‘It’s not too late to fix it’: web inventor Tim Berners-Lee says he is in a ‘battle for the soul’ of the internet
www.theguardian.com
Founder of the world wide web says commercialisation means the net has been ‘optimised for nastiness’, but collaboration and compassion can prevail

When Sir Tim Berners-Lee invented the world wide web in 1989, his vision was clear: it would used by everyone, filled with everything and, crucially, it would be free.

Today, the British computer scientist’s creation is regularly used by 5.5 billion people – and bears little resemblance to the democratic force for humanity he intended.

In Australia to promote his book, This is for Everyone, Berners-Lee is reflecting on what his invention has become – and how he and a community of collaborators can put the power of the web back into the hands of its users.

Berners-Lee describes his excitement in the earliest years of the web as “uncontainable”. Approaching 40 years on, a rebellion is brewing among himself and a community of like-minded activists and developers.

“We can fix the internet … It’s not too late,” he writes, describing his mission as a “battle for the soul of the web”.

Berners-Lee traces the first corruption of the web to the commercialisation of the domain name system, which he believes would have served web users better had it been managed by a nonprofit in the public interest. Instead, he says, in the 1990s the .com space was pounced on by “charlatans”.

  • NewNewAugustEast@lemmy.zipEnglish
    1·
    2 hours ago

    Are you just stupid? You called a person names and then had a rant because they don’t like who ICANN is comprised of.

    What the hell, how dumb are you?

    • _‌_反いじめ戦隊@ani.socialEnglish
      1·
      2 hours ago

      now you have to show me how you guys edit your posts without the edit symbol.

      2nd I’ve seen this behavior, I thought it was moderator abuse.

          • NewNewAugustEast@lemmy.zipEnglish
            1·
            2 hours ago

            Mostly based on your lack of reading comprehension, and assholery, but also your “i am very smart” sophomoric use of terms like “classism”.

            In fact, I would recommend you use the first part of that “Class” as in you should take some classes.

            You know nothing about a subject, call someone names, meander thoughts about classism and accessibility. So you are basically a whiny asshole. Did they deserve to get lumped into your rant about something they had nothing to do with? Go read a book.