Monday, March 12, 2018

The Web Needs Fixing

Sir Tim Berners-Lee has written an open letter outlining the challenges facing the web today and pointing in very broad terms what should be done about it. First, he points out that this past year saw the internet as being available to more than half the people on earth. This was indeed a big milestone, but nevertheless leaves almost half without access. That has serious social implications, as it is well known that the internet divide feeds into the social divides of poverty and inability to access important resources and participate in social discourse. Sir Berners-Lee says we need to find ways to expand the accessibility to the Web.

Second, he points to the more recent decay in the quality of content. As he says, "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."

To address this important issue, Sir Berners-Lee says we need to get more people, including the major tech companies, involved in an effort to re-focus the Web to take into account social objectives, recognizing it is now one of the most important elements of modern society.

These are big issues, and broad solutions, but they need to be considered and acted upon.

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