The inventor of the World Wide Web (www), Sir Tim Berners-Lee, wanted to address and fix the imbalance of power on the web.
World Wide Web Inventor Calls Out Web Abuse
Berners-Lee was interviewed by the CTO of Fujitsu, Vivek Mahajan, during the company's ActivateNow Summit regarding the current state of the web. TechRadar attended the event.
Berners-Lee stated that the web has already drifted from its original mission of making it available for anyone and anything. He wanted the web to be independent of language, computers and networks.
Berners-Lee said that he wanted the web to be constructive and useful for all users. However, after seeing how the web is used today, he acknowledged that there are many things that need to be corrected.
Also Read: World Wide Web founder Tim Berners-Lee ponders on the dark side of mankind seen on Internet
The web inventor stated that the main issue is that the data of the users are used by corporations inappropriately. Most of them are manipulating the data and using them for target ads to make the users potential consumers.
Berners-Lee also pointed out that several online platforms store private data, and they are stuck in silos, so they can't be used. Individuals no longer have power on the web because massive tech companies control it.
What is Solid Pods
The solution that Berners-Lee presented in order to solve these issues on the World Wide Web is to build Solid Pods. These are decentralized data stores that allow users to control who can access their online data, according to Wired.
This is what the company Inrupt is currently working on. Inrupt, which Berners-Lee owns, is partnering with governments and companies to expand access to Solid Pods and establish systems that are founded on trust, according to The New York Times.
Berners-Lee said that in an ideal world, a user has the power to use the data spectrum, which ranges from data that are available to the public to data that are considered private, like medical results. He added that users should also have control on who can see those data.
The web inventor explained that when everything is created based on trust, the user will share more and be more confident in doing so.
Also, they will share their data with doctors and researchers who are working on treatments. It is a system that is based on intentional economics, and it is driven by the desire of the user who wants to do things and contribute.
Berners-Lee added that it is time for tablets, smartphones, and other tech devices to work for the owners, not for the companies that built them.
The web inventor also said that he wants the devices to have the user's interest in mind whenever the user goes online to check on different sites. He envisioned the technology to work for the people.
Even though the scale of the issue is sobering, he said that he is optimistic about the future changes on the web, which he believes will become a collaborative space built around the interest of the user.
Berners-Lee has not stopped innovating. Just last week, he had auctioned the source code of the World Wide Web as NFT.
Related Article: NFT Containing the World Wide Web's Source Code Has a Coding Error
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Written by Sophie Webster
