Happy Birthday, World Wide Web! Fear Not—30 Is the New 20

And your father is optimistic about your future

Thirtieth birthdays often inspire celebration and introspection in equal measure and this is certainly true of the World Wide Web, which was first proposed by computer scientist Tim Berners-Lee on this day in 1989.

In a blog post commemorating the anniversary, Berners-Lee outlined some of the 30-year-old web’s biggest problems, including:

  • Malicious intent, which he said requires new laws (which, in turn, means electing “open web champions” to office)
  • Ad-based revenue models that reward misinformation, which he said requires a system redesign to protect human rights, democracy, scientific fact and public safety and for consumers to stop clicking consent without demanding their data rights be respected
  • And polarizing online discourse, which he said requires new models to enhance privacy, diversity and security and for consumers to foster constructive, healthy conversations.
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