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The question Tim Berners-Lee must have asked himself and therefore WWW came to be. The story back in the day was that when told he could make a jillion dollars off it, he replied, "it won't work if you try to do it for profit". P > > By Tim Berners-Lee > November 22, 2010 > http://www.scientificamerican.com/article.cfm?id=long-live-the-web > > The world wide web went live, on my physical desktop in > Geneva, Switzerland, in December 1990. It consisted of > one Web site and one browser, which happened to be on > the same computer. The simple setup demonstrated a > profound concept: that any person could share > information with anyone else, anywhere. In this spirit, > the Web spread quickly from the grassroots up. Today, > at its 20th anniversary, the Web is thoroughly > integrated into our daily lives. We take it for > granted, expecting it to "be there" at any instant, > like electricity. > > The Web evolved into a powerful, ubiquitous tool > because it was built on egalitarian principles and > because thousands of individuals, universities and > companies have worked, both independently and together > as part of the World Wide Web Consortium, to expand its > capabilities based on those principles. > > The Web as we know it, however, is being threatened in > different ways. Some of its most successful inhabitants > have begun to chip away at its principles. Large > social-networking sites are walling off information > posted by their users from the rest of the Web. > Wireless Internet providers are being tempted to slow > traffic to sites with which they have not made deals. > Governments-totalitarian and democratic alike-are > monitoring people's online habits, endangering > important human rights. > > If we, the Web's users, allow these and other trends to > proceed unchecked, the Web could be broken into > fragmented islands. We could lose the freedom to > connect with whichever Web sites we want. The ill > effects could extend to smartphones and pads, which are > also portals to the extensive information that the Web > provides. > > Why should you care? Because the Web is yours. It is a > public resource on which you, your business, your > community and your government depend. The Web is also > vital to democracy, a communications channel that makes > possible a continuous worldwide conversation. The Web > is now more critical to free speech than any other > medium. It brings principles established in the U.S. > Constitution, the British Magna Carta and other > important documents into the network age: freedom from > being snooped on, filtered, censored and disconnected. > > Yet people seem to think the Web is some sort of piece > of nature, and if it starts to wither, well, that's > just one of those unfortunate things we can't help. Not > so. We create the Web, by designing computer protocols > and software; this process is completely under our > control. We choose what properties we want it to have > and not have. It is by no means finished (and it's > certainly not dead). If we want to track what > government is doing, see what companies are doing, > understand the true state of the planet, find a cure > for Alzheimer's disease, not to mention easily share > our photos with our friends, we the public, the > scientific community and the press must make sure the > Web's principles remain intact-not just to preserve > what we have gained but to benefit from the great > advances that are still to come. > > To read the rest of this article, go to > http://www.scientificamerican.com/article.cfm?id=long-live-the-web > > ___________________________________________ > > Portside aims to provide material of interest to people > on the left that will help them to interpret the world > and to change it. > > Submit via email: ports...@portside.org > > Submit via the Web: http://portside.org/submittous3 > > Frequently asked questions: http://portside.org/faq > > Sub/Unsub: http://portside.org/subscribe-and-unsubscribe > > Search Portside archives: http://portside.org/archive > > Contribute to Portside: https://portside.org/donate ________________________________________________ Send list submissions to: Marxism@lists.econ.utah.edu Set your options at: http://lists.econ.utah.edu/mailman/options/marxism/archive%40mail-archive.com
