The concern of the 'father' of the Web

The 'father' of the World Wide Web pondered the modern Internet. Photo: CERN .

Tim Berners-Lee created the World Wide Web, laying the foundations for the Internet as we know it today, in 1989. As the man behind pioneering ideas like HTTP and URLs, he decided to make the source code public, without receiving any royalties.

In a recent article in The Guardian , Berners-Lee shared more personal thoughts on this landmark decision and his concerns when looking at the modern internet world .

"For the web to have everything, everyone must be able to use it and want to use it. That's a tall order. I also can't ask them to pay for every search or upload. So, to be successful, the web must be free," he wrote.

Berners-Lee wanted the World Wide Web to be available to everyone. For that to happen, providing free access was a must. In an interview, he explained that if the technology were kept proprietary, it wouldn't have taken off.

“You can’t make something a huge, all-encompassing space and still control it,” he argued. The final decision to make all the underlying technology for the web freely available was made by CERN, where Berners-Lee worked, before he founded the World Wide Web Consortium (W3C) at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology in 1994.

The internet today is no longer as open and free as Berners-Lee originally envisioned. Photo: The Guardian.

In his latest post, Berners-Lee notes that a free internet was supposed to foster creativity and collaboration on a global platform. However, that vision has now become distorted. "Today, looking back at my invention, I am forced to ask myself: is the web still free today? No, not at all," he writes.

Berners-Lee cited the large tech platforms that now collect vast amounts of personal data from users, which they then sell to online brokers and governments . He also blamed the development of algorithms, especially on social media, for causing all sorts of harm to children's minds.

"Exchanging personal data for use is definitely not compatible with my vision of a free web," he added. Berners-Lee argued that the typical internet user is no longer the customer, but the product.

Comparing the internet today with when it was first created, Berners-Lee said humanity has 'gone astray'. “We are now at a new crossroads where we must decide whether AI will be used to improve or harm society. How can we learn from the mistakes of the past?”, he said.

Source: https://znews.vn/dieu-lo-lang-cua-cha-de-web-post1589408.html