Daily Star

‘ SAVE THE WEB’ FROM BIG TECH

Rein in Google & Facebook says creator Sir Tim

- By ANDREW JAMESON andrew. jameson@ dailystar. co. uk

WORLD wide web inventor Sir Tim BernersLee believes the internet needs a shake- up.

He reckons online giants such as Google and Facebook need to be broken up.

The founding father of the net is unhappy about the state of his creation 30 years after its invention.

The Brit said: “If the pieces all get broken up then the world shifts a lot.”

He added: “The web can become what I always meant it to be. The future of the web is a lot bigger than its past.”

He reckons internet users are increasing­ly

“frustrated” with the way they have been treated and their data harvested.

Power

And he thinks the web has turned into a tool for surveillan­ce and moneymakin­g for the world’s biggest companies.

The tech genius is advocating a new “Contract for the Web” to encourage better practice.

He hopes it will help focus bosses’ minds on “better tech regulation and holding companies and government­s accountabl­e”.

Sir Tim fears it will not be a success unless big tech companies are broken up and do not hold as much power.

But before that he fears we are in for a dramatic rebellion by web users against the all- powerful Silicon Valley giants and trillion- dollar firms such as Amazon – as well as against

future election online.

Sir Tim, who first put forward the idea of the world wide web in 1989, added: “There is a massive backlash we could be in for.

“Every time something goes wrong with privacy people tend to look for alternativ­es.

“People put together the fact they are being manipulate­d to vote one way or another in an election.” interferen­ce

 ??  ?? SHAKE- UP: Sir Tim
SHAKE- UP: Sir Tim

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