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The Man Who Invented the Web Says It's Now Dysfunctional With 'perverse' Incentives

posted by CoolHand on Wednesday March 13 2019, @03:24PM   
from the markup-perversion dept.

Submitted via IRC for FatPhil

The man who invented the web says it's now dysfunctional with 'perverse' incentives

Thirty years ago, the World Wide Web was born.

But over the next 30 years, it needs to be "changed for the better," according to its inventor.

British computer scientist Tim Berners-Lee laid out his vision for an information management system, which would become the World Wide Web, in March 1989. The blueprint would radically transform society as half the world's population went online in just three decades. But in a letter published Monday marking the web's 30th anniversary, Berners-Lee said he understands concerns that the internet is no longer a "force for good."

"The fight for the web is one of the most important causes of our time," Berners-Lee said.

[...]An open web has been a sticking point for Berners-Lee. From the outset, he chose to make the underlying code of the World Wide Web available to anyone without a fee.

Berners-Lee said the system has since been designed with "perverse" incentives, which he sees as the second source of dysfunction in the web today. He singled out ad-based revenue models, used by many tech giants like Google and Facebook, that reward "clickbait and the viral spread of misinformation."

[...]"Companies must do more to ensure their pursuit of short-term profit is not at the expense of human rights, democracy, scientific fact or public safety," he said in the letter Monday.

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Original Submission

• Sir Tim is a pervert himself Sir Tim is a pervert himself (Score: 1, Insightful) by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday March 13 2019, @07:50PM (2 children)

  by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday March 13 2019, @07:50PM (#813897)

  He adulterated the web with DRM. https://www.defectivebydesign.org/blog/w3c_sells_out_web_eme_1_year_later [defectivebydesign.org]

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• Re:Sir Tim is a pervert himself Re:Sir Tim is a pervert himself (Score: 3, Funny) by takyon on Wednesday March 13 2019, @07:53PM (1 child)

  by takyon (881) <takyonNO@SPAMsoylentnews.org> on Wednesday March 13 2019, @07:53PM (#813899) Journal

  Shhhh, you can't impugn Sir WWW Hero.

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  [SIG] 10/28/2017: Soylent Upgrade v14 [soylentnews.org]

  Parent

  • Re:Sir Tim is a pervert himself (Score: 3, Interesting) by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday March 13 2019, @09:18PM

    by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday March 13 2019, @09:18PM (#813926)

    At this point he's basically a spin doctor for the classic military-industrial fascist agenda:

    In the letter, Berners-Lee laid out "three sources of dysfunction" affecting the web today. The first, he said, is deliberate and malicious behavior like state-sponsored hacking and online harassment. Berners-Lee made the case for new laws to curb this behavior online while still maintaining the openness of the internet...

    Problem: Government violate existing privacy laws and human rights. Individuals are being harassed and hacked by individual and foreign powers.
    Solution: Lets make new laws so people won't harass each other.

    Berners-Lee said the system has since been designed with "perverse" incentives, which he sees as the second source of dysfunction in the web today. He singled out ad-based revenue models...Companies must do more to ensure their... ...

    Problem: Companies operating servers need to fund their hardware and do so by pushing ads and fostering environments that spread of misinformation.
    Solution: He scolded them saying they're being too naughty.

    Finally, Berners-Lee pointed to the "unintended negative consequences" of the web's design, like polarizing discussions taking place online. Citizens play the most important role, he said, in fostering healthy conversations on the internet and taking responsibility for their personal data.

    Problem: Online discussion forums are filled with haters spreading hate & lies and kids are being bullied.
    Solution: People should play nice and keep a copy of their social network account so they'll be able to keep in touch with their friends as they're forced offline out of the social networks by the haters and bullies.

    Overall the problem is what he isn't doing: He isn't supporting any of the existing distributed solutions. He isn't supporting constructive regulation to corporation, only useless regulations on governments. He isn't talking about cryptography as a technical solution to privacy issues despite it being a legitimately good one... That is, not only he's not offering any constructive solutions. He's deliberately trying to prevent such solutions from being talked about by spreading FUD.

    In short, he's not part of the solution. He's part of the problem.

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