult. Finding ways to circumvent government tools of propaganda and censorship has already begun to happen.
But the biggest problem is doing nothing, and of course not wanting everyone to see the Internet again healthy.
