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Tim Berners-Lee invented the World Wide Web and has been trying to break it for some time.
In an article posted on Medium Saturday on the Medium blog, Berners-Lee explained what he was doing – and that amounts to a manifesto for a new, fairer Internet.
His intervention was well programmed. Just a day earlier, Facebook had recalled exactly the kind of thing that Berners-Lee was attacking when he revealed the details of a massive data breach affecting 50 million users.
"Despite all the benefits we have gained, the Web has evolved into an engine of inequality and division and is influenced by powerful forces that use it for their own purposes," wrote Berners. Lee, evoking his invention. "Today, I think we have reached a critical point, and that a powerful change for the better is possible – and necessary."
Berners-Lee is an outspoken critic of big tech companies who abuse users' data, calling for more regulation and saying they are "devastated" by the Cambridge Analytica scandal.
He hopes to put the genie back into the bottle with a two-pronged approach.
First of all, he mentioned his open-source Solid project, on which he has been working for several years. With Solid, Berners-Lee hopes to give users a lot more control over their data, allowing them to choose the applications that can access it.
"Solid is an existing web-based platform that gives each user the choice of where to store the data, who and which specific groups can access the selected items, and which applications you use." he wrote.
He has also launched a new company, Inrupt, which will provide a business structure within which to promote Solid.
"The success of Inrupt is totally aligned with the success of Solid," he wrote. "Inrupt will be the infrastructure enabling Solid to flourish." Its mission is to provide commercial energy and an ecosystem to protect the integrity and quality of the new website built on Solid. "
John Bruce, CEO of Inrupt and partner of Berners-Lee, was previously CEO of a cybersecurity company, Resilient, acquired by IBM in 2016.
"Inrupt's mission is to ensure that Solid is widely embraced by developers, businesses, and ultimately everyone – that it becomes an integral part of the Web," Bruce wrote in a blog post about the site of Inrupt.
"I am incredibly optimistic for this new era of the Web," added Berners-Lee. "The future is still much bigger than the past."
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