{"id":8069,"date":"2018-03-13T10:41:47","date_gmt":"2018-03-13T17:41:47","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/occupysf.net\/?p=8069"},"modified":"2018-03-13T10:41:47","modified_gmt":"2018-03-13T17:41:47","slug":"on-world-wide-webs-29th-birthday-its-inventor-warns-of-threats-to-digital-rights","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/occupysf.net\/index.php\/2018\/03\/13\/on-world-wide-webs-29th-birthday-its-inventor-warns-of-threats-to-digital-rights\/","title":{"rendered":"On World Wide Web&#8217;s 29th Birthday, Its Inventor Warns of Threats to Digital Rights"},"content":{"rendered":"<div id=\"field-wrapper-attribution\" class=\"field-wrapper content-container clearfix inline-fields\">\n<div class=\"field field--name-field-article-date field--type-datestamp field--label-hidden\">\n<div class=\"field__items\">\n<div class=\"field__item even\"><span class=\"pb-timestamp\"><span class=\"date-display-single\">March 12, 2018\u00a0<\/span><\/span>by <a href=\"https:\/\/www.commondreams.org\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\">Common Dreams<\/a><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<div class=\"field field--name-field-subtitle field--type-text-long field--label-hidden\">\n<div class=\"field__items\">\n<div class=\"field__item even\">\n<div>\n<h4>&#8220;The fact that power is concentrated among so few companies has made it possible to weaponize the web,&#8221; warns British computer scientist Tim Berners-Lee<\/h4>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<div id=\"field-wrapper-authors\" class=\"field-wrapper content-container clearfix inline-fields\">\n<div class=\"grouping-prefix\">by\u00a0<span class=\"pb-byline\"><a href=\"https:\/\/www.commondreams.org\/author\/jessica-corbett-staff-writer\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\">Jessica Corbett, staff writer<\/a><\/span><\/div>\n<div class=\"grouping-prefix\"><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<div id=\"shr_canvas2\" class=\"shareaholic-canvas shareaholic-ui shareaholic-resolved-canvas ng-scope\" data-app-id=\"6840204\" data-app=\"share_buttons\" data-title=\"On World Wide Web's 29th Birthday, Its Inventor Warns of Threats to Digital Rights\" data-link=\"https:\/\/www.commondreams.org\/news\/2018\/03\/12\/world-wide-webs-29th-birthday-its-inventor-warns-threats-digital-rights\" data-summary=\"\">\n<div class=\"ng-scope share_buttons\" translate=\"no\">\n<div class=\"shareaholic-share-buttons-container shareaholic-ui no-print flat  block horizontal mini\">\n<div class=\"shareaholic-share-buttons-wrapper shareaholic-ui\">\n<div class=\"shareaholic-share-buttons-animation-wrapper\">\n<div class=\"shareaholic-share-button-container\"><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<div class=\"discourse-comments-link\"><\/div>\n<div class=\"field field--name-field-article-img field--type-image field--label-hidden\">\n<div class=\"field__items\">\n<div class=\"field__item even\">\n<div><img decoding=\"async\" loading=\"lazy\" class=\"caption-processed\" src=\"https:\/\/www.commondreams.org\/sites\/default\/files\/styles\/cd_large\/public\/headlines\/15379669732_5e28ba289f_o-2.jpg?itok=n5rHg_Le\" alt=\"Tim Berners-Lee\" width=\"955\" height=\"500\" \/><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<div class=\"field field--name-field-main-caption field--type-text-long field--label-hidden\">\n<div class=\"field__items\">\n<div class=\"field__item even\">\n<p><em>Tim Berners-Lee, founder of the World Wide Web, believes &#8220;today&#8217;s powerful digital economy calls for strong standards that balance the interests of both companies and online citizens.&#8221; (Photo:\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/www.flickr.com\/photos\/southbankcentre\/15379669732\/in\/photolist-pr3PZw-cKEPDs-9bkaDs-e1NjW6-4L3RDr-a5im7i-5fCG1B-a5im3e-e4SY3F-arwCj-68AFkQ-exD98m-9bh5Yi-cKF1Dw-7BFSPU-4XPB97-68wsEV-cKF6sW-bfh2br-dgwRFS-MDheX7-sPx52-vyDTGZ-4roqPb-6kBMSR-ofut47-6APegd-dQ6bYz-mwSmbA-r8rSv3-prkyfV-9bjSxd-67bxdo-bRE1A8-5XBdQw-owsn7U-8BuhR1-6AK5ig-CJhVy-6AK5p4-6kBLR6-6APejd-qmTNWy-pqctLV-p9ziJt-qmXbPD-dNTE9j-7fqNpq-dgwNYG-aEDojq\">Belinda Lawley<\/a>\/Southbank Centre\/Flickr\/cc)<\/em><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<div class=\"field field--name-body field--type-text-with-summary field--label-hidden\">\n<div class=\"field__items\">\n<div class=\"field__item even\">\n<div>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>On the 29th anniversary of the founding of the World Wide Web, British computer scientist\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/www.commondreams.org\/author\/tim-berners-lee\">Tim Berners-Lee<\/a>\u2014the inventor of the internet as we know it and a long-time advocate of digital rights\u2014penned an open letter to call for stricter regulations of the major tech corporations that aim to control the web.<\/p>\n<p class=\"pullquote\">&#8220;This concentration of power creates a new set of gatekeepers, allowing a handful of platforms to control which ideas and opinions are seen and shared.&#8221;<br \/>\n\u2014Tim Berners-Lee, internet founder<\/p>\n<p>&#8220;What was once a rich selection of blogs and websites has been compressed under the powerful weight of a few dominant platforms,&#8221; laments Berners-Lee,\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/www.theguardian.com\/commentisfree\/2018\/mar\/12\/tim-berners-lee-web-weapon-regulation-open-letter\">writing<\/a>\u00a0for the\u00a0<em>Guardian<\/em>. &#8220;This concentration of power creates a new set of gatekeepers, allowing a handful of platforms to control which ideas and opinions are seen and shared.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p>&#8220;The fact that power is concentrated among so few companies has made it possible to weaponize the web at scale,&#8221; he warns, pointing to how we have recently &#8220;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.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p>Although internet users across the globe have &#8220;looked to the platforms themselves for answers,&#8221; Berners-Lee reasons that a &#8220;legal or regulatory framework that accounts for social objectives may help ease those tensions.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p>His call for stricter rules to preserve the open internet follow the United States&#8217;\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/www.commondreams.org\/news\/2017\/12\/14\/net-neutrality-killed-fcc-hands-keys-internet-handful-multi-billion-dollar\">rollback<\/a>\u00a0of federal net neutrality protections late last year\u2014which Berners-Lee strongly\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/www.commondreams.org\/views\/2017\/11\/26\/protect-net-neutrality-and-internet-freedom-world-wide-web-inventor\">opposed<\/a>, calling Federal Communications Commission chair\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/www.commondreams.org\/tag\/ajit-pai\">Ajit Pai<\/a>&#8216;s master plan to gut nationwide safeguards that prevented internet service providers from putting a premium on certain content &#8220;one of the greatest threats to the web in America.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p>Today, Berners-Lee runs the\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/webfoundation.org\/\">World Wide Web Foundation<\/a>, which works to &#8220;advance the open web as a public good and a basic right.&#8221; In his piece for the\u00a0<em>Guardian<\/em>, in addition to demanding more regulations, he also emphasizes the needs for closing the digital divide and facilitating more inclusive conversations about the internet&#8217;s future.<\/p>\n<p><span class=\"pullquote\">&#8220;Today&#8217;s powerful digital economy calls for strong standards that balance the interests of both companies and online citizens.&#8221;<br \/>\n\u2014Berners-Lee<\/span><\/p>\n<p>He notes that the United Nations declared internet access a basic human right in 2016, and while this year we&#8217;re reaching the point where\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/wearesocial.com\/blog\/2018\/01\/global-digital-report-2018\">more than half<\/a>of the global population is online, people who are female, poor, or living in rural regions\u2014or some combination of those characteristics\u2014are still much less likely to have internet access.<\/p>\n<p>Berners-Lee also declares that &#8220;today&#8217;s powerful digital economy calls for strong standards that balance the interests of both companies and online citizens,&#8221; and emphasizes the importance of\u00a0&#8220;consulting a diverse cross section of society in the process&#8221; of rethinking how the web works now.<\/p>\n<p>Challenging &#8220;the myth that advertising is the only possible business model for online companies, and the myth that it&#8217;s too late to change the way platforms operate,&#8221; he concludes, &#8220;on both points, we need to be a little more creative.&#8221;<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<div id=\"field-wrapper-cta-change\" class=\"field-wrapper content-container clearfix\">\n<div class=\"content-prompt clearfix\">\n<div class=\"slim-header-content\" style=\"box-sizing: border-box;\" data-cta-slim-header=\"&lt;i class='fa fa-info-circle'&gt;&lt;\/i&gt; &lt;strong&gt;Did you find this article useful? &lt;\/strong&gt; Support our journalism.&lt;a href='https:\/\/secure.actblue.com\/donate\/free-and-independent?refcode=winter18_cta2' target='_blank' class='btn text-center'&gt;Donate Today&lt;\/a&gt;\"><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<div id=\"field-wrapper-copyright-cond\" class=\"field-wrapper content-container clearfix\">\n<div class=\"field field--name-field-copyright field--type-text field--label-hidden\">\n<div class=\"field__items\">\n<div class=\"field__item even\"><em>This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 3.0 License<\/em><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>March 12, 2018\u00a0by Common Dreams &#8220;The fact that power is concentrated among so few companies has made it possible to weaponize the web,&#8221; warns British computer scientist Tim Berners-Lee by\u00a0Jessica Corbett, staff writer Tim Berners-Lee, founder of the World Wide Web, believes &#8220;today&#8217;s powerful digital economy calls for strong standards&#8230; <a class=\"continue-reading-link\" href=\"http:\/\/occupysf.net\/index.php\/2018\/03\/13\/on-world-wide-webs-29th-birthday-its-inventor-warns-of-threats-to-digital-rights\/\"> Continue reading <span class=\"meta-nav\">&rarr; <\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/occupysf.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8069"}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/occupysf.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/occupysf.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/occupysf.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/occupysf.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=8069"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"http:\/\/occupysf.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8069\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":8070,"href":"http:\/\/occupysf.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8069\/revisions\/8070"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/occupysf.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=8069"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/occupysf.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=8069"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/occupysf.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=8069"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}