The web is no longer open and free

World Wide Web inventor Sir Tim Berners-Lee says his creation has strayed from its founding principles and is no longer open and free.

In an article for The Guardian, he reflects on the web’s journey from a collaborative space to one that is dominated by a few powerful platforms that exploit user data, arguing it’s not too late to reclaim the original vision.

The web’s free and open origins

Berners-Lee recalls the genesis of his idea at the age of 34 while working at CERN. He relentlessly pitched the concept of combining the internet with hypertext, a system that enlivens documents with clickable links. His ambition was to deliver a means of global creativity and collaboration. His bosses at CERN initially found the proposal “a little eccentric” but eventually granted him the space to develop it.

His core philosophy was, “if you could put anything on it, then after a while, it would have everything on it.” For this to happen, the web had to be accessible to everyone, without financial barriers.

This conviction led to a moment in 1993 when Berners-Lee persuaded CERN to donate the intellectual property of the World Wide Web, placing it entirely in the public domain. In his words, “we gave the web away to everyone.”

Over three decades later, Berners-Lee looks at the digital world he helped build and asks a critical question: “Is the web still free today?” His answer is a firm no.

Berners-Lee argues that the current model, often referred to as Web 2.0, has led to a concentration of power where a handful of large tech companies harvest user data for immense profit. On these platforms, users are not the customers but have instead become the product.

Our personal information is harvested and sold to brokers, advertisers, and sometimes even governments, often without our full understanding. This data-for-service trade-off powers algorithms designed to be addictive, which Berners-Lee notes are particularly damaging to the mental health of teenagers.

It’s this model, he contends, that fuels the spread of misinformation and harmful content that erodes social cohesion and can lead to real-world violence, a reality that starkly contrasts with his initial free and open dream for the web.

Reclaiming data sovereignty with Solid

Despite this grim assessment, Berners-Lee is not without hope and has been actively developing a solution. He points to Solid, an open-source standard he and his team at MIT created over a decade ago. Solid aims to fundamentally change the relationship between users, their data, and online applications.

The system works by giving each individual a personal online data store, or ‘pod’. Instead of applications owning the data you generate on their platforms, they must request access to your pod. You, the user, retain control, choosing what to share and with whom. Your data resides in one place, under your authority, rather than being scattered across countless corporate silos.

“You generate all this data – your actions, your choices, your body, your preferences, your decisions. You should own it. You should be empowered by it,” Berners-Lee states.

He questions why our health data from a smartwatch, financial data from a credit card, and social media posts are all locked away in separate, incompatible formats, inaccessible to the very person who created them. Solid is his technical answer to restoring power to the individual and therefore his open web vision.

Applying lessons to the advancement of AI

Looking ahead, Berners-Lee sees society at another crossroads with the advancement of AI. He warns that we cannot afford to repeat the mistakes made during the rise of social media. The governance model for AI needs to be established with urgency, he argues, to prevent policymakers from playing another decade-long game of catchup.

He revisits a thought experiment from 2017 about a personal AI named ‘Charlie’, which would work for an individual with the same professional and ethical obligations as a doctor or lawyer. He asks why similar regulatory frameworks can’t be adopted for AI, ensuring it serves humanity rather than corporate interests. 

The lesson from Web 2.0 is that monopolies controlling personal data gain immense power. “We can’t let the same thing happen with AI,” he insists.

To counter this, Berners-Lee proposes a bold solution: the creation of a non-profit, international body for AI research, similar in spirit to CERN. He reminds us that the founding principles of the open web was born in a collaborative, publicly-funded environment.

CERN was established after the Second World War to foster international scientific cooperation, and it was this non-commercial mission that allowed the web to be gifted to the world. It’s hard to imagine a modern tech giant doing the same. An international, neutral body could guide AI’s development for the public good, free from purely commercial pressures.

While stopping short of advocating for any in particular, it’s worth noting that many Web 3.0 projects also aim to return to the web’s founding open and free ideals using technologies like blockchains and DAGs (Directed Acyclic Graphs) to restore power and data sovereignty to individuals. DAOs (decentralised autonomous organisations) similarly aim to deliver fairer and more transparent decision-making and management from all stakeholders; instead of relying on the boards of centralised traditional companies. The Linux Foundation Decentralized Trust is one of the leading initiatives aiming to foster collaboration and innovation across the Web 3.0 ecosystem.

Berners-Lee believes that restoring the web as a tool for creativity and collaboration is still possible. It requires political will to implement the necessary regulation and global governance, but the technical means are within our grasp. It’s not too late, he concludes, to take the web back.

(Image credit: Web Summit under CC BY 2.0 license. Image has been cropped.)

See also: BritCard: The real obstacle for UK digital ID is a national trust deficit

Want to experience the full spectrum of enterprise technology innovation? Join TechEx in Amsterdam, California, and London. Covering AI, Big Data, Cyber Security, IoT, Digital Transformation, Intelligent Automation, Edge Computing, and Data Centres, TechEx brings together global leaders to share real-world use cases and in-depth insights. Click here for more information.

Telecoms is powered by TechForge Media. Explore other upcoming enterprise technology events and webinars here.

Tags: ai, artificial intelligence, data sovereignty, decentralisation, open web, tim berners-lee, web 3.0, world wide web