Technology

Tim Berners-Lee, a web creator unveil plan to fix the Internet

World Wide Web inventor Tim Berners-Lee is going to launch his plans officially to ‘fix’ the internet. Furthermore, the World Wide Web Foundation, a non-profit campaign group, secured the support of tech giants such as Microsoft, Facebook, and google for the scheme, called the “contract for the web.” Last year, the computer scientist of the U.K. initially drew his vision to renovate the approach of the organization to the internet at the Web Summit. At that time, he said the web was a tipping point. The agreement calls on firms to respect data privacy of consumers and insists governments ensure everybody has access to the internet.

Adrian Lovett, the CEO of the World Wide Web Foundation, said in an interview that never previously has the power of the web for good been more under risk. Moreover, he said that the upsurge of fake news and hateful content spread on an online platform meant something had to change. Officials are launching the pact for the web for a first-ever worldwide action plan of the world to protect the web as a power for good, bringing together governments, companies, and citizens from all over the world to say these are the steps need to take to put things back on the right path.

Other Organizations supporting the Contract

The other organizations which are backing the contract are Github, DuckDuckGo, Reddit, and Reporters Without Borders. One main factor of the pledge is the need that the web remains an available tool for all users. Lovett said that instead of the progress they observe in getting the world connected, while half the world does not have access. He added, the deal comes with nine fundamental principles, while it has overall seventy-six clauses. Not every association has to abide by all of them, Lovett insisted. A good number of those seventy-six will be appropriate.

In Berlin, Germany, Berners-Lee deliver a speech on Monday where he said that the agreement would serve as a blueprint for companies, governments as well as citizens to protect the web as a force good. The foundation says it is developing tools in collaboration with the partners to measure the progress on different clauses of the contract.

Ban on Political Ads

It’s unclear just how much the accord will change. But it comes at a critical moment for giant internet companies like Google and Facebook, which faced delicate regulatory pressure about they handle the information of a consumer as well as wet content spread online. Facebook faced devastating criticism last year over the sharing of eighty-seven million profile data of users with Cambridge Analytica. The political consultancy used that information to target voters during the United States presidential election of 2016. In the meantime, politicians such as Elizabeth Warren have gradually called for a breakup of large tech companies like Google, Amazon, and Facebook, over concerns they may be monopolies.

The chief of the World Wide Web Foundation avoided answering the question of whether the giant tech companies should break up, rather than stating that any antitrust enforcement step should be in favor of creativity and of inventiveness, giving each firm a chance to thrive. Recently, social media mediums involved in controversy amid selling of online political advertising. Last week, Twitter took the decision to bar overall political advertisement, whereas Google said it would terminate microtargeting for these types of ads. On the other hand, Facebook defended its policy of allowing ads from political parties as well as politicians, even when they include wrong information.

Lovett called for a suspension on political ads, at least in the United Kingdom – as there’s not adequate confidence that their democracy is safe from bad hands trying to influence public opinion with deceiving claims. The U.K. is heading for an election; that’s because it takes place on December 12.