The creator of the World Wide Web (WWW), Tim Berners-Lee, defended today that Internet platforms will have to work more efficiently and securely, in a model that guarantees the privacy of their users.
The British scientist is participating in the 2023th International Meeting of Universia Rectors 80, where he recalled the evolution of the www since its appearance in the XNUMXs, when some still believed that it would be “just a fad“, until today, when it is considered by many as the instrument responsible for events such as the election of Donald Trump or the victory of 'Brexit'.
"Is it naive to think that the 'web' will change for the better?“, questioned Tim Berners-Lee before an audience of hundreds of representatives of higher education institutions from 14 countries, who are gathered in the City of Arts and Sciences, in Valencia, to discuss the role of Universities in society.
"The www is a powerful thing, but what needs to improve are the platforms that people build. And we can change things“, defended the former student of Physics at the University of Oxford.
"In recent years, we were increasingly concerned about the path it was taking“, he said, giving as an example problems such as data privacy, security, 'fake news' or the possible control of data and manipulation of information that will have led to the election of Donald Trump or the victory of Brexit.
Tim Berners-Lee recalled that “the 'web' at first was an exciting and very powerful thing”, but then the dangers associated with large platforms began to become evident: “When people enter the 'web', they are likely to encounter false information"which may have taken"to the election of Donald Trump or the 'Brexit' ".
Therefore, he argued that it is necessary to correct the current model so that the Internet is a safe space free of manipulation.
At the meeting, he went back to the 80s, when the Internet already existed, but computers were not yet networked and the young scientist thought: “What if we could turn on all the computers? All that limited us was imagination", he said, explaining that it was necessary "a lot of technology"and "a lot of creativity".
www was born in 1989, when Berners-Lee worked at the laboratory of the European organization for nuclear research (CERN) “with physicists from different universities” and, at that time, it was still being discussed whether the discovery “would change the world"or was"just a fad".
Tim Berners-Lee is one of the guest speakers at the 2023th Universia XNUMX International Meeting of Rectors, which was attended by the President of Banco Santander, Ana Botín, and the President of the Spanish Government, Pedro Sánchez.
