Tim Berners-Lee - "The web is under threat"

[Becky]

Today is the 29th birthday of the world wide web, and to mark the occasion web-inventor Tim Berners-Lee has published an open letter about the future of the internet. Notably, he discusses the fact that control falls to a very small number of large corporations who act with profits in mind rather than their users' best interests.

...the fact that power is concentrated among so few companies has made it possible to weaponise the web at scale. In recent years, we’ve seen conspiracy theories trend on social media platforms, fake Twitter and Facebook accounts stoke social tensions, external actors interfere in elections, and criminals steal troves of personal data.

We’ve looked to the platforms themselves for answers. Companies are aware of the problems and are making efforts to fix them — with each change they make affecting millions of people. The responsibility — and sometimes burden — of making these decisions falls on companies that have been built to maximise profit more than to maximise social good. A legal or regulatory framework that accounts for social objectives may help ease those tensions.

Read the full letter here: World Wide Web Foundation
Commentary: Financial Times