So let’s wish the World Wide Web a happy birthday. But I bet you don’t know who Tim Berners-Lee is. That is the man the IT support world credits for creating the WWW on this day in 1989. The World Wide Web founder speaks out. It’s not good.
So Berners-Lee writes a scathing letter about the WWW’s current condition. He published it to The Guardian. He remembers the Web’s infancy of the 1990s, when small time bloggers and businesses, dreamers and artists ran the show. But now, major corporations not only control the Web, but made it so that smaller businesses can’t even compete. He complains about the Facebook’s and Google’s of the Web. Not only do they control the business aspect, but they control our ideas and opinions as well.
Berners-Lee believes the Web is now too centralized. And because there is little competition, fake news outlets and social/political/radical extremists can use this to manipulate the masses. He complains these mega web companies are all about profit now; they’re not ready to take on helping human beings socially. Then, Berners-Lee challenges online companies to close the wealth, gender, racial, and global gaps. He also calls on a new generation of dreamers to, “build a web we want”. That’s a clear hint that we need to challenge the WWW current status quo.
The World wide web founder speaks out. I agree with most of it. But I will give the Web giants credit where Berners-Lee doesn’t. Facebook and Google leaders often do use their wealth and power for good. However, I do remember an Internet that wasn’t dominated by the Amazons, Googles, Apples, Facebook’s, and Walmart’s of the world. Back then, it really was a level playing field. Those days are long gone. This repealing of net neutrality isn’t helping matters, either. I see such issues play out in our Boston computer service shop.? So yes, I do agree that too much Web power is in the hands of too few. So what can we do about it?