What's the future for the web?

source: Alexandra Zutto

Internet has a cost: the environment

Apple on Tuesday became the latest tech giant to promise to do more to reduce the emissions of planet-warming greenhouse gases, announcing in a statement that, by 2030, “every Apple device sold will have net-zero climate impact.” Apple said it aimed to reduce emissions by 75 percent in its manufacturing chain, including by recycling more of the components that go into each device and nudging its suppliers to use renewable energy. As for the remaining 25 percent of emissions, the company said it planned to balance them by funding reforestation projects.

source: mally gallardo

source: jeriah lau

Big Tech Has a Big Climate Problem. Now, It’s Being Forced to Clean Up.

The company also said it planned to improve energy efficiency in its operations. Forests absorb carbon dioxide, and reforestation has become a popular way for companies to offset the greenhouse gas emissions that they produce, including from factories. Climate advocates describe these offset efforts as inadequate because they allow emissions to grow at a time when the scientific consensus demands that emissions be cut in half by 2030 in order to avoid the worst effects of climate change — and be reduced to zero by 2050.

The pressure on companies to do something about their climate footprint comes both from within the ranks of their employees and from advocacy groups on the outside. Not only are they under scrutiny for the emissions they produce. Internet companies, like Facebook, have been criticized for allowing the spread of disinformation about climate science. Greenpeace took aim at Google, Microsoft and Amazon for using their artificial intelligence and cloud computing services to help oil producers find and extract oil and gas deposits, which Greenpeace said is “significantly undermining” the tech companies’ other climate commitments.

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How the web lost its way – and its founding principles

source: Glenn Harvey
When Tim Berners-Lee invented the world wide web 24 years ago he thought he'd created an egalitarian tool that would share information for the greater good. But it hasn't quite worked out like that. What went wrong?

He had hoped that during 30 years from its creation, we would be using the web foremost for the purpose of serving humanity. Projects like Wikipedia, OpenStreetMap and the world of open source software are the kinds of constructive tools that he hoped would flow from the web.

However, the reality is much more complex. Communities are being ripped apart as prejudice, hate and disinformation are peddled online. Scammers use the web to steal identities, stalkers use it to harass and intimidate their victims, and bad actors subvert democracy using clever digital tactics. The use of targeted political ads in the United States’ 2020 presidential campaign and in elections elsewhere threatens once again to undermine voters’ understanding and choices.

We’re at a tipping point. How we respond to this abuse will determine whether the web lives up to its potential as a global force for good or leads us into a digital dystopia.

Two myths currently limit our collective imagination: the myth that advertising is the only possible business model for online companies, and the myth that it’s too late to change the way platforms operate. On both points, we need to be a little more creative.

While the problems facing the web are complex and large, I think we should see them as bugs: problems with existing code and software systems that have been created by people – and can be fixed by people. Create a new set of incentives and changes in the code will follow.

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source: defaced

The future of the web will be private

The last year brought a tectonic shift in public awareness about privacy and security in the digital world, in great part due to the Cambridge Analytica scandal.

We’re being tracked all the time. Internet superpowers hold sway over what information we see and what we buy. Our sensitive information keeps getting hacked. There’s no simple fix for these complex worries. In addition to this, the use of AI and facial recognition systems are all the rage among government agencies around the world, as they seek to automate services and keep tabs on their citizens.

How do we start by building a world where data privacy exists online?

Professor Song, who has taught at Berkeley for a dozen years, has been working to develop techniques and systems that not only can provide security to computer systems, but also privacy. She envisions a world of secure networks where individuals control their personal data and even derive income from it. She compares the world today to a time in human history when people did not have a clear notion of property rights. Once those rights were institutionalized and protected, she notes, it helped revolutionize economies.

If there’s a picture of you somewhere, you could potentially be identified in photos and videos from public camera feeds.

She recently started a company, Oasis Labs, that is building a platform that can give people the ability to control their data and audit how it is used. She believes that once data is viewed as property, it can propel the global economy in ways unseen before.

“New business models can be built on this,” she said.

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