After creating the web, he’s out to remake the digital world
Three decades ago, Tim Berners-Lee devised simple yet powerful standards for locating, linking and presenting multimedia documents online. He set them free into the world, unleashing the World Wide Web.
Others became internet billionaires, while Berners-Lee became the steward of the technical norms intended to help the web flourish as an egalitarian tool of connection and information sharing.
But now, Berners-Lee, 65, believes the online world has gone astray. Too much power and too much personal data, he said, reside with tech giants such as Google and Facebook — “silos” is the generic term he favors, instead of referring to the companies by name. Fueled by vast troves of data, he said, they have become surveillance platforms and gatekeepers of innovation.
Regulators have voiced similar complaints. The big tech companies are facing tougher privacy rules in Europe and some American states, led by California. Google and Facebook have been hit with antitrust suits.
But Berners-Lee is taking a different approach: His answer to the problem is technology that gives individuals more power.
The goal, he said, is to move toward “the web that I originally wanted.”
“Pods,” personal online data stores, are a key technical ingredient to achieve that goal. The idea is that each person could control his or her own data — websites visited, credit card purchases, workout routines, music streamed — in an individual data safe, typically a sliver of server space.
Companies could gain access to a person’s data, with permission, through a secure link for a specific task such as processing a loan application or delivering a personalized ad. They could link to and use personal information selectively, but not store it.
posts.
The uneasiness with Section 230 increases the likelihood of at least some modifications. Those might include rescinding the legal protections for sites that host misinformation about voting or forcing companies to be clear about how their posts are moderated.
Tech and China
The Trump administration’s fumbling over Chinese apps including TikTok was a missed opportunity to address an important question: What should the U.S. government do about globally important technology from countries that don’t share America’s values?
Biden seems to agree with the Trump administration’s concerns about the ambitions of China in tech and other areas, but he hasn’t said much beyond aiming for a more consistent and coherent policy. Biden has also expressed support for more government investment in essential U.S. technology to counter China’s tech ambitions.
The pandemic highlighted a persistent gap between Americans who can get access to and afford internet service and the millions who can’t, particularly in lowincome or rural households.
Biden’s priorities mention “universal broadband,” but he hasn’t specified how to get there. The Washington Post reported that Biden’s advisers want to enhance E-Rate, a program to help schools and libraries provide internet access.
What else?
Biden’s economic revival plan includes suggestions to “launch the most ambitious effort ever” to modernize U.S. cyber defenses.
Maybe this is the year for a federal data privacy law? And there are rifts among Democrats on special employment treatment for “gig” workers.
The most urgent priorities for the new administration are to end the pandemic and help Americans recover from the damage. But how the U.S. government handles these complex tech questions will also have a big effect on Americans and others around the world.