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The Open Web is Dying | PerezBox, Hacker News

The Open Web is Dying | PerezBox, Hacker News

It’s difficult to comprehend that there would be anything else more important right now than public health and the COVID – pandemic, but in the midst of it all, there is a very dangerous precedent being set in the world of tech that will have a lasting impact on our lives.

The open web is changing dramatically, and not for anything that resembles openness, and the world seems to be ok with it.

Disclaimer: This post is not about politics, or health. It is, however, about technology, our responsibility as technologists and trying to create a future where our future selfs don’t hate ourselves.

What is the Open Web?

The term “open web” is often overused, and often, a misunderstood phrase.

It is the idea that the web we interface with should continue to be open and transparent. It’s the genesis for how the internet, and subsequent web, was created. It argues for the idea that openness is the pillar of civilized society, one in which a more informed, educated and civic society is how we progress as a society.

The simple premise of the open web is that it is open for all its users and managed by all its users . The spirt of the web was never for the centralization of control for any one entity, private or government. The web has become part of our social fabric.

Tony Perez

In contrast, a closed web has the opposite effect. It becomes an ecosystem controlled by a few, proprietary technology proliferates and potentially governments. The end result is that innovation is stifled. Does this sound familiar?

It should. It’s what we are seeing and experiencing with the proliferation of platforms like Twitter, Facebook, Medium, Google and many others we have come to be reliant on as a society.

The open web is not an absolute concept. It is continuously evolving as the technical landscape evolves (e.g., self-driving vehicles, Internet of Things (IoT), etc…). It is also the foundation of key legislative movements around the world. In the US, they have helped form things like

Stop Online Piracy Act (SOPA) , Protect IP Act (PIPA) , and principles like Net Neutrality.

How is The Open Web Dying?

You can argue that the openness of the web has been dying for the past decade. For the web, death comes in the form of a centralization of control and power, and arbitrary authoritarian changes made for the “greater good.”

The current state of our fear for the safety of public health has created the perfect event to push the pendulum out of balance.

Let there be no mistake in our minds, the actions that my fellow technologists, and associated companies, are taking, and pushing, are things that society as a whole will feel in the not so distant future.

The scariest part for me is that as a technologists, I have seen first hand what an organization can do with unfettered access to data, when the checks and balances are lost, when we believe we are the ones capable of dictating what It is good for society, on their behalf, without choice, and what a little power can do to any person.

What further amplifies the concern is that it is not government that is driving this “big brother” state of affairs, its big tech. These are entities that are not elected officials, but corporations that transcend physical and logical boundaries. They have the ability to influence what you see, what you think, and they have the ability to choose sides.

Overreaching for Your Safety

There are two very specific events that are happening that I believe we should all be extremely concerned about:

(Read More) (Full coverage and live updates on the Coronavirus (Covid -)

What do you think?

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