Tim Berners-Lee: Here's How You Fix the Web

Twenty-eight years after submitting his original proposal for the World Wide Web, Tim Berners-Lee is worried.

In an op-ed for The Guardian, Berners-Lee argues that the web "has lived up to [his] vision" as an open platform that facilitates the exchange of ideas. But as with any open platform, bad actors and other problems threaten its effectiveness. Among the issues Berners-Lee wants to address: privacy, fake news, and transparency.

Trading personal data for access, he argues, is "missing a trick." It's often difficult to know what information companies are collecting and how it's being used. And when that data is being used by repressive regimes, "it's easy to see the harm that can be caused.

"Watching everyone all the time is simply going too far," Berners-Lee writes.

Meanwhile, companies trading clicks and revenue for accuracy isn't helping things either. "Through the use of data science and armies of bots, those with bad intentions can game the system to spread misinformation for financial or political gain," Berners-Lee says.

We saw this last year with election-related news spreading on Google and Facebook, often by those who made up stories and raked in the advertising cash. Google and Facebook later changed their policies, but not until after the election. Just this month, Google apologized for inaccurate news stories showing up in search results.

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This tactic is also in use by political campaigns, which capitalize on the fact that many of us stick to news sources and groups that align with our beliefs. "Targeted advertising allows a campaign to say completely different, possibly conflicting things to different groups. Is that democratic?" Berners-Lee asks.

He acknowledges that solutions to these issues "will not be simple," but argues that coordination with tech companies—and pushback when they act in bad faith—along with algorithmic transparency is a good first step. Berners-Lee's Web Foundation "will be working on many of these issues as part of our new five-year strategy – researching the problems in more detail, coming up with proactive policy solutions and bringing together coalitions to drive progress towards a web that gives equal power and opportunity to all."