Internet pioneer tells us how to fix it

By Dr. Tom Keenan

Business Edge News Magazine

 

I once spent some time with Craig Newmark, creator of Craigslist as well as an eponymous philanthropic foundation. This wasn’t long after the so-called “Craigslist killer” had allegedly murdered a woman that he met on that site. Newmark was visibly shaken that his tech creation had led to this grisly unintended consequence.

Now, in a world of online scams, fake news, doctored videos, and Russian trolls, one of the pioneers of the Internet is worried, too.

Sir Tim Berners-Lee is credited with inventing the World Wide Web, while working at CERN in 1989. Every time you use a web browser, or for that matter talk to your Siri or Alexa, you should be thankful to Sir TimBL.

Rather than rest on his laurels, he recently tweeted a call to action: “We’re at a 50/50 moment for the web. We’ve created something amazing together, but half the world is still not online, and our online rights and freedoms are at risk. The web has done so much for us, but now we need to stand up.”

Speaking in Lisbon at the world’s largest tech event #WebSummit, TimBL said the global digital divide is increasing, even though more people get online every day. He promoted the World Wide Web Foundation’s proposed “Contract for the Web” as a kind of tech-age Magna Carta.

The document urges governments to make the Internet available to everyone, as a public right, something that is actually happening in countries including Estonia, Finland and Costa Rica. It also cautions politicians to respect the right to privacy for all citizens.

Companies are asked to “Develop technologies that support the best in humanity and challenge the worst, so the web really is a public good that puts people first.”

Finally, citizens are encouraged to “Fight for the web, so the web remains open and a global public resource for people everywhere, now and in the future.”

Signing the “contract” on the foundation’s website is certainly a good thing to do, but will it bring real change?  The organizers say they will “email you with ways that you can add your voice to decisions that governments and companies are making about the future of our web.”

I signed up, and moments later got their first email. It is long on idealism and short on specifics, but I am expecting many more missives as net neutrality comes under attack in California and Google gets ready to work with Chinese censors.

TimBL, we need you more than ever!

Web Watch

https://www.youtube.com/c/websummit

https://fortheweb.webfoundation.org/

#ForTheWeb

Dr. Tom Keenan is an award-winning journalist, public speaker, professor in the Faculty of Environmental Design at the University of Calgary, and author of the best-selling book Technocreep (www.technocreep.com).