The modern Internet began in 1989 with Timothy John Berners-Lee's design for a global hypertext document system. Yesterday, 35 years later, Berners-Lee published an open letter warning against the Internet's growing "concentration of power" that was "contrary to the spirit of decentralization" he originally envisioned, although "the trajectory of the Internet [in 1989] was unimaginable."
Sir Timothy John Berners-Lee is the creator of URIs, URLs, HTTP, HTML and the World Wide Web and the current head of the World Wide Web Consortium (W3C). He is the author of the concept of the “semantic web” and many other developments in the field of information technology. In 1999, he was included in Time magazine's list of the "100 Greatest Minds of the Century." In 2007, he topped the list of the greatest living geniuses according to the Daily Telegraph.
“At the core of the entire infrastructure was the intention to enable collaboration, promote compassion and creativity. It was meant to be a tool to empower humanity,” explains Berners-Lee. “The first decade of the Internet delivered on this promise: the network was decentralized with a long tail of content and capabilities, it created smaller, more localized communities, enabled individual experiences, and contributed to the creation of enormous value.”
According to Berners-Lee, “over the past decade, rather than embodying these values, the Internet has played a role in destroying them. The Internet is dominated by the vested interests of a few corporations, which have undermined the values of the Internet and led to destruction and harm.” He warns that this has increasingly far-reaching consequences as platforms become more centralized, fueled by the current boom in artificial intelligence.
“As we approach the 35th anniversary of the Internet, the rapid development of artificial intelligence has exacerbated these problems, proving that the problems of the Internet are not isolated, but rather deeply intertwined with new technologies,” Berners-Lee writes in the open letter.
In his opinion, the main problems that require immediate solutions are the concentration of power and the market for personal data. Concentration of power has segmented the web as companies use an "exploitative business model" by tying their platforms to users to maximize profits. The practice of bulk data collection permeates virtually all major services, which use this data to target advertising and “ultimately control the information they provide to people.”
In her rather scathing open letter, Berners-Lee points out the lack of diversity, the dominance of big corporate interests and poor governance. To solve this problem, he calls for reforming the existing system or even “creating a new one that will truly serve the interests of humanity.”
“Recognizing this won't just happen—it requires the support of the people leading reform, from researchers to inventors to advocates. We must amplify and promote positive use cases and work to change the collective mindset of global citizens,” says the “father” of the Internet.
The full text of Timothy John Berners-Lee's open letter is available here. https://webfoundation.org/2024/03/marking-the-webs-35th-birthday-an-open-letter/