'It's not too late to fix it': internet inventor Tim Berners-Lee says he is in a 'battle for the soul of the web'

[highplainsdem]

From the Guardian today:

https://www.theguardian.com/technology/2026/jan/29/internet-inventor-tim-berners-lee-interview-battle-soul-web

Since Berners-Lee’s disappointment a decade ago, he’s thrown everything at a project that completely shifts the way data is held on the web, known as the Solid (social linked data) protocol. It’s activism that is rooted in people power – not unlike the first years of the web.

This version of the internet would turbocharge personal sovereignty and give control back to users.

-snip-

He likens Solid “pods” to backpacks of data that are securely held by each individual, allowing them to choose what to share with certain people, businesses and organisations. Department of Education data could be shared with an AI tutor; medical data with a cousin, doctor and nutritionist. The Flanders government in Belgium treats data as a national utility and is already using Solid pods for its citizens.

The Facebooks and Xs of the world need not join in – the new systems will be so empowering, collaborative and compassionate, he believes, that parts of today’s web will become obsolescent.

He's less optimistic about dealing with AI, which he'd like to see regulated by the scientific community as a whole - a noncommercial approach instead of the competition we have now.

[yellow dahlia]

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