Sir Tim Berners-Lee, the British computer scientist who invented the world wide web in 1989, has described his current mission as a 'battle for the soul of the web' during a visit to Australia. Speaking from Brisbane, he reflected on how his creation has strayed from its original vision of being a free, democratic force for humanity, now used by 5.5 billion people but often 'optimised for nastiness'.
Berners-Lee traces the web's corruption to the commercialisation of the domain name system in the 1990s, when the '.com' space was taken over by 'charlatans'. He notes that the pursuit of profit became a driving force, and the 2016 US elections revealed the web's toxic potential. In 2018, he told Vanity Fair he was 'devastated' by its abuses.
Despite these issues, Berners-Lee believes it is 'not too late to fix it'. He points to a diagram from his blog showing that most of the internet remains beneficial, with email, Zoom, health, and collaboration in green. However, a cluster of red includes X, Snapchat, YouTube, addiction, polarisation, disinformation, and mental illness, which he says have been 'optimised for nastiness'.
To address these problems, Berners-Lee is championing the Solid protocol, which shifts data control back to users through personal 'pods'. He compares these to backpacks of data that individuals can securely share as they choose. The Flanders government in Belgium is already using Solid pods for its citizens, treating data as a national utility.
Berners-Lee acknowledges that monopolisation by Facebook and Google stifles innovation and pro-human systems. He remains hopeful that collaboration and compassion can prevail, urging developers to imagine and code for a better web.
