Marking the Web’s 35th Birthday: An Open Letter from  Tim Berners-Lee https://medium.com/@timberners_lee/marking-the-webs-35th-birthday-an-open-letter-ebb410cc7d42 Mar 12, 2024

Underlying its whole infrastructure was the intention to allow for collaboration, foster compassion and generate creativity

the web was decentralised with a long-tail of content and options, it created small, more localised communities, provided individual empowerment and fostered huge value.

when the web turned 30, I called out some of the dysfunction caused by the web being dominated by the self-interest of several corporations

..in the past decade..From the centralisation of platforms to the AI revolution, the web serves as the foundational layer of our online ecosystem ..

The first is the extent of power concentration, which contradicts the decentralised spirit I originally envisioned. This has segmented the web, with a fight to keep users hooked on one platform to optimise profit through the passive observation of content.

Compounding this issue is the second, the personal data market that has exploited people’s time and data with the creation of deep profiles that allow for targeted advertising and ultimately control over the information people are fed.

Part of the solution is the Solid Protocol, https://solidproject.org/  a specification and a movement to provide each person with their own ‘personal online data store’, known as a POD.