Long Live the Web
The Web is critical not merely to the digital revolution but to our continued prosperity—and even our liberty. Like democracy itself, it needs defending
The Web is critical not merely to the digital revolution but to our continued prosperity—and even our liberty. Like democracy itself, it needs defending
Tim Berners-Lee warns the world of the limitations corporations and
governments are imposing on the Web. It also discusses the negative
impact it has on the privacy and freedom of the millions of people who
have integrated the web into their daily lives. It is an insightful
read in reminding us of the direction the Web and the internet is
heading towards today.
As an article written over ten years ago in 2010, I think we have to
realize that all the issues Berners-Lee warned the world in this paper
still exists today.
"[The web] brings principles established in the U.S. Constitution, the British Magna Carta and other important documents into the network age: freedom from being snooped on, filtered, censored and disconnected."
Money and power is a common and universal theme - data and technology
is no exception. We can trace a lot of the issues Berners-Lee pointed
out back to the rich and powerful. Unfortunately, I don't see this
fight ending anytime soon.
In the meantime, I believe we, as users of the internet, should pay
more attention to our personal data - especially when we are online.
While it sounds ironic as the internet is for sharing data and
information, we have to realize that we can impose a security risk on
ourselves by revealing or sharing too much information. In an ideal
world where malicious users do not exist, this would not be a worry.
Sadly, the world is not ideal.
