Make it Better
Welcome
Sir Tim Berners-Lee has something to say about the state of the World Wide Web. What does he know about the Web? Lots, because he invented it.
Dear Reader,
Sir Tim Berners-Lee has something to say about the state of the World Wide Web. What does he know about the Web? Lots, because he invented it.
Berners-Lee was working as a fellow at the CERN lab in Geneva, Switzerland in 1989 when he noticed that, if the people working on hypertext and the people working on TCP/IP networking would get together, the result might be something very interesting. He wrote the first web browser, and the first web server, and he helped develop the specification for the magic string we know today as a URL. He also founded the World Wide Web Consortium and has been active in developing and popularizing the web ever since.
So when Tim Berners-Lee has something to say about the web, we would be wise to listen. Berners-Lee posted a message [1] at the webfoundation.org site to mark the 28th anniversary of the web. In the post, he wrote, "I'm becoming increasingly worried about three new trends, which I believe we must tackle in order for the web to fulfill its true potential as a tool which serves all of humanity."
The three trends that worry Tim Berners-Lee are:
- We've lost control of our data – the dominant business model for the web calls for free content in exchange for personal data, and we have very little control over how that data is used.
- It's too easy for misinformation to spread on the web – the pay-per-click model that search engines and social media sites use for compensating content providers emphasizes sensationalism over accuracy, meaning that "…misinformation, or 'fake news', which is surprising, shocking, or designed to appeal to our biases, can spread like wildfire."
- Political advertising online needs transparency and understanding – algorithm-based ad services can manipulate the information provided for individual voters in complex ways, warping the context for electoral decisions.
Although no solutions for these vast and intractable problems appear on the horizon, the first two issues have received significant coverage in the press – including plenty of attention in this column you are now reading. The third issue has received comparatively less attention, and Tim Berners-Lee deserves credit for adding the important topic of online political advertising to the conversation.
According to Berners-Lee, "The fact that most people get their information from just a few platforms and the increasing sophistication of algorithms drawing upon rich pools of personal data, means that political campaigns are now building individual adverts targeted directly at users. One source [2] suggests that in the 2016 US election, as many as 50,000 variations of adverts were being served every single day on Facebook, a near-impossible situation to monitor. And there are suggestions that some political adverts – in the US and around the world – are being used in unethical ways – to point voters to fake news sites, for instance, or to keep others away from the polls."
According to the post, the Web Foundation is working on a five-year strategy [3] to address these issues by "researching the problems in more detail, coming up with proactive policy solutions, and bringing together coalitions to drive progress towards a web that gives equal power and opportunity to all." The group plans to explore a variety of options, including alternative revenue models, data pods for protecting personal information, and mechanisms for encouraging gate keepers such as Google and Facebook to combat misinformation.
The scope and depth of these problems makes it difficult to believe that one think tank of open web advocates will be able to solve them all alone, but the real work begins with churning up new ideas and starting to talk about them. Thanks to Tim Berners-Lee and the Web Foundation for daring to dream of a better, healthier web.
Joe Casad, Editor in Chief
Infos
- "Three Challenges for the Web, According to It's Inventor": http://webfoundation.org/2017/03/web-turns-28-letter/
- "Google, Democracy, and the Truth about Internet Search": https://www.theguardian.com/technology/2016/dec/04/google-democracy-truth-internet-search-facebook
- "Delivering Digital Equality: The Web Foundation's 2017-2022 Strategy": http://webfoundation.org/2017/02/delivering-digital-equality-the-web-foundations-2017-2022-strategy/
Buy this article as PDF
(incl. VAT)
Buy Linux Magazine
Subscribe to our Linux Newsletters
Find Linux and Open Source Jobs
Subscribe to our ADMIN Newsletters
Support Our Work
Linux Magazine content is made possible with support from readers like you. Please consider contributing when you’ve found an article to be beneficial.
News
-
Canonical Bumps LTS Support to 12 years
If you're worried that your Ubuntu LTS release won't be supported long enough to last, Canonical has a surprise for you in the form of 12 years of security coverage.
-
Fedora 40 Beta Released Soon
With the official release of Fedora 40 coming in April, it's almost time to download the beta and see what's new.
-
New Pentesting Distribution to Compete with Kali Linux
SnoopGod is now available for your testing needs
-
Juno Computers Launches Another Linux Laptop
If you're looking for a powerhouse laptop that runs Ubuntu, the Juno Computers Neptune 17 v6 should be on your radar.
-
ZorinOS 17.1 Released, Includes Improved Windows App Support
If you need or desire to run Windows applications on Linux, there's one distribution intent on making that easier for you and its new release further improves that feature.
-
Linux Market Share Surpasses 4% for the First Time
Look out Windows and macOS, Linux is on the rise and has even topped ChromeOS to become the fourth most widely used OS around the globe.
-
KDE’s Plasma 6 Officially Available
KDE’s Plasma 6.0 "Megarelease" has happened, and it's brimming with new features, polish, and performance.
-
Latest Version of Tails Unleashed
Tails 6.0 is based on Debian 12 and includes GNOME 43.
-
KDE Announces New Slimbook V with Plenty of Power and KDE’s Plasma 6
If you're a fan of KDE Plasma, you'll be thrilled to hear they've announced a new Slimbook with an AMD CPU and the latest version of KDE Plasma desktop.
-
Monthly Sponsorship Includes Early Access to elementary OS 8
If you want to get a glimpse of what's in the pipeline for elementary OS 8, just set up a monthly sponsorship to help fund its continued existence.