The Internet turned 30 years old a couple of days ago, and its creator, Tim Berners-Lee, has one thing to say: “It needs to be changed for the better.”
The now 63-year-old British computer scientist wrote a lengthy open letter published on Monday and even spoke about the state of the World Wide Web in an event held on Tuesday at Geneva, Switzerland.
Berners-Lee starts off the letter by saying, “Today, 30 years on from my original proposal for an information management system, half the world is online.”
“It’s a moment to celebrate how far we’ve come, but also an opportunity to reflect on how far we have yet to go,” he goes on. “And while the web has created opportunity, given marginalized groups a voice, and made our daily lives easier, it has also created an opportunity for scammers, given a voice to those who spread hatred, and made all kinds of crime easier to commit.”
He then begins talking about the different problems that he sees with the use of the internet nowadays, outlining three main ones.
The first one is “deliberate, malicious intent”, which includes “state-sponsored hacking and attacks, criminal behavior, and online harassment.” The second is “system design that creates perverse incentives where user value is sacrificed,” and he gives examples like the “ad-based revenue models that commercially reward clickbait and the viral spread of misinformation.” Lastly, he mentioned the “unintended negative consequences of benevolent design,” referring to things like “outraged and polarized tone and quality of online discourse.”
Berners-Lee ends the letter with the words, “The web is for everyone and collectively we hold the power to change it. It won’t be easy. But if we dream a little and work a lot, we can get the web we want.”
