A couple of days ago, the latest email from The Web Foundation dropped into my inbox (you can read it online here) asking:
"If you could make one change to the web in 2022, what would it be?"
The answers given were as to be expected, including:
- make the digital world private and secure for children,
- create a web that does not profit off of our attention,
- decentralize the web and distribute power and opportunities globally, and from Tim Berners-Lee
- protect the universal open web
A day before, in an edition of his Platformer newsletter, Casey Newton made a number of predictions for 2022 quoting a tweet from Will Oremus of the Washington Post:
"The big tech firms all repent of their past mistakes, heed their critics and consciences, invest heavily in human oversight of their products, open their data to researchers, expand their ethics teams, and prioritize their societal impacts over profits."
Newton called it a prayer knowing full well that this is one prediction that won't come true. Just like the answers to the question above.
Despite the best efforts of many, we have gone too far down the rabbit hole. Money and attention rule the web and it will take a Herculean effort to reverse the current direction. I recently saw a quote (sadly, I can't remember where) that effectively said Web3 wasn't really about decentralisation but about shifting the money and power from one group to another. For all of the bluster about it being the great internet revolution the truth is that it will be ruled by the rich and powerful to make themselves more so.
No change there.
The concept of Blockchain maintaining a secure and decentralised record of transactions is sound but, in practice, everything around it is a mess. Cryptocurrency is the new Wild West with digital cowboys holding up the new 'banks' just like in the old movies; a game being played by the unscrupulous and the trust meant to be generated by Blockchain is completely eroded.
I suppose, if I had one wish for the web it would be to remove the money. Without the money there would be less need to farm attention and data leading to a happier, healthier web. But it's not going to happen.
All we can do as individuals is make the best decisions we can, use the services we're comfortable with, and own as much of our own web as possible. Maybe, then, that should be my wish for the web in 2022, more people choosing a more independent route.
