tag:theconversation.com,2011:/ca/topics/world-wide-web-9408/articlesWorld wide web – The Conversation2023-11-22T17:05:13Ztag:theconversation.com,2011:article/2165812023-11-22T17:05:13Z2023-11-22T17:05:13ZThe vast majority of us have no idea what the padlock icon on our internet browser is – and it’s putting us at risk<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/559630/original/file-20231115-15-zfe1h.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=50%2C0%2C5568%2C3692&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">The padlock icon which appears in most internet browser address bars. </span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.shutterstock.com/image-photo/web-browser-closeup-on-lcd-screen-1353121223">Robert Avgustin/Shutterstock</a></span></figcaption></figure><p>Do you know what the padlock symbol in your internet browser’s address bar means? If not, you’re not alone. <a href="https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/10447318.2023.2266789">New research</a> by my colleagues and I shows that only 5% of UK adults understand the padlock’s significance. This is a threat to our online safety. </p>
<p>The padlock symbol on a web browser simply means that the data being sent between the web server and the user’s computer is encrypted and cannot be read by others. But when we asked people what they thought it meant, we received an array of incorrect answers.</p>
<p>In our study, we asked a cross section of 528 web users, aged between 18 and 86 years of age, a number of questions about the internet. Some 53% of them held a bachelor’s degree or above and 22% had a college certificate, while the remainder had no further education. </p>
<p>One of our questions was: “On the Google Chrome browser bar, do you know what the padlock icon represents/means?” </p>
<p>Of the 463 who responded, 63% stated they knew, or thought they knew, what the padlock symbol on their web browser meant, but only 7% gave the correct meaning. Respondents gave us a range of incorrect interpretations, believing among other things that the padlock signified a secure web page or that the website is safe and doesn’t contain any viruses or suspicious links. Others believed the symbol means a website is “trustworthy”, is not harmful, or is a “genuine” website. </p>
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<img alt="A symbol of a circle next to a straight line over a straight line and a circle." src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/559903/original/file-20231116-19-zm7pen.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=237&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/559903/original/file-20231116-19-zm7pen.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=600&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/559903/original/file-20231116-19-zm7pen.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=600&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/559903/original/file-20231116-19-zm7pen.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=600&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/559903/original/file-20231116-19-zm7pen.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=754&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/559903/original/file-20231116-19-zm7pen.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=754&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/559903/original/file-20231116-19-zm7pen.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=754&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
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<span class="caption">Google’s new ‘tune icon’ which replaces the padlock icon in Chrome’s address bar.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://blog.chromium.org/2023/05/an-update-on-lock-icon.html">Google Chromium</a>, <a class="license" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/">CC BY</a></span>
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<p>Not understanding symbols like the padlock icon, can pose problems to internet users. These include increased security risks and simply hindering effective use of the technology.</p>
<p>Our findings corroborate research by <a href="https://support.google.com/chrome/thread/222182314/the-lock-icon-replaced-with-a-tune-icon-in-the-google-chrome-address-bar?hl=en">Google</a> itself, who in September, replaced the padlock icon with a <a href="https://www.thesslstore.com/blog/google-to-replace-the-padlock-icon-in-chrome-version-117/#:%7E:text=But%20that's%20about%20to%20change,to%20have%20HTTPS%20by%20default.">neutral symbol</a> described as a “tune icon”. In doing so, Google hopes to eradicate the misunderstandings that the padlock icon has afforded. </p>
<p>However, Google’s update now raises the question as to whether other web browser companies will join forces to ensure their designs are uniform and intuitive across all platforms.</p>
<h2>Web browser evolution</h2>
<p>Without a doubt, the browser, which is our point of entry to the world wide web, comes with a lot of responsibility on the part of web companies. It’s how we now visit web pages, so the browser has become an integral part of our daily lives. </p>
<p>It’s intriguing to look back and trace the evolution of the web’s design from the early 1990s to where we are today. Creating software that people wanted to use and found effective was at the heart of this <a href="https://www.interaction-design.org/literature/topics/human-computer-interaction">evolution</a>. The creation of functioning, satisfying, and most importantly, consistently designed user interfaces was an important goal in the 1990s. In fact, there was a drive in those early days to create web interface designs that were so consistent and intuitive that users would not need to think too much about how they work. </p>
<p>Nowadays, it’s a different story because the challenge is centred on helping people to think before they interact online. In light of this, it seems bizarre that the design of the web browser in 2023 still affords uncertainty through its design. Worse still, that it is inconsistently presented across its different providers. </p>
<p>It could be argued that this stems from the <a href="https://www.investopedia.com/ask/answers/09/browser-wars-netscape-internet-explorer.asp">browser wars</a> of the mid-1990s. That’s when the likes of Microsoft and former software company, Netscape, tried to outdo each other with faster, better and more unique products. The race to be distinct meant there was inconsistency between products. </p>
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<iframe width="440" height="260" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/LOWOLJci8d8?wmode=transparent&start=0" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen=""></iframe>
<figcaption><span class="caption">The rise and fall of Netscape and the browser wars of the 1990s.</span></figcaption>
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<h2>Internet safety</h2>
<p>However, introducing distinct browser designs can lead to user confusion, misunderstanding and a false sense of security, especially when it is <a href="https://www.interaction-design.org/literature/article/principle-of-consistency-and-standards-in-user-interface-design">now widely known</a> that such inconsistency can breed confusion, and from that, frustration and lack of use. </p>
<p>As an expert in human-computer interaction, it is alarming to me that some browser companies continue to disregard <a href="https://www.nngroup.com/articles/ten-usability-heuristics/">established guidelines</a> for usability. In a world where web browsers open the doors to potentially greater societal risks than the offline world, it is crucial to establish a consistent approach for addressing these dangers. </p>
<p>As a minimum, we need web browser companies to join forces in a concerted effort to shield users, or at the very least, heighten their awareness regarding potential online risks. This should include formulating one unified design across the board that affords an enriched and safe user experience.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/216581/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Fiona Carroll does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>The padlock symbol simply means that the data being sent between the web server and the user’s computer is encrypted and cannot be read by others. But many people don’t know that.Fiona Carroll, Reader in Human Computer Interaction, Cardiff Metropolitan UniversityLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/2132092023-10-24T12:25:09Z2023-10-24T12:25:09ZLet the community work it out: Throwback to early internet days could fix social media’s crisis of legitimacy<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/555410/original/file-20231023-15-otewua.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=0%2C0%2C3489%2C2331&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Content moderators like these workers make decisions about online communities based on company dictates.</span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.gettyimages.com/detail/news-photo/content-moderators-work-at-a-facebook-office-in-austin-news-photo/1142321813">Ilana Panich-Linsman for The Washington Post via Getty Images</a></span></figcaption></figure><p>In the 2018 documentary “<a href="https://gebrueder-beetz.de/en/productions/the-cleaners/">The Cleaners</a>,” a young man in Manila, Philippines, explains his work as a content moderator: “We see the pictures on the screen. You then go through the pictures and delete those that don’t meet the guidelines. The daily quota of pictures is 25,000.” As he speaks, his mouse clicks, deleting offending images while allowing others to remain online.</p>
<p>The man in Manila is one of thousands of content moderators hired as contractors by social media platforms – <a href="https://www.npr.org/2023/03/31/1167246714/googles-ghost-workers-are-demanding-to-be-seen-by-the-tech-giant">10,000 at Google alone</a>. Content moderation on an industrial scale like this is part of the everyday experience for users of social media. Occasionally a post someone makes is removed, or a post someone thinks is offensive is allowed to go viral. </p>
<p>Similarly, platforms add and remove features without input from the people who are most affected by those decisions. Whether you are outraged or unperturbed, most people don’t think much about the history of a system in which people in conference rooms in Silicon Valley and Manila determine your experiences online.</p>
<p>But why should a few companies – or a few billionaire owners – have the power to decide everything about online spaces that billions of people use? This unaccountable model of governance has led stakeholders of all stripes to criticize platforms’ decisions as <a href="https://www.brennancenter.org/sites/default/files/2021-08/Double_Standards_Content_Moderation.pdf">arbitrary</a>, <a href="https://nymag.com/intelligencer/2022/12/twitter-files-explained-elon-musk-taibbi-weiss-hunter-biden-laptop.html">corrupt</a> or <a href="https://www.oxfordstrategyreview.com/content/social-irresponsibility-how-social-media-works-for-the-west-but-fails-the-rest">irresponsible</a>. In the early, pre-web days of the social internet, decisions about the spaces people gathered in online were often made by members of the community. Our <a href="https://doi.org/10.1177/20563051231196864">examination of the early history of online governance</a> suggests that social media platforms could return – at least in part – to models of community governance in order to address their crisis of legitimacy.</p>
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<figcaption><span class="caption">The documentary ‘The Cleaners’ shows some of the hidden costs of Big Tech’s customer service approach to content moderation.</span></figcaption>
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<h2>Online governance – a history</h2>
<p>In many early online spaces, governance was handled by community members, not by professionals. One early online space, <a href="https://thenewstack.io/a-look-back-in-time-the-forgotten-fame-of-lambdamoo/">LambdaMOO</a>, invited users to build their own governance system, which devolved power from the hands of those who technically controlled the space – administrators known as “wizards” – to members of the community. This was accomplished via a <a href="https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1083-6101.1996.tb00185.x">formal petitioning process and a set of appointed mediators</a> who resolved conflicts between users.</p>
<p>Other spaces had more informal processes for incorporating community input. For example, on bulletin board systems, users <a href="https://yalebooks.yale.edu/book/9780300248142/the-modem-world/">voted with their wallets</a>, removing critical financial support if they disagreed with the decisions made by the system’s administrators. Other spaces, like text-based Usenet newsgroups, gave users substantial power to shape their experiences. The newsgroups left obvious spam in place, but gave users tools to block it if they chose to. Usenet’s administrators argued that it was fairer to allow each user <a href="https://fishbowl.pastiche.org/2021/01/12/usenet_spam">to make decisions that reflected their individual preferences</a> rather than taking a one-size-fits-all approach.</p>
<p>The graphical web expanded use of the internet from <a href="https://www.internetworldstats.com/emarketing.htm">a few million users to hundreds of millions within a decade</a> from 1995 to 2005. During this rapid expansion, community governance was replaced with governance models inspired by customer service, which focused on scale and cost. </p>
<p>This switch from community governance to customer service made sense to the fast-growing companies that made up the late 1990s internet boom. Promising their investors that they could grow rapidly and make changes quickly, companies looked for approaches to the complex work of governing online spaces <a href="https://doi.org/10.1177/20563051231196864">that centralized power and increased efficiency</a>. </p>
<p>While this customer service model of governance allowed early user-generated content sites like Craigslist and GeoCities <a href="https://datasociety.net/library/origins-of-trust-and-safety/">to grow rapidly</a>, it set the stage for the crisis of legitimacy facing social media platforms today. Contemporary battles over social media are rooted in the sense that the people and processes governing online spaces are unaccountable to the communities that gather in them. </p>
<h2>Paths to community control</h2>
<p>Implementing community governance in today’s platforms could take a number of different forms, some of which are already being experimented with.</p>
<p>Advisory boards like Meta’s <a href="https://about.meta.com/actions/oversight-board-facts/">Oversight Board</a> are one way to involve outside stakeholders in platform governance, providing independent — albeit limited — review of platform decisions. X (formerly Twitter) is taking a more democratic approach with its <a href="https://help.twitter.com/en/using-x/community-notes">Community Notes</a> initiative, which allows users to contextualize information on the platform by crowdsourcing notes and ratings.</p>
<p>Some may question whether community governance can be implemented successfully in platforms that serve billions of users. In response, we point to Wikipedia. It is entirely community-governed and has created an open encyclopedia that’s become the foremost information resource in many languages. Wikipedia is surprisingly resilient to vandalism and abuse, with robust procedures that ensure a resource used by billions remains accessible, accurate and reasonably civil.</p>
<p>On a smaller scale, total self-governance – echoing early online spaces – could be key for communities that serve specific subsets of users. For example, <a href="https://archiveofourown.org/">Archive of Our Own</a> was created after fan-fiction authors – people who write original stories using characters and worlds from published books, television shows and movies – found existing platforms unwelcoming. For example, many fan-fiction authors were <a href="https://www.theverge.com/2022/8/15/23200176/history-of-ao3-archive-of-our-own-fanfiction">kicked off social media platforms</a> due to overzealous copyright enforcement or concerns about sexual content.</p>
<p>Fed up with platforms that didn’t understand their work or their culture, a group of authors designed and built their own platform specifically to meet the needs of their community. AO3, as it is colloquially known, serves millions of people a month, includes tools specific to the needs of fan-fiction authors, and is governed by the same people it serves.</p>
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<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/552396/original/file-20231005-25-mahqjw.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="text above and below a photo of two people in lab coats standing in a hallway" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/552396/original/file-20231005-25-mahqjw.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=237&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/552396/original/file-20231005-25-mahqjw.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=817&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/552396/original/file-20231005-25-mahqjw.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=817&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/552396/original/file-20231005-25-mahqjw.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=817&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/552396/original/file-20231005-25-mahqjw.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=1027&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/552396/original/file-20231005-25-mahqjw.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=1027&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/552396/original/file-20231005-25-mahqjw.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=1027&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
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<span class="caption">X, formerly Twitter, allows people to use Community Notes to append relevant information to posts that contain inaccuracies.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://twitter.com/kareem_carr/status/1709198073174311207/photo/1">Screen capture by The Conversation U.S.</a>, <a class="license" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nd/4.0/">CC BY-ND</a></span>
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<p>Hybrid models, like on Reddit, <a href="https://www.redditinc.com/policies/content-policy">mix centralized and self-governance</a>. Reddit hosts a collection of interest-based communities called subreddits that have their own rules, norms and teams of moderators. Underlying a subreddit’s governance structure is a set of rules, processes and features that apply to everyone. Not every subreddit is a sterling example of a healthy online community, but more are than are not.</p>
<p>There are also technical approaches to community governance. One approach would enable users to choose the algorithms that curate their social media feeds. Imagine that instead of only being able to use Facebook’s algorithm, you could choose from a suite of algorithms provided by third parties – for example, from The New York Times or Fox News.</p>
<p>More radically decentralized platforms like Mastodon devolve control to a network of servers that are similar in structure to email. This makes it easier to choose an experience that matches your preferences. You can choose which Mastodon server to use, and can switch easily – just like you can choose whether to use Gmail or Outlook for email – and can change your mind, all while maintaining access to the wider email network. </p>
<p>Additionally, advancements in generative AI – which shows <a href="https://doi.org/10.1109/MS.2023.3265877">early promise in producing computer code</a> – could make it easier for people, even those without a technical background, to build custom online spaces when they find existing spaces unsuitable. This would relieve pressure on online spaces to be everything for everyone and support a sense of agency in the digital public sphere.</p>
<p>There are also more indirect ways to support community governance. Increasing transparency – for example, by providing access to data about the impact of platforms’ decisions – can help researchers, policymakers and the public hold online platforms accountable. Further, encouraging ethical professional norms among engineers and product designers can make online spaces more respectful of the communities they serve.</p>
<h2>Going forward by going back</h2>
<p>Between now and the end of 2024, national elections are scheduled in many countries, including Argentina, Australia, India, Indonesia, Mexico, South Africa, Taiwan, the U.K. and the U.S. This is all but certain to lead to conflicts over online spaces. </p>
<p>We believe it is time to consider not just how online spaces can be governed efficiently and in service to corporate bottom lines, but how they can be governed fairly and legitimately. Giving communities more control over the spaces they participate in is a proven way to do just that.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/213209/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Ethan Zuckerman receives funding from the MacArthur Foundation, the Ford Foundation, the Knight Foundation and the (US) National Science Foundation.</span></em></p><p class="fine-print"><em><span>Chand Rajendra-Nicolucci receives funding from the MacArthur Foundation and the Ford Foundation. </span></em></p>In the days of online bulletin board systems, community members decided what was acceptable. Reviving that approach to content moderation offers Big Tech a path to legitimacy as public spaces.Ethan Zuckerman, Associate Professor of Public Policy, Communication, and Information, UMass AmherstChand Rajendra-Nicolucci, Research Fellow, Initiative for Digital Public Infrastructure, UMass AmherstLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/2070332023-06-08T20:07:12Z2023-06-08T20:07:12ZWhat is the ‘splinternet’? Here’s why the internet is less whole than you might think<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/530739/original/file-20230608-28-h3pjj.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=125%2C188%2C5712%2C2802&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">
</span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">Shutterstock</span></span></figcaption></figure><p>“Splinternet” refers to the way the internet is <a href="https://theconversation.com/country-rules-the-splinternet-may-be-the-future-of-the-web-81939">being splintered</a> – broken up, divided, separated, locked down, boxed up, or otherwise segmented.</p>
<p>Whether for nation states or corporations, there’s money and control to be had by influencing <a href="https://theconversation.com/the-future-of-the-internet-looks-brighter-thanks-to-an-eu-court-opinion-109721">what information people can access and share</a>, as well as the costs that are paid for this access. </p>
<p>The idea of a splinternet isn’t new, nor is the problem. But recent developments are likely to enhance segmentation, and have brought it back into new light. </p>
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Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/meta-just-copped-a-a-1-9bn-fine-for-keeping-eu-data-in-the-us-but-why-should-users-care-where-data-are-stored-206186">Meta just copped a A$1.9bn fine for keeping EU data in the US. But why should users care where data are stored?</a>
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<h2>The internet as a whole</h2>
<p>The core question is whether we have just one single internet for everyone, or whether we have many.</p>
<p>Think of how we refer to things like the sky, the sea, or the economy. Despite these conceptually being singular things, we’re often only seeing a perspective: a part of the whole that isn’t complete, but we still experience directly. This applies to the internet, too.</p>
<p>A large portion of the internet is what’s known as the “deep web”. These are the parts search engines and web crawlers generally don’t go to. Estimates vary, but a rule of thumb is that approximately 70% of the web is “deep”.</p>
<p>Despite the name and the anxious news reporting in some sectors, the deep web is mostly benign. It refers to the parts of the web to which access is restricted in some ways.</p>
<p>Your personal email is a part of the deep web – no matter how bad your password might be, it requires authorisation to access. So do your Dropbox, OneDrive, or Google Drive accounts. If your work or school has its own servers, these are part of the deep web – they’re connected, but not publicly accessible by default (we hope).</p>
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<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/searching-deep-and-dark-building-a-google-for-the-less-visible-parts-of-the-web-58472">Searching deep and dark: Building a Google for the less visible parts of the web</a>
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<p>We can expand this to things like the experience of multiplayer videogames, most social media platforms, and much more. Yes, there are parts that live up to the ominous name, but most of the deep web is just the stuff that needs password access.</p>
<p>The internet changes, too – connections go live, cables get broken or satellites fail, people bring their new <a href="https://theconversation.com/six-things-every-consumer-should-know-about-the-internet-of-things-78765">Internet of Things devices</a> (like “smart” fridges and doorbells) online, or accidentally open their computer ports to the net.</p>
<p>But because such a huge portion of the web is shaped by our individual access, we all have our own perspectives on what it’s like to use the internet. Just like standing under “the sky”, our local experience is different to that of others. No one can see the full picture. </p>
<h2>A fractured internet poised to fracture even more</h2>
<p>Was there ever a single “Internet”? Certainly the US research computer network called <a href="https://www.britannica.com/topic/ARPANET">ARPANET</a> in the 1960s was clear, discrete, and unfractured.</p>
<p>Alongside this, in the ‘60s and '70s, governments in the Soviet Union and Chile also each worked on similar network projects called <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/OGAS">OGAS</a> and <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Project_Cybersyn">CyberSyn</a>, respectively. These systems were proto-internets that could have expanded significantly, and had themes that resonate today – OGAS was heavily surveilled by the KGB, and CyberSyn was a social experiment destroyed during a far-right coup.</p>
<p>Each was very clearly separate, each was a fractured computer network that relied on government support to succeed, and ARPANET was the only one to succeed due to its significant government funding. It was the kernel that would become the basis of the internet, and it was <a href="https://home.cern/science/computing/where-web-was-born">Tim Berners-Lee’s work on HTML at CERN</a> that became the basis of the web we have today, and something he <a href="https://theconversation.com/snowden-and-berners-lees-campaign-for-an-open-internet-24329">seeks to protect</a>.</p>
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<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/530749/original/file-20230608-25-jdt55.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="A pencil drawing on a stamp showing a smiling man next to two computer screens with www on them" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/530749/original/file-20230608-25-jdt55.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=237&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/530749/original/file-20230608-25-jdt55.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=392&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/530749/original/file-20230608-25-jdt55.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=392&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/530749/original/file-20230608-25-jdt55.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=392&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/530749/original/file-20230608-25-jdt55.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=492&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/530749/original/file-20230608-25-jdt55.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=492&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/530749/original/file-20230608-25-jdt55.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=492&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
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<span class="caption">The Marshall Islands released a postal stamp in 1999 celebrating English computer scientist Tim Berners-Lee as the inventor of the World Wide Web.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.shutterstock.com/image-photo/marshall-islands-circa-2000-postage-stamp-150910184">Shutterstock</a></span>
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<p>Today, we can see the unified “Internet” has given way to a fractured internet – one poised to fracture even more.</p>
<p>Many nations effectively have their own internets already. These are still technically connected to the rest of the internet, but are subject to such distinct policies, regulations and costs that they are distinctly different for the users.</p>
<p>For example, Russia maintains a Soviet-era-style surveillance of the internet, and is far from alone in doing so – thanks to Xi Jinping, there is now “<a href="https://www.theguardian.com/news/2018/jun/29/the-great-firewall-of-china-xi-jinpings-internet-shutdown">the great firewall of China</a>”.</p>
<p>Surveillance isn’t the only barrier to internet use, with harassment, abuse, censorship, taxation and pricing of access, and similar internet controls being a major issue <a href="https://rsf.org/sites/default/files/a4_predateur-en_final.pdf">across many countries</a>.</p>
<p>Content controls aren’t bad in themselves – it’s easy to think of content that most people would prefer didn’t exist. Nonetheless, these national regulations lead to a splintering of internet experience depending on which country you’re in.</p>
<p>Indeed, every single country has local factors that shape the internet experience, from language to law, from culture to censorship.</p>
<p>While this can be overcome by tools such as VPNs (virtual private networks) or shifting to blockchain networks, in practice these are individual solutions that only a small percentage of people use, and don’t represent a stable solution.</p>
<h2>We’re already on the splinternet</h2>
<p>In short, it doesn’t fix it for those who aren’t technically savvy and it doesn’t fix the issues with commercial services. Even without censorious governments, the problems remain. In 2021, Facebook <a href="https://theconversation.com/stuff-up-or-conspiracy-whistleblowers-claim-facebook-deliberately-le">shut down Australian news content</a> as a protest against the News Media Bargaining Code, leading to <a href="https://theconversation.com/the-wechat-model-how-facebooks-ban-could-change-the-business-of-news-155629">potential change in the industry</a>.</p>
<p>Before that, organisations such as Wikipedia and Google <a href="https://www.battleforthenet.com/july12/">protested the winding back of network neutrality provisions</a> in the US in 2017 following <a href="https://sopastrike.com/">earlier</a> <a href="https://www.battleforthenet.com/sept10th/">campaigns</a>.</p>
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<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/facebooks-news-blockade-in-australia-shows-how-tech-giants-are-swallowing-the-web-155832">Facebook's news blockade in Australia shows how tech giants are swallowing the web</a>
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<p>Facebook (now known as Meta) attempted to create a walled garden internet in India called Free Basics – this led to a massive outcry about corporate control in late 2015 and early 2016. Today, <a href="https://theconversation.com/meta-just-copped-a-a-1-9bn-fine-for-keeping-eu-data-in-the-us-but-why-should-users-care-where-data-are-stored-206186">Meta’s breaches of EU law</a> are placing its business model at risk in the territory.</p>
<p>This broad shift has been described in the past by my colleague Mark Andrejevic in 2007 as <a href="https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.1080/10714420701715365">digital enclosure</a> – where states and commercial interests increasingly segment, separate and restrict what is accessible on the internet.</p>
<p>The uneven overlapping of national regulations and economies will interact oddly with digital services that cut across multiple borders. Further reductions in network neutrality will open the doors to restrictive internet service provider deals, price-based discrimination, and lock-in contracts with content providers.</p>
<p>The existing diversity of experience on the internet will see users’ experiences and access continue to diverge. As internet-based companies increasingly rely on exclusive access to users for tracking and advertising, as services and ISPs overcome falling revenue with lock-in agreements, and as government policies change, we’ll see the splintering continue.</p>
<p>The splinternet isn’t that different from what we already have. But it does represent an internet that’s even less global, less deliberative, less fair and less unified than we have today.</p>
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<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/tim-berners-lees-plan-to-save-the-internet-give-us-back-control-of-our-data-154130">Tim Berners-Lee's plan to save the internet: give us back control of our data</a>
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<img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/207033/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Robbie Fordyce is affiliated with the Australian Communications Consumer Action Network.</span></em></p>There’s really no such thing as one global internet – it all depends on your perspective. But the internet is poised to fracturing even more.Robbie Fordyce, Lecturer, Communications and Media Studies, Monash UniversityLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1981322023-03-13T12:26:07Z2023-03-13T12:26:07ZWhat exactly is the internet? A computer scientist explains what it is and how it came to be<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/514565/original/file-20230309-22-6ji5en.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=0%2C7%2C5190%2C3441&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">The internet is used for a lot more than just surfing the web.</span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.gettyimages.com/detail/photo/fourth-grade-students-work-on-laptops-in-class-royalty-free-image/608052049">Jonathan Kirn/The Image Bank via Getty Images</a></span></figcaption></figure><figure class="align-left ">
<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/281719/original/file-20190628-76743-26slbc.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=237&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/281719/original/file-20190628-76743-26slbc.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=293&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/281719/original/file-20190628-76743-26slbc.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=293&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/281719/original/file-20190628-76743-26slbc.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=293&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/281719/original/file-20190628-76743-26slbc.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=368&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/281719/original/file-20190628-76743-26slbc.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=368&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/281719/original/file-20190628-76743-26slbc.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=368&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
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<p><em><a href="https://theconversation.com/us/topics/curious-kids-us-74795">Curious Kids</a> is a series for children of all ages. If you have a question you’d like an expert to answer, send it to <a href="mailto:curiouskidsus@theconversation.com">curiouskidsus@theconversation.com</a>.</em></p>
<hr>
<blockquote>
<p><strong>What exactly is the internet? Nora, age 8, Akron, Ohio</strong></p>
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<hr>
<p>The internet is a global collection of computers that know how to send messages to one another. Practically everything connected to the internet is indeed a computer – or has one “baked inside” of it. </p>
<p>In the early 1960s, computers were used only for special purposes, like <a href="https://www.sciencesource.com/1756131-livermore-advanced-research-computer-1960.html">scientific research</a>. There weren’t a lot of them because they were large and expensive. One computer and its attached accessories could <a href="https://www.pimall.com/nais/pivintage/burroughscomputer.html">easily fill a room</a>. To exchange data, people would plan time to work together, and one computer would <a href="https://medium.com/dish/75-years-of-innovation-acoustic-modem-6a5e56e5b6ee">connect to another with a telephone call</a>.</p>
<p>The U.S. government wanted a network that would allow computers to communicate automatically and <a href="https://www.internethalloffame.org/2012/09/06/what-do-h-bomb-and-internet-have-common-paul-baran/">even if some telephone lines were cut off</a>. Suppose you wanted to send a message from Computer A to Computer B in each of three different types of networks. The first is a network with one central computer connected to all the others as spokes. The second is a network of several of these hub-and-spoke networks with their hubs connected. The third is a network where every computer is connected to several others, forming a kind of mesh. Which do you think would be most reliable if some computers and links were damaged? </p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/514724/original/file-20230310-462-lhuuzz.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="three diagrams showing many tiny figures connected by lines" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/514724/original/file-20230310-462-lhuuzz.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/514724/original/file-20230310-462-lhuuzz.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=451&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/514724/original/file-20230310-462-lhuuzz.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=451&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/514724/original/file-20230310-462-lhuuzz.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=451&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/514724/original/file-20230310-462-lhuuzz.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=567&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/514724/original/file-20230310-462-lhuuzz.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=567&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/514724/original/file-20230310-462-lhuuzz.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=567&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">To get a message from A to B, which type of network is most likely to keep working if some of the lines are cut?</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:P2P_Topology.jpg">Txelu Balboa via Wikimedia Commons</a>, <a class="license" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/">CC BY-SA</a></span>
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<p>The first network is vulnerable, because if the central computer is lost, then none of the computers can communicate. The second network is vulnerable because if any of the hub computers are lost, the path between A and B is cut. But in the third network, many individual computers and links could be lost and there would still be a path to connect A and B. So the third network would be the most reliable.</p>
<h2>Hot potatoes</h2>
<p>An American engineer named <a href="https://www.rand.org/about/history/baran.html">Paul Baran</a> worked on this problem at a company called the Rand Corp. In 1962, he published a new idea for computer networks, which he called “<a href="https://culture.pl/en/article/how-paul-baran-invented-the-internet">hot potato networking</a>.”</p>
<p>In Baran’s idea, a message would be broken up into lots of little pieces – the potatoes. When Computer A wanted to sent its message to Computer B, it would individually send the little potatoes to a neighbor computer. That computer would pass it along in the right direction as soon as it could. To make sure messages were delivered quickly, the message pieces were treated as if they were hot, so you didn’t want them in your hands for too long.</p>
<p>The messages included a sequence number so when they arrived at Computer B, the final destination computer, that machine would know how to put them in the proper order to receive the full message.</p>
<p>Baran’s idea got implemented as <a href="https://www.ibiblio.org/pioneers/baran.html">the ARPANET</a>. This network was the immediate predecessor to today’s internet. </p>
<p>Instead of hot potatoes, the system got a more formal name, which we still use: “<a href="https://www.geeksforgeeks.org/packet-switched-network-psn-in-networking/">packet switched networking</a>.” The potato got renamed as a packet – a small piece of the full message. </p>
<p><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vint_Cerf">Vinton Cerf</a>, an American computer scientist, is known as one of the fathers of the internet. He contributed many essential ideas, including that the receiving computer could ask the sending computer for a packet that went missing – which they sometimes do. This has the name <a href="https://www.wired.com/2012/04/epicenter-isoc-famers-qa-cerf/">Transmission Control Protocol</a>, or TCP.</p>
<h2>A web of pages</h2>
<p>Another important contributor was <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tim_Berners-Lee">Tim Berners-Lee</a>, a British computer scientist. Berners-Lee was working at CERN, the European Organization for Nuclear Research. He wanted to create a system for his colleagues to better share their research results with one another.</p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/514746/original/file-20230310-22-cbebaz.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="a photograph of a man sitting in front of a cathode ray tube computer monitor" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/514746/original/file-20230310-22-cbebaz.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/514746/original/file-20230310-22-cbebaz.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=385&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/514746/original/file-20230310-22-cbebaz.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=385&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/514746/original/file-20230310-22-cbebaz.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=385&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/514746/original/file-20230310-22-cbebaz.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=484&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/514746/original/file-20230310-22-cbebaz.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=484&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/514746/original/file-20230310-22-cbebaz.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=484&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Tim Berners-Lee invented the World Wide Web in the early 1990s.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://cds.cern.ch/images/CERN-GE-9407011-31">CERN</a>, <a class="license" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/">CC BY-NC</a></span>
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<p>Around 1990, Berners-Lee came up with the idea that a computer could host a collection of “pages,” each of which had <a href="https://webfoundation.org/about/vision/history-of-the-web/">text, images and links to other pages</a>. He created an easy way for links to specify any computer – the concept of the URL, or <a href="https://www.welcometothejungle.com/en/articles/btc-url-internet">Uniform Resource Locator</a>.</p>
<p>Berners-Lee named the system the <a href="https://thenextweb.com/news/how-the-world-wide-web-was-nearly-called-the-information-mesh">World Wide Web</a>. He wrote the code for the first web browser, to view web pages, and web server, to deliver them. If you see a URL that includes “www” – that’s from the original name.</p>
<p>Berners-Lee may have been planning to use the web particularly to share text, images and files. But the earlier work on the internet <a href="https://www.thebroadcastbridge.com/content/entry/10882/a-brief-history-of-ip-audio-networks">made the web suitable for video and sound, too</a>. YouTube, Instagram and TikTok are built using the same rules, or protocols, developed by Cerf and Berners-Lee.</p>
<h2>Internet of Things</h2>
<p>In the past 20 years, computers have become even more powerful and inexpensive. Now, a computer chip that can <a href="https://www.nabto.com/how-much-iot-device-cost-business/">connect directly to the internet sells for US$5</a> – a lot less than today’s laptops and cellphones (about $300) or yesterday’s room-size computers ($1 million or more!). </p>
<figure class="align-right zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/514561/original/file-20230309-22-mth9ci.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="a refrigerator with a water dispenser on the left door and a large display screen on the right door" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/514561/original/file-20230309-22-mth9ci.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=237&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/514561/original/file-20230309-22-mth9ci.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=659&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/514561/original/file-20230309-22-mth9ci.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=659&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/514561/original/file-20230309-22-mth9ci.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=659&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/514561/original/file-20230309-22-mth9ci.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=829&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/514561/original/file-20230309-22-mth9ci.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=829&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/514561/original/file-20230309-22-mth9ci.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=829&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Many newer appliances like this smart refrigerator are connected to the internet.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Smart_refrigerator#/media/File:Samsungfamilyhub.png">Paul Stefaan Mooij/Wikimedia Commons</a>, <a class="license" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-sa/4.0/">CC BY-NC-SA</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>This lower cost has led to <a href="https://www.statista.com/statistics/1183457/iot-connected-devices-worldwide/">millions upon millions</a> of devices connected to the internet. These devices include sensors. A <a href="https://www.safewise.com/smart-home-faq/how-do-smart-thermostats-work/">smart thermostat</a> monitors your house using a temperature sensor. A security camera keeps an eye on your front porch using an array of tiny light sensors.</p>
<p>These devices also include <a href="https://www.geeksforgeeks.org/actuators-in-iot/">actuators – mechanisms that control activity</a> in the physical world. For example, a smart thermostat can turn on and off the heating and cooling systems in your house.</p>
<p>Together, all these smart devices are called the <a href="https://www.wired.co.uk/article/internet-of-things-what-is-explained-iot">Internet of Things</a>, or IoT. The internet includes not only computers and phones, but all these IoT devices. You may have a <a href="https://www.wired.co.uk/article/internet-of-things-what-is-explained-iot">smart refrigerator</a> that has a camera inside of it. When it notices you’re out of milk, it will send a message to your cellphone, reminding you to buy more.</p>
<p>Just about everything is connected to the internet now.</p>
<hr>
<p><em>Hello, curious kids! Do you have a question you’d like an expert to answer? Ask an adult to send your question to <a href="mailto:curiouskidsus@theconversation.com">CuriousKidsUS@theconversation.com</a>. Please tell us your name, age and the city where you live.</em></p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/198132/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Fred Martin receives funding from the National Science Foundation and Google.</span></em></p>Almost everybody uses the internet just about every day. But do you really know what the internet is?Fred Martin, Professor of Computer Science, UMass LowellLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1957122022-12-05T23:44:56Z2022-12-05T23:44:56ZIt’s not just Twitter. The whole Internet is broken and we’d better fix it soon<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/498831/original/file-20221205-16605-a7lkzb.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=83%2C251%2C5507%2C2598&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">
</span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">Getty Images</span></span></figcaption></figure><p>If the debate about Elon Musk’s acquisition of Twitter tells us anything, it’s that people – including those in governments – don’t understand how the World Wide Web works. </p>
<p>We know that the algorithms Twitter uses to recommend content can guide people to develop more extreme views, but what is considered extreme has changed since Musk’s takeover. Many things he considers free speech would previously have been thought to be derogatory, misogynistic, violent or harmful in many other ways.</p>
<p>Many countries, including Aotearoa New Zealand as the co-initiator of the <a href="https://www.rnz.co.nz/national/programmes/mediawatch/audio/2018860941/christchurch-call-pushes-against-the-algorithms">Christchurch Call</a>, are looking to Twitter and other platform providers to allow analysis of their algorithms and more transparency about their effects on individuals and the social fabric.</p>
<p><div data-react-class="Tweet" data-react-props="{"tweetId":"1599200320814473216"}"></div></p>
<p>But what the Christchurch Call doesn’t address is a much more fundamental question that governments should think about with urgency. Is it appropriate that the infrastructure to host citizen discourse and engagement is in the private and profit-oriented hands of multinational data monopolies?</p>
<p>Privately owned social media platforms now house a significant portion of important public debates essential to democracy. They have become core to the modern public sphere, and as such they have to be considered a critical part of public infrastructure. </p>
<p>But they are set up to collect and monetise people’s data. It is time for governments to help their citizens take back control of that data. </p>
<hr>
<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/elon-musks-twitter-takeover-has-disrupted-the-christchurch-call-nz-needs-to-rethink-its-digital-strategy-195213">Elon Musk's Twitter takeover has disrupted the Christchurch Call – NZ needs to rethink its digital strategy</a>
</strong>
</em>
</p>
<hr>
<h2>The Web is broken</h2>
<p>The <a href="https://home.web.cern.ch/resources/video/computing/brief-history-world-wide-web">World Wide Web</a> started out as a global network with a set of open technical standards to make it easy to give someone from a remote computer (also known as the client) access to information on a computer under someone else’s control (also known as the server).</p>
<p>Embedded into the Web standards is a principle called <a href="http://info.cern.ch/hypertext/WWW/TheProject.html">hypertext</a>, which means the reader can choose to follow hyperlinks, browsing the global network of information in a self-directed fashion. </p>
<p>In the late 1980s and 1990s, people created their own websites, manually authoring HTML pages and linking to content other people had published. This was superseded by content management systems and – maybe more importantly – <a href="https://online.ndm.edu/news/communication/history-of-blogging/">blog software</a>. </p>
<p>Blogs unlocked content publishing for the masses, but it was only when social media platforms emerged – commonly also known as Web 2.0 – that literally everyone with access to the Internet could become a producer of content. And this is when the Web broke, more than 15 years ago. It has been broken ever since.</p>
<hr>
<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/is-the-global-decline-in-democracy-linked-to-social-media-we-combed-through-the-evidence-to-find-out-193841">Is the global decline in democracy linked to social media? We combed through the evidence to find out</a>
</strong>
</em>
</p>
<hr>
<p>Social media platforms not only put content beyond the control of those who created it, they also sit as a monolithic interface between a whole generation and the actual Web. Gen Z has never experienced the decentralised nature of the technologies that make the apps they use work.</p>
<p>Each social media platform instead tries to make the entire World Wide Web just one application on one big server. This principle is true for Facebook, Twitter, TikTok and all the other social media applications. </p>
<p>The outcome is that platforms collect interactions in order to profile users and guide them to content through “recommender” algorithms. This means people can be
directed to products they can purchase, or their <a href="https://www.bbc.com/news/technology-44793247">data and behavioral insights</a> can be sold to other businesses.</p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="Aerial view of people and connecting lines between them" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/498830/original/file-20221205-37961-sk1as7.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=0%2C351%2C4514%2C2416&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/498830/original/file-20221205-37961-sk1as7.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=408&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/498830/original/file-20221205-37961-sk1as7.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=408&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/498830/original/file-20221205-37961-sk1as7.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=408&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/498830/original/file-20221205-37961-sk1as7.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=513&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/498830/original/file-20221205-37961-sk1as7.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=513&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/498830/original/file-20221205-37961-sk1as7.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=513&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Social media platforms collect interactions to profile users and guide them to content.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Getty Images</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<h2>How to fix the Internet</h2>
<p>In response to the disruption from Musk’s Twitter acquisition we have seen governments and institutions set up their own servers to join the <a href="https://www.pcmag.com/news/eu-joins-mastodon-social-network-sets-up-its-own-server">decentralised microblogging system Mastodon</a>. These institutions can now validate the identity of users they host and ensure their content lies within their own terms and potentially legal requirements.</p>
<p>However, taking back control of microposts is not enough to fix the broken Web. Social media platforms have made attempts in the past to entrench more fundamental functions such as <a href="https://techcrunch.com/2017/01/12/what-facebooks-european-payment-license-could-mean-for-banks/">payments and banking</a>. And people have been arbitrarily locked out of platforms, without a legal way to <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/travel/tips/airbnb-banned-account/">regain access</a>. </p>
<p>Considering wide-ranging regulation on its own won’t solve the problem in the long term and at a global scale.</p>
<p>Instead, governments will need to assess which digital services and data currently hosted on social media platforms are critical parts of modern democratic societies. Then, they’ll have to build national data infrastructures that allow citizens to stay in control of their data, protected by their government. </p>
<hr>
<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/people-are-leaving-twitter-for-mastodon-but-are-they-ready-for-democratic-social-media-194220">People are leaving Twitter for Mastodon, but are they ready for democratic social media?</a>
</strong>
</em>
</p>
<hr>
<p>We can expect a new ecosystem of digital services to develop around those data infrastructures, but one that doesn’t disenfranchise individuals or make them the product of surveillance capitalism.</p>
<p>This is not a Utopian vision. The Flemish government in Belgium has announced the <a href="https://www.vlaanderen.be/digitaal-vlaanderen/het-vlaams-datanutsbedrijf/the-flemish-data-utility-company">establishment of a data-utility company</a> to facilitate a digital ecosystem based on personal data vaults. Citizens control these vaults and any digital services that need the data interact with them if given permission (for example, public transport payment systems or content-sharing systems like Twitter).</p>
<p>Various blockchain businesses want to make people believe their technology allows a “Web3”, but the technologies to achieve this vision are already available and they leverage the <a href="https://www.cnbc.com/2022/11/04/web-inventor-tim-berners-lee-wants-us-to-ignore-web3.html">original standards of the World Wide Web</a>. Web technologies for decentralisation and openness have been called Web 3.0 for about 20 years now. They have matured into robust market-ready products for <a href="https://www.inrupt.com/blog/flanders-solid">personal data vaults</a>.</p>
<p>Governments now have to build the technical back end with regulatory oversight to ensure algorithmic transparency and trusted digital transactions. We need rich data infrastructures, run by data-utility companies. </p>
<p>The <a href="https://solidproject.org/">technologies</a> and expertise are readily available, but we need greater awareness of what real technical decentralisation means, and why it will protect citizens and democracy in the long run.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/195712/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Markus Luczak-Roesch received funding from the Science for Technological Innovation National Science Challenge under the Veracity Technology spearhead project. He is also affiliated with Te Pūnaha Matatini – the Aotearoa New Zealand Centre of Research Excellence for Complex Systems.</span></em></p>Many digital services currently hosted on social media platforms are critical to democracy. Governments must build alternative infrastructures that allow citizens to control their own data.Markus Luczak-Roesch, Associate Professor in Information Systems, Te Herenga Waka — Victoria University of WellingtonLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1851302022-06-16T05:10:13Z2022-06-16T05:10:13ZGoodbye Internet Explorer. You won’t be missed (but your legacy will be remembered)<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/469144/original/file-20220616-11875-8jqevi.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=101%2C21%2C4716%2C2289&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">
</span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">Shutterstock</span></span></figcaption></figure><p>After 27 years, Microsoft has finally bid farewell to the web browser Internet Explorer, and will redirect Explorer users to the latest version of its Edge browser. </p>
<p>As of June 15, Microsoft ended support for Explorer on several versions of Windows 10 – meaning no more productivity, reliability or security updates. Explorer will remain a working browser, but won’t be protected as new threats emerge.</p>
<p>Twenty-seven years is a long time in computing. Many would say this move was long overdue. Explorer has been long outperformed by its competitors, and years of poor user experiences have made it the butt of many internet jokes.</p>
<p><div data-react-class="Tweet" data-react-props="{"tweetId":"1536938327395680256"}"></div></p>
<h2>How it began</h2>
<p>Explorer was first introduced in 1995 by the Microsoft Corporation, and came bundled with the Windows operating system.</p>
<p>To its credit, Explorer introduced many Windows users to the joys of the internet for the first time. After all, it was only in 1993 that Tim Berners-Lee, the father of the web, <a href="https://thenextweb.com/news/20-years-ago-today-the-world-wide-web-opened-to-the-public">released</a> the first public web browser (aptly called WorldWideWeb).</p>
<p>Providing Explorer as its default browser meant a large proportion of Windows’s global user base would not experience an alternative. But this came at a cost, and Microsoft eventually faced multiple <a href="https://corporatefinanceinstitute.com/resources/knowledge/strategy/microsoft-antitrust-case/">antitrust investigations</a> exploring its monopoly on the browser market.</p>
<p>Still, even though <a href="https://www.mozilla.org/en-US/firefox/browsers/browser-history/">a number</a> of other browsers were around (including Netscape Navigator, which pre-dated Explorer), Explorer remained the default choice for millions of people up until around 2002, when Firefox was launched.</p>
<h2>How it ended</h2>
<p>Microsoft has released 11 versions of Explorer (with many minor revisions along the way). It added different functionality and components with each release. Despite this, it lost consumers’ trust due to Explorer’s “legacy architecture” which involved poor <a href="https://www.optimadesign.co.uk/blog/internet-explorer-end-of-life-or-not">design and slowness</a>. </p>
<p>It seems Microsoft got so comfortable with its monopoly that it let the quality of its product slide, just as other competitors were entering the battlefield.</p>
<p><div data-react-class="Tweet" data-react-props="{"tweetId":"1536687397798350849"}"></div></p>
<p>Even just considering its cosmetic interface (what you see and interact with when you visit a website), Explorer could not give users the authentic experience of <a href="https://www.techwalla.com/articles/how-to-fix-internet-explorer-pages-not-displaying-correctly">modern websites</a>. </p>
<p>On the security front, Explorer exhibited its <a href="https://www.cvedetails.com/vulnerability-list/vendor_id-26/product_id-9900/Microsoft-Internet-Explorer.html">fair share of weaknesses</a>, which cyber criminals readily and successfully exploited. </p>
<p>While Microsoft may have patched many of these weaknesses over different versions of the browser, the underlying architecture is <a href="https://docs.microsoft.com/en-us/deployedge/microsoft-edge-security-iemode-safer-than-ie">still considered vulnerable</a> by security experts. Microsoft itself has <a href="https://docs.microsoft.com/en-us/deployedge/microsoft-edge-security-iemode-safer-than-ie">acknowledged</a> this:</p>
<blockquote>
<p>… [Explorer] is still based on technology that’s 25 years old. It’s a legacy browser that’s architecturally outdated and unable to meet the security challenges of the modern web.</p>
</blockquote>
<p>These concerns have resulted in the United States <a href="https://www.dhs.gov/">Department for Homeland Security</a> repeatedly advising internet users against <a href="https://windowsreport.com/internet-explorer-security-issues/">using Explorer</a>.</p>
<p>Explorer’s failure to win over modern audiences is further evident through Microsoft’s ongoing attempts to push users towards Edge. Edge was first introduced in 2015, and since then Explorer has only been used as a compatibility solution.</p>
<h2>What Explorer was up against</h2>
<p>In terms of <a href="https://gs.statcounter.com/browser-market-share#monthly-202206-202206-bar">market share</a>, more than 64% of browser users currently use Chrome. Explorer has dropped to less than 1%, and even Edge only accounts for about 4% of users. What has given Chrome such a leg-up in the browser market? </p>
<hr>
<iframe src="https://flo.uri.sh/visualisation/10361649/embed" title="Interactive or visual content" class="flourish-embed-iframe" frameborder="0" scrolling="no" style="width:100%;height:600px;" sandbox="allow-same-origin allow-forms allow-scripts allow-downloads allow-popups allow-popups-to-escape-sandbox allow-top-navigation-by-user-activation" width="100%" height="400"></iframe>
<div style="width:100%!;margin-top:4px!important;text-align:right!important;"><a class="flourish-credit" href="https://public.flourish.studio/visualisation/10361649/?utm_source=embed&utm_campaign=visualisation/10361649" target="_top"><img alt="Made with Flourish" src="https://public.flourish.studio/resources/made_with_flourish.svg"> </a></div>
<hr>
<p>Chrome was first introduced by Google in 2008, on the open source <a href="https://www.chromium.org/chromium-projects/">Chromium project</a>, and has since been actively developed and supported. </p>
<p>Being open source means the software is publicly available, and anyone can inspect the source code that runs behind it. Individuals can even contribute to the source code, thereby enhancing the software’s productivity, reliability and security. This was never an option with Explorer. </p>
<p>Moreover, Chrome is multi-platform: it can be used in other operating systems such as Linux, MacOS and on mobile devices, and was supporting a range of systems long before Edge was even released. </p>
<p>Meanwhile, Explorer has <a href="https://www.zdnet.com/article/zune-hd-no-youtube-in-the-browser-for-you/">mainly</a> been <a href="https://docs.microsoft.com/en-us/deployedge/microsoft-edge-supported-operating-systems">restricted</a> to Windows, XBox and a few versions of MacOS.</p>
<h2>Under the hood</h2>
<p>Microsoft’s Edge browser is using the same <a href="https://www.chromium.org/chromium-projects/">Chromium</a> open-source code that Chrome has used since its inception. This is encouraging, but it remains to be seen how Edge will compete against Chrome and other browsers to win users’ confidence. </p>
<p>We won’t be surprised if Microsoft fails to nudge customers towards using Edge as their favourite browser. The latest stats suggest Edge is still far behind Chrome in terms of market share. </p>
<p>Also, the fact Microsoft took seven years to retire Explorer after Edge’s initial release suggests the company hasn’t had great success in getting Edge’s uptake rolling. </p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/469137/original/file-20220616-13070-5lnc2u.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="A screenshot of a Microsoft web page showing Internet Explorer has been retired." src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/469137/original/file-20220616-13070-5lnc2u.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/469137/original/file-20220616-13070-5lnc2u.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=250&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/469137/original/file-20220616-13070-5lnc2u.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=250&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/469137/original/file-20220616-13070-5lnc2u.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=250&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/469137/original/file-20220616-13070-5lnc2u.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=314&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/469137/original/file-20220616-13070-5lnc2u.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=314&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/469137/original/file-20220616-13070-5lnc2u.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=314&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Only some Microsoft operating systems (mainly server platforms) will continue to receive security updates for Explorer under long-term support agreements.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Screenshot</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<h2>What’s next?</h2>
<p>Web browsers play a vital role in establishing privacy and security for users. Design and convenience are important factors for users when selecting a browser. So ultimately, the browser that can most effectively balance security and ease of use will win users. </p>
<p>And it’s hard to say whether Chrome’s current popularity will be sustained over time. Google will no doubt want it to continue, since web browsers are significant <a href="https://fourweekmba.com/how-does-mozilla-make-money/">revenue sources</a>. </p>
<p>But Google as a corporation is becoming increasingly unpopular due to massive <a href="https://theconversation.com/google-is-leading-a-vast-covert-human-experiment-you-may-be-one-of-the-guinea-pigs-154178">data gathering</a> and <a href="https://theconversation.com/is-google-getting-worse-increased-advertising-and-algorithm-changes-may-make-it-harder-to-find-what-youre-looking-for-166966">intrusive advertising</a> practices. Chrome is a key component of Google’s data-gathering machine, so it’s possible users may slowly turn away.</p>
<p>As for what to do about Explorer (if you’re one of the few people that still has it sitting meekly on your desktop) – simply <a href="https://docs.microsoft.com/en-us/troubleshoot/developer/browsers/installation/disable-internet-explorer-windows">uninstall</a> it to avoid security risks. </p>
<p>Even if you’re not using Explorer, just having it installed <a href="https://mashable.com/article/internet-explorer-hacker-windows-pc-exploit">could present</a> a threat to your device. No one wants to be the victim of a cyber attack via a dead browser!</p>
<p><div data-react-class="Tweet" data-react-props="{"tweetId":"1537005145711472641"}"></div></p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/185130/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>The authors do not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and have disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>Explorer came at the dawn of the public internet. For millions of people, it will always be their first experience of the World Wide Web.Mohiuddin Ahmed, Lecturer of Computing & Security, Edith Cowan UniversityM Imran Malik, Cyber Security Researcher, Edith Cowan UniversityPaul Haskell-Dowland, Professor of Cyber Security Practice, Edith Cowan UniversityLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1624902021-06-15T16:36:15Z2021-06-15T16:36:15ZThe increase in ransomware attacks during the COVID-19 pandemic may lead to a new internet<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/406286/original/file-20210614-107575-1yomew4.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=0%2C40%2C5383%2C3537&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Colonial Pipeline storage tanks. On May 7, 2021, the company experienced a ransomware cyberattack.</span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">(AP Photo/Seth Wenig)</span></span></figcaption></figure><p>Make no mistake: We are also in the midst of a digital pandemic of ransomware attacks. The recent ransomware attacks on <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2021/05/13/us/politics/biden-colonial-pipeline-ransomware.html">Colonial Pipeline</a> and <a href="https://www.wsj.com/articles/jbs-paid-11-million-to-resolve-ransomware-attack-11623280781">JBS USA Holdings Inc.</a> — the world’s largest meat processors — underscore the growing brazen nature of organized, deliberate attacks on increasingly significant targets, and our chronic inability to defend against them. </p>
<hr>
<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/colonial-pipeline-forked-over-4-4m-to-end-cyberattack-but-is-paying-a-ransom-ever-the-ethical-thing-to-do-161383">Colonial Pipeline forked over $4.4M to end cyberattack – but is paying a ransom ever the ethical thing to do?</a>
</strong>
</em>
</p>
<hr>
<p>What we need is a new internet. The old one is broken.</p>
<h2>Origins of the internet</h2>
<p>Today’s internet originated from the <a href="https://www.britannica.com/topic/ARPANET/A-packet-of-data">Advanced Research Projects Agency Network (ARPANET) in the late 1960s</a> — a conglomerate of research institutions connecting military, political and industrial actors during the Cold War in the United States. It allowed for secure communications in case of conflict, and to facilitate research and development through electronic sharing of information. It was a closed, tightly controlled, highly secure, invitation-only network.</p>
<p>The invention of the World Wide Web (WWW) by Tim Berners-Lee in 1990 led to the browser-based internet that we know today. The WWW introduced, and advocated for, an open, inclusive, universal and unconstrained mode for networks to communicate with each other. It introduced the notion of hyperlinks that a user could simply click on and be transported to a new web page on a separate network. This was the start of the unregulated, user-driven, content-rich internet.</p>
<p>The paradox of the internet is that it was born, has grown and exists in an environment where control and access have been in constant tension and conflict.</p>
<h2>The rise of ransomware</h2>
<p>Cybercrime is a growing, highly successful and profitable industry. According to Cybersecurity Ventures, cybercrime costs will grow by 15 per cent per year to reach <a href="https://cybersecurityventures.com/annual-cybercrime-report-2020/">US$10.5 trillion by 2025</a>: the third greatest “economy” in the world, after those of the U.S. States and China. </p>
<p>A big part of this is ransomware, multi-pronged attacks capturing an organization’s data and systems. Since the start of the pandemic, ransomware attacks have increased by <a href="https://www.bitdefender.com/">nearly 500 per cent since the start of the COVID-19 pandemic</a>. </p>
<p>The average ransom payment has also continued to climb, <a href="https://www.coveware.com/blog/ransomware-attack-vectors-shift-as-new-software-vulnerability-exploits-abound">up 43 per cent from the last quarter of 2020</a> to an average of over US$200,000. What is especially insidious about these attacks is that a ransom demand is often accompanied by a breach and extraction of company data, and a concurrent extortion threatening to release this data unless additional payments are made. </p>
<p>In the first quarter of 2021, <a href="https://www.coveware.com/blog/ransomware-attack-vectors-shift-as-new-software-vulnerability-exploits-abound">over three-quarters of ransomware attacks were tied to such a threat</a>.</p>
<figure>
<iframe width="440" height="260" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/_aC0g4PBu58?wmode=transparent&start=0" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen=""></iframe>
<figcaption><span class="caption">The FBI warns that ransomware attacks are on the rise.</span></figcaption>
</figure>
<p>Criminals have also evolved to become increasingly systemic. The recent attack on <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2021/05/29/world/europe/ransomware-russia-darkside.html">Colonial Pipelines by the hacker collective DarkSide</a> exemplifies this. Like their state-sponsored counterparts, criminal collectives have created virtual organizations and enacted focus strategies targeting specific sectors and companies. They have infinite resources, skills and patience. They are playing a long game where targets are identified, carefully reconnoitred and only acted upon when the maximum value can be extracted. </p>
<p>CNA Financial was attacked in late March, and paid a ransom of US$40 million — one of the biggest payments on record. The hackers were apparently interested in obtaining access to CNA’s client database not only to blackmail the company itself, but to identify clients that had purchased cyberinsurance with <a href="https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2021-05-20/cna-financial-paid-40-million-in-ransom-after-march-cyberattack">a ransomware payment rider to identify the most lucrative targets</a>. DarkSide are also selling ransomware packs to other hackers — <a href="https://purplesec.us/resources/cyber-security-statistics/ransomware/">Ransomware-as-a-Service (RaaS) is becoming a growing profit centre</a>.</p>
<h2>The new old internet</h2>
<p>Legislators have, predictably, responded to these attacks. U.S. President Joe Biden has directed federal agencies to <a href="https://www.whitehouse.gov/briefing-room/statements-releases/2021/05/11/fact-sheet-the-biden-harris-administration-has-launched-an-all-of-government-effort-to-address-colonial-pipeline-incident/">bring all of their resources to bear on dealing with digital disruptions</a>. The Department of Homeland Security is developing a set of mandatory rules for how pipelines, and likely other infrastructure providers, will need to <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/business/2021/05/25/colonial-hack-pipeline-dhs-cybersecurity/">safeguard their assets</a>. </p>
<p>While a good first step, it will not be enough, and we will continue to react, to be behind the attack curve.</p>
<p>Intranets — closed, proprietary networks — might hold the key to solving this threat.</p>
<p>We foresee a new internet emerging, with two distinct sides. On one side, we’ll have the wholly unfiltered, minimally regulated, Wild West internet that anyone can access. </p>
<p>On the other side, we might see the evolution of what could be called the “World Wide Intranet,” that is, widely accessible but tightly controlled websites with stringent access controls to prevent criminal activity, much like the closed corporate intranets that gained popularity two decades ago.</p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/406197/original/file-20210614-73420-1p549ga.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="shadow of a man with his head in his hands looking at a laptop screen that says RANSOMWARE" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/406197/original/file-20210614-73420-1p549ga.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/406197/original/file-20210614-73420-1p549ga.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/406197/original/file-20210614-73420-1p549ga.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/406197/original/file-20210614-73420-1p549ga.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/406197/original/file-20210614-73420-1p549ga.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/406197/original/file-20210614-73420-1p549ga.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/406197/original/file-20210614-73420-1p549ga.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">As the amount of data generated worldwide increases, so will the vulnerability to cyberattacks.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">(Shutterstock)</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<h2>Responsive security</h2>
<p>Large online merchants like Amazon, the government, health-care providers or other large organizations will no longer tolerate criminal assaults on their and their stakeholders’ data and resources. As such, as security measures like multi-factor authentification evolve, they will increasingly be adopted by these organizations and passed onto consumers as a condition of access.</p>
<p>As a society, we accept controls when the cost of not having them becomes greater than the restrictions they impose. We see this trend as an inevitable consequence of the growing security threats affecting not only networks but the individuals that transact with them.</p>
<hr>
<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/cyberattacks-are-on-the-rise-amid-work-from-home-how-to-protect-your-business-151268">Cyberattacks are on the rise amid work from home – how to protect your business</a>
</strong>
</em>
</p>
<hr>
<p>By 2025, the world will store <a href="https://cybersecurityventures.com/hackerpocalypse-original-cybercrime-report-2016/">200 Zettabytes (one trillion gigabytes) of data</a>. The accompanying growth in transactions leaves us no other choice but to tighten identity and access controls. </p>
<p>One pathway might divide the web into one open, but inherently risky, internet and one closed, controlled, regulated and inherently untrusting one where security and privacy dominate.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/162490/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>The authors do not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and have disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>The amount of online data and transactions are growing exponentially. Related is the increasing possibility of cyberattacks — one way to address these is by regulating parts of the internet.Michael Parent, Professor, Management Information Systems, Simon Fraser UniversityDavid R. Beatty, Academic Director of the David and Sharon Johnston Centre for Corporate Governance Innovation, Rotman School of Management, University of TorontoLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1558322021-02-25T13:28:27Z2021-02-25T13:28:27ZFacebook’s news blockade in Australia shows how tech giants are swallowing the web<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/385936/original/file-20210223-16-6oqmbd.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=0%2C23%2C5221%2C3548&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Facebook's decision to shut off sharing of Australian news made headlines across the nation.</span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://newsroom.ap.org/detail/AustraliaDigitalPlatforms/5508e6ba66f44b319f785aa5c4a37cdc/photo">AP Photo/Rick Rycroft</a></span></figcaption></figure><p>When Facebook <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2021/02/17/technology/facebook-google-australia-news.html">disabled Australians’ access to news articles</a> on its platform, and blocked sharing of articles from Australian news organizations, the company moved a step closer to killing the World Wide Web – the hyperlink-based system of freely connecting online sites <a href="https://webfoundation.org/about/vision/history-of-the-web/">created in 1989 by Sir Tim Berners-Lee</a>. </p>
<p>Though the social media giant has <a href="https://www.bbc.com/news/world-australia-56165015">said it will return to the negotiating table and restore news for now</a>, the company has shown its hand – and how it is continuing to reshape the web.</p>
<p>As a <a href="https://newhouse.syr.edu/faculty-staff/jennifer-grygiel">social media scholar</a>, I see clearly that the internet in 2021 is <a href="https://www.cnn.com/2021/02/23/tech/splinternet-tech-regulation-facebook/index.html">not the same open public sphere</a> that Berners-Lee envisioned. Rather, it is a constellation of powerful <a href="https://www.nbcnews.com/think/opinion/twitter-s-jack-dorsey-created-walled-internet-garden-then-he-ncna1102421">corporate platforms</a> that have come to dominate how people use the internet, what information they get and who is able to profit from it. </p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/385941/original/file-20210223-22-1nz0e0m.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="Tim Berners-Lee" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/385941/original/file-20210223-22-1nz0e0m.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/385941/original/file-20210223-22-1nz0e0m.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/385941/original/file-20210223-22-1nz0e0m.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/385941/original/file-20210223-22-1nz0e0m.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/385941/original/file-20210223-22-1nz0e0m.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=502&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/385941/original/file-20210223-22-1nz0e0m.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=502&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/385941/original/file-20210223-22-1nz0e0m.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=502&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Tim Berners Lee, the man who in 1989 invented the hyperlink-interconnected World Wide Web.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Sir_Tim_Berners-Lee.jpg">Paul Clarke via Wikimedia Commons</a>, <a class="license" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/">CC BY-SA</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<h2>Paying for news</h2>
<p>The Australian government’s legislative efforts aim to support the news industry by helping to broker a deal whereby <a href="https://www.aph.gov.au/Parliamentary_Business/Bills_Legislation/bd/bd2021a/21bd048">Facebook would pay Australian news organizations for content</a> posted on its platform by users. Right now, Facebook isn’t required to pay for news in any way, and the company objected to <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2021/02/22/technology/facebook-australia-news.html">this new potential cost of business</a>.</p>
<p>Berners-Lee warned the Australian government the proposed law could undermine free linking, which he called a “<a href="https://www.theguardian.com/media/2021/jan/20/australias-proposed-media-code-could-break-the-world-wide-web-says-the-man-who-invented-it">fundamental principle of the web</a>.” <a href="https://about.fb.com/news/2021/02/the-real-story-of-what-happened-with-news-on-facebook-in-australia/">Facebook’s own statement of self-defense</a> focused on Berners-Lee’s argument, saying Facebook provides value to news organizations by linking to them. But their statements show that neither has acknowledged that Facebook has, for many people, <a href="https://qz.com/333313/milliions-of-facebook-users-have-no-idea-theyre-using-the-internet/">effectively become the web</a>.</p>
<p>Back in the 1980s, Berners-Lee envisioned the web as a network of community-minded academic researchers <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/media/2021/jan/20/australias-proposed-media-code-could-break-the-world-wide-web-says-the-man-who-invented-it">sharing their knowledge quickly and conveniently</a> across the world. The main mechanism for this was the hyperlink – text that, when clicked on, led readers to something they were interested in, or to supporting material on the actual source’s website. This meant information was freely exchanged, with attribution. The priority was helping users find the material they wanted, wherever it was online.</p>
<p>Berners-Lee’s design serves the reader, but not everyone was as public-spirited: Companies like Facebook have been moving away from this principle since the web’s founding. These corporate platforms are <a href="https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.1080/16522354.2018.1527521?journalCode=romb20">designed to capture and dominate users’ attention</a> – and turn it into money.</p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/385965/original/file-20210223-14-1xpqsr5.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="A Facebook news post" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/385965/original/file-20210223-14-1xpqsr5.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/385965/original/file-20210223-14-1xpqsr5.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=453&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/385965/original/file-20210223-14-1xpqsr5.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=453&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/385965/original/file-20210223-14-1xpqsr5.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=453&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/385965/original/file-20210223-14-1xpqsr5.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=569&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/385965/original/file-20210223-14-1xpqsr5.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=569&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/385965/original/file-20210223-14-1xpqsr5.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=569&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">A Facebook post often includes key news content – not just a link.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.facebook.com/theguardian/posts/10159994274116323">The Conversation screenshot of the Guardian's Facebook page</a>, <a class="license" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nd/4.0/">CC BY-ND</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<h2>Keeping users on the site</h2>
<p>When a user posts a link on Facebook, it’s not just a hyperlink as Berners-Lee envisioned. It’s much more advanced, <a href="https://medium.com/slack-developer-blog/everything-you-ever-wanted-to-know-about-unfurling-but-were-afraid-to-ask-or-how-to-make-your-e64b4bb9254">displaying information from the linked page</a>, including, for news stories, a <a href="https://developers.facebook.com/docs/sharing/webmasters/">headline, a main image</a> and sometimes a summary of the news users might see if they clicked the link. In this way, users can get a lot of the information without ever leaving Facebook, <a href="https://doi.org/10.1080/16522354.2018.1527521">hurting news organizations’ revenues</a>.</p>
<p>On Instagram, which is owned by Facebook, users’ options are even more restricted. People can post photos and text, but cannot directly share links to other websites. The only active links in a post are internal, for tagging others on Instagram and hashtags.</p>
<p>In my view, both cases show that Facebook doesn’t really want an interconnected web: It wants to keep its users on its own platforms. Facebook displays valuable information, but if people don’t click through, or there is nothing to effectively click on, then those who actually created the content will continue to have a <a href="https://www.news.com.au/technology/online/social/facebook-to-lift-news-ban-for-australian-users-and-publishers/news-story/e3567b796fbe642418d8b220b101988d">hard time making money off their work</a>.</p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/385938/original/file-20210223-13-dymn3z.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="An Australian media company's Facebook page had no articles on Feb. 18." src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/385938/original/file-20210223-13-dymn3z.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/385938/original/file-20210223-13-dymn3z.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=390&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/385938/original/file-20210223-13-dymn3z.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=390&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/385938/original/file-20210223-13-dymn3z.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=390&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/385938/original/file-20210223-13-dymn3z.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=490&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/385938/original/file-20210223-13-dymn3z.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=490&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/385938/original/file-20210223-13-dymn3z.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=490&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">The Facebook page for the Australian Broadcasting Corp. had no articles visible to users on Feb. 18.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://newsroom.ap.org/detail/AustraliaDigitalPlatforms/9e18b7dbc60c4f75979b5a7af5da380b/photo">AP Photo/Rick Rycroft</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<h2>Possible ways forward</h2>
<p>The situation in Australia is a significant opportunity to examine how much power Facebook has over the ways people can seek information online.</p>
<p>News media may decide to bid farewell to Facebook, which provides <a href="https://www.abc.net.au/news/2021-02-19/facebook-referral-traffic-down-news-ban-morrison-frydenberg/13171568">about one-fifth of traffic to media sites</a> in Australia, and <a href="https://doi.org/10.1080/16522354.2018.1527521">not necessarily much revenue</a> in other parts of the world. They might <a href="https://www.theverge.com/2021/2/19/22291406/abc-news-app-top-charts-facebook-ban-australia">seek other options for digital distribution of their content</a>. But in the near term they may need financial help from somewhere if they have become too dependent on Facebook.</p>
<p>Or news organizations could negotiate with Facebook directly in deals and avoid restrictive laws, as the proposed legislation is not even final yet. </p>
<p>News publishers could also ask regulators to help them gain more control over how news content is presented on platforms to <a href="https://doi.org/10.1080/16522354.2018.1527521">increase link referral traffic</a>, which is key to generating revenue. A return to simpler hyperlinks – and adding them to Instagram – could help more users click through on news stories while preserving the principles of the web. Just because advanced technology exists <a href="https://theconversation.com/livestreamed-massacre-means-its-time-to-shut-down-facebook-live-113830">doesn’t mean it’s helpful in all situations or good</a>. But then again, a basic old-timey solution may not work for those trapped in the “<a href="https://doi.org/10.1080/16522354.2018.1527521">attention economy</a>.</p>
<p><em>Editor’s note: The Conversation U.S. is an independent media nonprofit, one of eight news organizations around the world that share a common mission, brand and publishing platform. The Conversation Australia has publicly lobbied in support of the Australian government’s proposal.</em></p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/155832/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Jennifer Grygiel owns a small number of shares in the following social media companies: Facebook, Google, Twitter, Alibaba, LinkedIn, YY, Snap, Amazon, and Netflix. Grygiel also owns nominal amounts of the following cryptocurrencies: Bitcoin, Litecoin and Ethereum.</span></em></p>The internet of 2021 is not the open public sphere that early visionaries had imagined.Jennifer Grygiel, Assistant Professor of Communications (Social Media) & Magazine, News and Digital Journalism, Syracuse UniversityLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1540602021-01-29T01:25:48Z2021-01-29T01:25:48ZIf Google does pull its search engine out of Australia, there are alternatives<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/381048/original/file-20210128-19-1lmbpzf.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=80%2C440%2C5029%2C3377&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">
</span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">Shutterstock/Wachiwit</span></span></figcaption></figure><p>The Australian government’s <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/media/2020/dec/09/australia-is-making-google-and-facebook-pay-for-news-what-difference-will-the-code-make">push</a> to make Google pay news organisations for linking to their content has seen the search giant threaten to <a href="https://about.google/google-in-australia/an-open-letter/">pull out of Australia</a>. </p>
<p>Google Australia’s managing director Mel Silva said if the government’s proposal goes ahead, “we would have no real choice but to stop making Google Search available in Australia”.</p>
<p>Prime Minister Scott Morrison pushed back saying he won’t respond to “<a href="https://thenewdaily.com.au/news/politics/2021/01/22/pm-responds-google-threat/">threats</a>”. Even the Council of Small Business Organisations Australia says Google needs “<a href="https://www.theguardian.com/technology/2021/jan/27/ignore-threats-to-shut-search-in-australia-and-force-google-to-pay-small-business-groups-say">strong and stringent</a>” regulation because of its monopoly on searching the web.</p>
<h2>What if Google pulls out?</h2>
<p>Google’s proposal to make Google Search unavailable in Australia means we would need to search the web using other systems and tools. If this really happens, we could no longer go to <a href="https://www.google.com/">google.com</a> and <a href="https://www.google.com.au/">google.com.au</a> to search the web.</p>
<hr>
<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/its-not-fair-and-it-wont-work-an-argument-against-the-accc-forcing-google-and-facebook-to-pay-for-news-145391">It's not 'fair' and it won't work: an argument against the ACCC forcing Google and Facebook to pay for news</a>
</strong>
</em>
</p>
<hr>
<p>It is important to note that Google is not just web search. Google’s parent company <a href="https://abc.xyz/">Alphabet Inc</a> also runs key web portals such as YouTube, and productivity tools such as Gmail, Google Calendar, Google Docs and Google Maps (which actually <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com.au/google-maps-australia-tech-inventions-2020-2">started in Australia</a>). Those services are not going to be removed from the Australian market, even if web search does get pulled out.</p>
<p>Online advertising is another sector in which Google is the market leader and where it makes money. Pulling Google web search out from Australia does not mean businesses would no longer be able to advertise using Google’s services. </p>
<p>But with no Google Search here, those adverts would no longer appear ahead of any other search results and be visited by Australian users.</p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/381044/original/file-20210128-23-guuupy.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="A Google Search result showing an ad for The Conversation ahead of any search results." src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/381044/original/file-20210128-23-guuupy.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/381044/original/file-20210128-23-guuupy.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=201&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/381044/original/file-20210128-23-guuupy.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=201&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/381044/original/file-20210128-23-guuupy.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=201&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/381044/original/file-20210128-23-guuupy.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=253&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/381044/original/file-20210128-23-guuupy.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=253&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/381044/original/file-20210128-23-guuupy.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=253&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Google Search places paid advertising ahead of any search results.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Google.com/screenshot</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>Businesses would still be able to put their adverts on other Australian websites that use the <a href="https://ads.google.com/">Google Ads</a> service.</p>
<p>The issue with this scenario is that Google’s key competitive advantage is the ability to access <a href="https://www.wired.com/story/google-tracks-you-privacy/">data from people</a> using its search services. Pulling web search out from the Australian market would mean Google missing out on that data from people in Australia.</p>
<h2>The alternatives to Google</h2>
<p>Google is the dominant search engine in Australia — it has <a href="https://gs.statcounter.com/search-engine-market-share/all/australia">94% of the web search market in Australia</a> — but there are other search services.</p>
<p>The <a href="https://gs.statcounter.com/search-engine-market-share/all/australia">second most popular</a> search engine in Australia is <a href="https://www.bing.com/">Bing</a>, developed by Microsoft and often integrated into other Microsoft products such as its Windows operating system and Office tools.</p>
<p>Another less popular search option is <a href="https://au.yahoo.com/">Yahoo</a>, which also offers its own news and email service.</p>
<p>Other alternatives include niche search engines that offer unique tools with special features.</p>
<p>For example, <a href="https://duckduckgo.com/">DuckDuckGo</a> is a search engine that has recently risen in popularity thanks to a commitment to protecting its users’ privacy.</p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/381224/original/file-20210128-15-8jrbh.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="The DuckDuckGo homepage" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/381224/original/file-20210128-15-8jrbh.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/381224/original/file-20210128-15-8jrbh.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=303&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/381224/original/file-20210128-15-8jrbh.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=303&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/381224/original/file-20210128-15-8jrbh.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=303&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/381224/original/file-20210128-15-8jrbh.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=381&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/381224/original/file-20210128-15-8jrbh.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=381&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/381224/original/file-20210128-15-8jrbh.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=381&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">DuckDuckGo is gaining support.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://duckduckgo.com/">DuckDuckGo/Screen shot</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>Contrary to the web search products from Google and Microsoft, DuckDuckGo does not store its users’ search queries or track their interactions with the system.</p>
<p>The quality of DuckDuckGo’s search results has improved over time, and is now <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/technology/askjack/2019/dec/12/duckduckgo-google-search-engine-privacy">comparable</a> to that of the most popular search engines.</p>
<p>It says it now processes a daily average of more than <a href="https://duckduckgo.com/traffic">90 million search queries</a>, up from just over 51 million the same time last year.</p>
<p>Despite not drawing on users’ data to refine its search algorithms, the technology behind DuckDuckGo and other smaller players is based on the same machine-learning methods that others are using.</p>
<h2>Search the web, save the planet</h2>
<p>Another interesting and recent proposal of an alternative web search engine is <a href="https://www.ecosia.org/">Ecosia</a>. This system is unique as it focuses on sustainability and positive climate impact.</p>
<p>Its mission is to reinvest the income generated by search advertisements (the same business model Google Search is using) to <a href="https://info.ecosia.org/">plant trees</a> in key areas around the world.</p>
<p>So far, it says it has 15 million users and has contributed to planting more than 100 million trees, about 1.3 every second.</p>
<h2>Will Google really abandon Australia?</h2>
<p>Tim Berners-Lee, widely regarded as the inventor of the web, has <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/media/2021/jan/20/australias-proposed-media-code-could-break-the-world-wide-web-says-the-man-who-invented-it">pointed out</a> that the idea of asking web platforms to pay to post links runs counter to his fundamental concept.</p>
<hr>
<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/webs-inventor-says-news-media-bargaining-code-could-break-the-internet-hes-right-but-theres-a-fix-153630">Web's inventor says news media bargaining code could break the internet. He's right — but there's a fix</a>
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</em>
</p>
<hr>
<p>That said, it is also unfair for a search engine to make money using content that others have created.</p>
<p>It is also true that most of Google’s revenue already comes from asking others to pay for links on the web. This is <a href="https://ads.google.com/intl/en_au/home/how-it-works/">how Google’s online advertising works</a>: Google Ads makes advertisers pay for every impression users get or click users make to navigate to the advertised web page.</p>
<p>In some cases, if users end up <a href="https://support.google.com/google-ads/answer/1722022?hl=en-AU&ref_topic=3119146">buying the advertised product</a>, Google gets a payment.</p>
<p>More likely than Google pulling out of the Australian market, the government and the search giant should diplomatically find a compromise in which Google still provides its web search product in Australia and there will be a return to news organisations for Google making use of their content.</p>
<hr>
<p><em>This article was updated to clarify how Google can receive payments from advertisers for purchases.</em></p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/154060/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Gianluca Demartini receives funding from the Australian Research Council and Facebook.</span></em></p>There are other ways to search the web without Google, and some options help protect your privacy while another is good for the planet.Gianluca Demartini, Associate professor, The University of QueenslandLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1536302021-01-21T02:30:32Z2021-01-21T02:30:32ZWeb’s inventor says news media bargaining code could break the internet. He’s right — but there’s a fix<p>The inventor of the World Wide Web, <a href="https://www.vanityfair.com/news/2018/07/the-man-who-created-the-world-wide-web-has-some-regrets">Tim Berners-Lee</a>, has <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com.au/media-bargaining-code-tim-berners-lee-2021-1">raised concerns</a> that Australia’s proposed News Media and Digital Platforms Mandatory Bargaining Code could fundamentally break the internet as we know it.</p>
<p>His concerns are valid. However, they could be addressed through minor changes to the proposed code. </p>
<h2>How could the code break the web?</h2>
<p>The news media bargaining code aims to level the playing field between media companies and online giants. It would do this by forcing Facebook and Google to pay Australian news businesses for content linked to, or featured, on their platforms.</p>
<p>In a <a href="https://www.aph.gov.au/Parliamentary_Business/Committees/Senate/Economics/TLABNewsMedia/Submissions">submission</a> to the Senate inquiry about the code, Berners-Lee wrote:</p>
<blockquote>
<p>Specifically, I am concerned that the Code risks breaching a fundamental principle of the web by requiring payment for linking between certain content online. […] The ability to link freely — meaning without limitations regarding the content of the linked site and without monetary fees — is fundamental to how the web operates.</p>
</blockquote>
<p>Currently, one of the most basic underlying principles of the web is there is no cost involved in creating a hypertext link (or simply a “link”) to any other page or object online. </p>
<p>When Berners-Lee first devised the World Wide Web in 1989, he effectively <a href="https://home.cern/science/computing/birth-web">gave away</a> the idea and associated software for free, to ensure nobody would or could charge for using its protocols. </p>
<p>He argues the news media bargaining code could set a legal precedent allowing someone to charge for linking, which would let the genie out of the bottle — and plenty more attempts to charge for linking to content would appear. </p>
<p>If the precedent were set that people could be charged for simply linking to content online, it’s possible the underlying principle of linking would be disrupted.</p>
<p>As a result, there would likely be many attempts by both legitimate companies and scammers to charge users for what is currently free.</p>
<p>While supporting the “right of publishers and content creators to be properly rewarded for their work”, Berners-Lee asks the code be amended to maintain the principle of allowing free linking between content.</p>
<hr>
<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/google-news-favours-mainstream-media-even-if-it-pays-for-australian-content-will-local-outlets-fall-further-behind-146565">Google News favours mainstream media. Even if it pays for Australian content, will local outlets fall further behind?</a>
</strong>
</em>
</p>
<hr>
<h2>Google and Facebook don’t just link to content</h2>
<p>Part of the issue here is Google and Facebook don’t just collect a list of interesting links to news content. Rather the way they find, sort, curate and present news content adds value for their users. </p>
<p>They don’t just link to news content, they reframe it. It is often in that reframing that advertisements appear, and this is where these platforms make money.</p>
<p>For example, <a href="https://www.w3.org/History/1989/proposal.html">this link</a> will take you to the original 1989 proposal for the World Wide Web. Right now, anyone can create such a link to any other page or object on the web, without having to pay anyone else.</p>
<p>But what Facebook and Google do in curating news content is fundamentally different. They create <a href="https://medium.com/better-programming/link-previews-more-than-meets-the-eye-aa13c77c6d69">compelling previews</a>, usually by offering the headline of a news article, sometimes the first few lines, and often the first image extracted. </p>
<p>For instance, here is a preview Google generates when someone searches for Tim Berners-Lee’s Web proposal:</p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/379685/original/file-20210120-21-190yp8s.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="Results page for the Google Search 'tim berners lee www proposal'." src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/379685/original/file-20210120-21-190yp8s.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/379685/original/file-20210120-21-190yp8s.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=556&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/379685/original/file-20210120-21-190yp8s.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=556&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/379685/original/file-20210120-21-190yp8s.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=556&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/379685/original/file-20210120-21-190yp8s.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=698&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/379685/original/file-20210120-21-190yp8s.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=698&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/379685/original/file-20210120-21-190yp8s.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=698&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">This is a screen capture of the results page for the Google Search: ‘tim berners lee www proposal’.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Google</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>Evidently, what Google returns is more of a media-rich, detailed preview than a simple link. For Google’s users, this is a much more meaningful preview of the content and better enables them to decide whether they’ll click through to see more.</p>
<p>Another huge challenge for media businesses is that increasing numbers of users are taking headlines and previews at face value, without necessarily reading the article.</p>
<p>This can obviously decrease revenue for news providers, as well as perpetuate misinformation. Indeed, it’s one of the reasons Twitter began asking users to actually <a href="https://www.theverge.com/2020/9/25/21455635/twitter-read-before-you-tweet-article-prompt-rolling-out-globally-soon">read content before retweeting it</a>. </p>
<p>A fairly compelling argument, then, is that Google and Facebook add value for consumers via the reframing, curating and previewing of content — not just by linking to it.</p>
<h2>Can the code be fixed?</h2>
<p>Currently <a href="https://www.aph.gov.au/Parliamentary_Business/Bills_Legislation/Bills_Search_Results/Result?bId=r6652">in the code</a>, the section concerning how platforms are “Making content available” lists three ways content is shared:</p>
<ol>
<li>content is reproduced on the service</li>
<li>content is linked to </li>
<li>an extract or preview is made available. </li>
</ol>
<p>Similar terms are used to detail how users might interact with content.</p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/379684/original/file-20210120-23-ujhd1j.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="Extract showing the way 'Making content available' is defined in the Treasury Laws Amendment (News Media and Digital Platforms Mandatory Bargaining Code) Bill 2020" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/379684/original/file-20210120-23-ujhd1j.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/379684/original/file-20210120-23-ujhd1j.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=448&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/379684/original/file-20210120-23-ujhd1j.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=448&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/379684/original/file-20210120-23-ujhd1j.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=448&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/379684/original/file-20210120-23-ujhd1j.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=563&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/379684/original/file-20210120-23-ujhd1j.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=563&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/379684/original/file-20210120-23-ujhd1j.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=563&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">The News Media and Digital Platforms Mandatory Bargaining Code 2020 outlines three main ways by which platforms make news content available.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Australian Government</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>If we accept most of the additional value platforms provide to their users is in curating and providing previews of content, then deleting the second element (which just specifies linking to content) would fix Berners-Lee’s concerns. </p>
<p>It would ensure the use of links alone can’t be monetised, as has always been true on the web. Platforms would still need to pay when they present users with extracts or previews of articles, but not when they <em>only</em> link to it. </p>
<p>Since basic links are not the bread and butter of big platforms, this change wouldn’t fundamentally alter the purpose or principle of creating a more level playing field for news businesses and platforms. </p>
<hr>
<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/its-not-fair-and-it-wont-work-an-argument-against-the-accc-forcing-google-and-facebook-to-pay-for-news-145391">It's not 'fair' and it won't work: an argument against the ACCC forcing Google and Facebook to pay for news</a>
</strong>
</em>
</p>
<hr>
<p>In its current form, the News Media and Digital Platforms Mandatory Bargaining Code could put the underlying principles of the world wide web in jeopardy. Tim Berners-Lee is right to raise this point. </p>
<p>But a relatively small tweak to the code would prevent this, It would allow us to focus more on where big platforms actually provide value for users, and where the clearest justification lies in asking them to pay for news content.</p>
<hr>
<p><em>For transparency, it should be noted The Conversation has also <a href="https://theconversation.com/the-conversations-submission-to-the-australian-senate-inquiry-into-the-news-media-bargaining-code-153532">made a submission</a> to the Senate inquiry regarding the News Media and Digital Platforms Mandatory Bargaining Code.</em></p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/153630/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Tama Leaver receives funding from Australian Research Council (ARC); he is currently a Chief Investigator in the ARC Centre of Excellence for the Digital Child.</span></em></p>The code could require Google and Facebook to pay up for simply including links to news articles from other sites. This has never been a requirement on the web.Tama Leaver, Professor of Internet Studies, Curtin UniversityLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1424452020-07-30T12:10:47Z2020-07-30T12:10:47ZPrivate browsing: What it does – and doesn’t do – to shield you from prying eyes on the web<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/350037/original/file-20200728-35-106orez.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=0%2C7%2C5000%2C4985&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">The major browsers have privacy modes, but don't confuse privacy for anonymity.</span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.gettyimages.com/detail/illustration/seamless-pattern-with-big-browsers-royalty-free-illustration/1206416725?adppopup=true">Oleg Mishutin/iStock via Getty Images </a></span></figcaption></figure><p><em>Leer <a href="https://theconversation.com/te-sentias-muy-seguro-navegando-en-modo-incognito-144045">en español</a></em></p>
<p>Many people look for more privacy when they browse the web by using their browsers in privacy-protecting modes, called “Private Browsing” in Mozilla Firefox, Opera and Apple Safari; “Incognito” in Google Chrome; and “InPrivate” in Microsoft Edge. </p>
<p>These private browsing tools sound reassuring, and they’re popular. According to a <a href="https://duckduckgo.com/download/Private_Browsing.pdf">2017 survey</a>, nearly half of American internet users have tried a private browsing mode, and most who have tried it use it regularly. </p>
<p>However, <a href="https://www.usenix.org/system/files/conference/soups2018/soups2018-habib-prying.pdf">our research</a> has found that many people who use private browsing have misconceptions about what protection they’re gaining. A common misconception is that these browser modes allow you to browse the web anonymously, surfing the web without websites identifying you and without your internet service provider or your employer knowing what websites you visit. The tools actually provide much more limited protections.</p>
<p>Other studies conducted by the <a href="https://www.pewresearch.org/internet/2019/10/09/americans-and-digital-knowledge/">Pew Research Center</a> and the privacy-protective search engine company <a href="https://duckduckgo.com/download/Private_Browsing.pdf">DuckDuckGo</a> have similar findings. In fact, a <a href="https://www.forbes.com/sites/daveywinder/2020/06/03/google-chrome-privacy-lawsuit-could-you-get-a-5000-payout-incognito-mode-class-action/#21c2e7191485">recent lawsuit against Google</a> alleges that internet users are not getting the privacy protection they expect when using Chrome’s Incognito mode.</p>
<h2>How it works</h2>
<p>While the exact implementation varies from browser to browser, what private browsing modes have in common is that once you close your private browsing window, your browser no longer stores the websites you visited, cookies, user names, passwords and information from forms you filled out during that private browsing session. </p>
<p>Essentially, each time you open a new private browsing window you are given a “clean slate” in the form of a brand new browser window that has not stored any browsing history or cookies. When you close your private browsing window, the slate is wiped clean again and the browsing history and cookies from that private browsing session are deleted. However, if you bookmark a site or download a file while using private browsing mode, the bookmarks and file will remain on your system. </p>
<p>Although some browsers, including Safari and Firefox, offer some additional protection against web trackers, private browsing mode does not guarantee that your web activities cannot be linked back to you or your device. Notably, private browsing mode does not prevent websites from learning your internet address, and it does not prevent your employer, school or internet service provider from seeing your web activities by tracking your IP address.</p>
<h2>Reasons to use it</h2>
<p>We conducted a <a href="https://www.usenix.org/system/files/conference/soups2018/soups2018-habib-prying.pdf">research study</a> in which we identified reasons people use private browsing mode. Most study participants wanted to protect their browsing activities or personal data from other users of their devices. Private browsing is actually pretty effective for this purpose. </p>
<p>We found that people often used private browsing to visit websites or conduct searches that they did not want other users of their device to see, such as those that might be embarrassing or related to a surprise gift. In addition, private browsing is an easy way to log out of websites when borrowing someone else’s device – so long as you remember to close the window when you are done.</p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="Smart phone displaying Google incognito mode" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/350039/original/file-20200728-29-1wa371x.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/350039/original/file-20200728-29-1wa371x.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=425&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/350039/original/file-20200728-29-1wa371x.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=425&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/350039/original/file-20200728-29-1wa371x.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=425&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/350039/original/file-20200728-29-1wa371x.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=534&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/350039/original/file-20200728-29-1wa371x.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=534&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/350039/original/file-20200728-29-1wa371x.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=534&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
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<span class="caption">Private browsing can help cover your internet tracks by automatically deleting your browsing history and cookies when you close the browser.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.gettyimages.com/detail/news-photo/in-this-photo-illustration-a-private-browsing-application-news-photo/1157262074?adppopup=true">Avishek Das/SOPA Images/LightRocket via Getty Images</a></span>
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<p>Private browsing provides some protection against cookie-based tracking. Since cookies from your private browsing session are not stored after you close your private browsing window, it’s less likely that you will see online advertising in the future related to the websites you visit while using private browsing. </p>
<p>[<em>Get the best of The Conversation, every weekend.</em> <a href="https://theconversation.com/us/newsletters/weekly-highlights-61?utm_source=TCUS&utm_medium=inline-link&utm_campaign=newsletter-text&utm_content=weeklybest">Sign up for our weekly newsletter</a>.]</p>
<p>Additionally, as long as you have not logged into your Google account, any searches you make will not appear in your Google account history and will not affect future Google search results. Similarly, if you watch a video on YouTube or other service in private browsing, as long as you are not logged into that service, your activity does not affect the recommendations you get in normal browsing mode.</p>
<h2>What it doesn’t do</h2>
<p>Private browsing does not make you anonymous online. Anyone who can see your internet traffic – your school or employer, your internet service provider, government agencies, people snooping on your public wireless connection – can see your browsing activity. Shielding that activity requires more sophisticated tools that use encryption, like virtual private networks.</p>
<p>Private browsing also offers few security protections. In particular, it does not prevent you from downloading a virus or malware to your device. Additionally, private browsing does not offer any additional protection for the transmission of your credit card or other personal information to a website when you fill out an online form.</p>
<p>It is also important to note that the longer you leave your private browsing window open, the more browsing data and cookies it accumulates, reducing your privacy protection. Therefore, you should get in the habit of closing your private browsing window frequently to wipe your slate clean.</p>
<h2>What’s in a name</h2>
<p>It is not all that surprising that people have misconceptions about how private browsing mode works; the word “private” suggests a lot more protection than these modes actually provide. </p>
<p>Furthermore, <a href="https://dl.acm.org/doi/abs/10.1145/3178876.3186088">a 2018 research study</a> found that the disclosures shown on the landing pages of private browsing windows do little to dispel misconceptions that people have about these modes. Chrome provides more information about what is and is not protected than most of the other browsers, and Mozilla now links to an informational page on the <a href="https://support.mozilla.org/en-US/kb/common-myths-about-private-browsing?as=u&utm_source=inproduct">common myths</a> related to private browsing. </p>
<p>However, it may be difficult to dispel all of these myths without changing the name of the browsing mode and making it clear that private browsing stops your browser from keeping a record of your browsing activity, but it isn’t a comprehensive privacy shield.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/142445/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Lorrie Cranor receives funding from Bosch, Carnegie Corporation of New York, Carnegie Mellon CyLab, DARPA, DuckDuckGo, Facebook, an endowed professorship established by the founders of FORE Systems, Google, Highmark Health, Innovators Network Foundation, NSA, and NSF. She is affiliated with the ACM Technology Policy Council, the Computing Research Association, the Future of Privacy Forum, the Aspen Institute Cybersecurity Group, the Center for Cybersecurity Policy and Law, and the Consumer Reports Digital Lab Advisory Council.</span></em></p><p class="fine-print"><em><span>Hana Habib receives funding from Carnegie Mellon CyLab and Facebook. </span></em></p>Private mode browsing is a useful way to cover your online tracks. Just don’t read too much into the word ‘private.’Lorrie Cranor, Professor of Computer Science and of Engineering & Public Policy, Carnegie Mellon UniversityHana Habib, Graduate Research Assistant at the Institute for Software Research, Carnegie Mellon UniversityLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1278402019-11-27T15:20:14Z2019-11-27T15:20:14ZTim Berners-Lee: web inventor’s plan to save the internet is admirable, but doomed to fail<p>Tim Berners-Lee is credited with inventing the world wide web and now he’s calling on us to save it. The British engineer and computer scientist recently released a <a href="https://contractfortheweb.org/">Contract for the Web</a> – a list of commitments for governments, businesses and individuals to make in order to tackle fake news and privacy violations online. </p>
<p>According to a new report by Amnesty International, the internet is threatened as never before by the dominance of companies such as <a href="https://www.amnesty.org/en/latest/news/2019/11/google-facebook-surveillance-privacy/">Facebook and Google</a>), which <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/technology/2019/nov/24/tim-berners-lee-unveils-global-plan-to-save-the-internet">stand accused of</a> “enabling human rights harm at a population scale”.</p>
<p>Tech companies allow us to keep up to date with the world and keep in touch with friends and family no matter where they live. We use them to find job opportunities or to create new communities online. But every time you use search engines or social media, your personal data can be hoarded and sold on to other businesses. No doubt these platforms would argue that our data is the cost of using their services for free, but there’s plenty in this arrangement for ordinary web users to fear.</p>
<p>Google could be buying your medical data <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2019/nov/14/im-the-google-whistleblower-the-medical-data-of-millions-of-americans-is-at-risk">without your knowledge</a> to sell it on to insurance companies. Perhaps you’ve restricted your Facebook privacy settings, but Facebook can still <a href="https://www.theverge.com/2016/5/27/11795248/facebook-ad-network-non-users-cookies-plug-ins">track you across other websites</a>. Maybe you identify as a gender or ethnic group that is served different adverts because an algorithm determines that you’re not appropriate for certain <a href="https://www.ft.com/content/bfd60c3c-c5d0-11e8-8167-bea19d5dd52e">jobs</a> or <a href="https://qz.com/1733345/the-fight-against-discriminatory-financial-ads-on-facebook/">housing and credit options</a>. Even the news you read online may be deliberately misleading or dishonest, in the hope of <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2019/nov/25/digital-democracy-will-face-its-greatest-test-in-2020">manipulating your political opinions</a>.</p>
<p>If the power of large tech companies isn’t challenged with international regulation, human rights could be under threat. Is the world doomed to endure a “<a href="https://edition.cnn.com/2019/11/25/tech/berners-lee-web-safer-plan-scli-intl/index.html">digital dystopia</a>”, or could Berners-Lee’s plan ensure the internet remains a common good?</p>
<h2>Is this for everyone?</h2>
<p>The Contract for the Web includes ideas such as net neutrality, which would stop internet service providers from slowing down a person’s connection if they browse outside approved or promoted websites. It also includes respect for privacy and data rights, including preventing corporations from handing information over to governments. It includes fighting for the web as a space for positive communities and collaboration – whether this means being more civil when we post online or opposing oppressive moves by governments. This final aim is essential for raising awareness and promoting more inclusive attitudes online, from stopping hate speech to enabling new ideas.</p>
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Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/net-neutrality-may-be-dead-in-the-us-but-europe-is-still-strongly-committed-to-open-internet-access-89521">Net neutrality may be dead in the US, but Europe is still strongly committed to open internet access</a>
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<p>This is nothing new. Some of the organisations who support the contract, such as the <a href="https://www.eff.org/">Electronic Frontier Foundation</a>, have been campaigning for these principles for years. Privacy regulations such as the <a href="https://gdpr.eu/">GDPR</a> have been a small but important step towards protecting data in Europe, and they’ve provided a blueprint for <a href="https://theconversation.com/kenya-plans-to-place-public-security-above-data-privacy-thats-a-bad-idea-111099">other countries</a>. </p>
<p>Groups, including the <a href="https://www.mozilla.org/en-GB/about/manifesto/">Mozilla Foundation</a>, promote open-source software that can anyone can download and use. But the fact that <a href="https://www.theverge.com/2019/11/25/20981502/contract-for-the-web-tim-berners-lee-google-facebook-principles-techlash">Google and Facebook</a> back the contract raises some questions. Do they really want to help reform the web to curb their worst behaviour or will manipulation continue to be the cost of access? </p>
<p>The algorithms of Google, Facebook and Twitter determine what people see online, whether that is adverts or political content. The contract does nothing to resolve this huge imbalance in influence and power. Many of us feel like we have no choice but to use their services, and they often use openness – such as free email and free apps like Google Maps – as a way of furthering their control over everything people do online. </p>
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<p>Google makes money from people using free services, mostly by hoovering up our data to fuel targeted ads, and its business model isn’t likely to change overnight. For internet reform to succeed, it would need international collaboration between governments for effective regulation, along with pressure from users.</p>
<p>The early web was full of utopian ideas, like John Perry Barlow’s famous <a href="https://www.wired.com/2016/02/its-been-20-years-since-this-man-declared-cyberspace-independence/">Declaration of the Independence of Cyberspace</a>. This tried to place the internet as a space separate from government control, but didn’t anticipate the inevitable extent and character of corporate influence. Berners-Lee has remained faithful to this vision of collaboration and creativity for the betterment of humanity. But history, or perhaps the influence of major corporations, has not been kind to the web. </p>
<p>While his new contract won’t fix all of its problems, Berners-Lee is right – we need action now from all sectors to reform the web. It has great potential to bring people together and support the diverse needs of humanity, but only if control can be wrestled from giants like Facebook and Google.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/127840/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Garfield Benjamin does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>Can we make the web more inclusive or will our online reality always be a lawless wasteland of trolls and lies?Garfield Benjamin, Postdoctoral Researcher, School of Media Arts and Technology, Solent UniversityLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1277932019-11-27T05:25:56Z2019-11-27T05:25:56ZThe internet’s founder now wants to ‘fix the web’, but his proposal misses the mark<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/303902/original/file-20191127-112493-10otlhd.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=34%2C0%2C3835%2C2578&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Tim Berners-Lee is the director of the World Wide Web Consortium, an organisation which aims to develop international standards for the web.</span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">SHUTTERSTOCK</span></span></figcaption></figure><p>On March 12, the 30th anniversary of the World Wide Web, the internet’s founder Tim Berners-Lee said we needed to “<a href="https://webfoundation.org/2019/03/web-birthday-30/">fix the web</a>”. </p>
<p>The statement attracted considerable interest. </p>
<p>However, a resulting manifesto released on Sunday, and dubbed the <a href="https://contractfortheweb.org/">Contract for the Web</a>, is a major disappointment. </p>
<p>Endorsed by more than 80 corporations and non-government organisations, the campaign seeks a return to the “<a href="https://techcrunch.com/2016/04/10/1301496/">open web</a>” of the 1990s and early 2000s – one largely free of corporate control over content.</p>
<p>While appealing in theory, the contract glosses over several key challenges. It doesn’t account for the fact that most internet content is now accessed through a small number of digital platforms, such as Google and Facebook. </p>
<p>Known as the “<a href="https://eprints.qut.edu.au/129830/">platformisation of the internet</a>”, it’s this phenomenon which has generated many of the problems the web now faces, and this is where the focus should be. </p>
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<a href="https://theconversation.com/who-controls-the-internet-the-debate-is-live-and-clicking-11187">Who controls the internet? The debate is live and clicking</a>
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<h2>An undercooked proposal</h2>
<p>Berners-Lee identified major obstacles threatening the future of the web, including the circulation of malicious content, “<a href="https://webfoundation.org/2019/03/web-birthday-30/">perverse incentives</a>” that promote clickbait, and the growing polarisation of online debate. </p>
<p>Having played a central role in the web’s development, he promised to use his influence to promote positive digital change. </p>
<p>He said the Contract for the Web was <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/technology/2019/nov/24/tim-berners-lee-unveils-global-plan-to-save-the-internet">a revolutionary statement</a>. </p>
<p>In fact, it’s deeply conservative. </p>
<p>Berners-Lee claims it’s the moral responsibility of everybody to “save the web”. This implies the solution involves engaging civic morality and corporate ethics, rather than enacting laws and regulations that make digital platforms more publicly accountable. </p>
<p>The contract views governments, not corporations, as the primary threat to an open internet. But governments’ influence is restricted to building digital infrastructure (such as fast broadband), facilitating online access, removing illegal content and maintaining data security. </p>
<h2>Missing links</h2>
<p>The contract doesn’t prescribe <a href="https://www.iicom.org/intermedia/intermedia-past-issues/intermedia-jul-2019/taking-aim-at-big-tech">measures</a> to address power misuse by digital platforms, or a solution to the <a href="http://www.lse.ac.uk/media-and-communications/assets/documents/research/T3-Report-Tackling-the-Information-Crisis.pdf">power imbalance</a> between such platforms and content creators. </p>
<p>This is despite <a href="https://www.iicom.org/intermedia/intermedia-past-issues/intermedia-july-2018/platforms-on-trial">more than 50 public inquiries</a> currently taking place worldwide into the power of digital platforms. </p>
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Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/country-rules-the-splinternet-may-be-the-future-of-the-web-81939">Country rules: the ‘splinternet’ may be the future of the web</a>
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<p>The most obvious gaps in the contract are around the obligations of digital platform companies. </p>
<p>And while there are welcome commitments to strengthening user privacy and data protection, there’s no mention of how these problems emerged in the first place. </p>
<p>It doesn’t consider whether the harvesting of user data to maximise advertising revenue is not the result of “<a href="https://contractfortheweb.org/principles/principle-5-respect-and-protect-peoples-privacy-and-personal-data-to-build-online-trust/">user interfaces and design patterns</a>”, but is instead baked into the <a href="https://www.hiig.de/en/data-colonialism-nick-couldry-digital-society/">business models of digital platform companies</a>. </p>
<p>Its proposals are familiar: address the digital divide between rich and poor, improve digital service delivery, improve diversity in hiring practices, pursue human-centered digital design, and so forth.</p>
<p>But it neglects to ask whether the internet may now be less open because a small number of conglomerates are dominating the web. There is <a href="https://www.accc.gov.au/system/files/Digital%20Platforms%20Inquiry%20-%20Final%20report%20-%20part%201.pdf">evidence</a> that platforms such as Google and Facebook dominate search and social media respectively, and the digital advertising connected with these.</p>
<h2>Not a civic responsibility</h2>
<p>Much of the work in the contract seems to fall onto citizens, who are expected to “<a href="https://contractfortheweb.org/principles/principle-9-fight-for-the-web/">fight for the web</a>”. </p>
<p>They bear responsibility for maintaining proper online discourse, protecting vulnerable users, using their privacy settings properly and generating creative content (presumably unpaid and non-unionized).</p>
<p>The contract feels like a document from the late 1990s, forged in the spirit of “<a href="https://www.wired.com/story/wired25-louis-rossetto-tech-militant-optimism/">militant optimism</a>” about the internet. </p>
<p>It offers only <a href="https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/abs/10.1177/016344387009001005">pseudo-regulation</a> for tech giants.</p>
<p>It also implies if tech giants can demonstrate greater diversity in hiring practices, allow users to better manage their privacy settings, and make some investments in disadvantaged communities, then they can avoid serious regulatory consequences. </p>
<h2>Legacies of internet culture</h2>
<p>A big question is why leading non-government organisations such as the <a href="https://www.eff.org/">Electronic Frontier Foundation</a> and <a href="https://www.publicknowledge.org/">Public Knowledge</a> have signed-on to such a weak contract. </p>
<p>This may be because two elements of the original legacy of internet culture (as it started developing in the 1990s) are still applicable today. </p>
<p>One is the view that governments present a greater threat to public interest than corporations. </p>
<p>This leads non-governmental organisations to favour legally binding frameworks that restrain the influence of governments, rather than addressing issues of market dominance. </p>
<p>The contract doesn’t mention, for instance, whether governments have a role in legislating to ensure digital platforms address issues of online hate speech. This is despite evidence that social media platforms are used to <a href="https://publications.parliament.uk/pa/cm201617/cmselect/cmhaff/609/60904.htm#_idTextAnchor005">spread hate, abuse and violent extremism</a>. </p>
<p>The second is the tendency to think the internet is a different realm to society at large, so laws that apply to other aspects of the online environment are deemed inappropriate for digital platform companies. </p>
<p>An example in Australia is <a href="https://www.smh.com.au/politics/federal/law-should-treat-social-media-companies-as-publishers-attorney-general-20191120-p53cch.html">defamation law not being applied to digital platforms such as Facebook</a>, but being applied to the comments sections of news websites. </p>
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Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/a-push-to-make-social-media-companies-liable-in-defamation-is-great-for-newspapers-and-lawyers-but-not-you-127513">A push to make social media companies liable in defamation is great for newspapers and lawyers, but not you</a>
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<p>Berners-Lee’s manifesto for the future of the web is actually more conservative than proposals coming from government regulators, such as the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission’s (ACCC) <a href="https://www.accc.gov.au/focus-areas/inquiries-ongoing/digital-platforms-inquiry">Digital Platforms Inquiry</a>. </p>
<p>The ACCC is closely evaluating issues arising because of digital platforms, whereas the Contract for the Web looks wistfully back to the open web of the 1990s as a path to the future. </p>
<p>It fails to address the changing political economy of the internet, and the rise of digital platforms. </p>
<p>And it’s a barrier to meaningfully addressing the problems plaguing today’s web.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/127793/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Terry Flew receives funding from the Australian Research Council. He currently leads an ARC Discovery-Project on digital platform governance and the future of media policy (DP190100022). </span></em></p>The father of the web wants to address issues including malicious content circulation, misinformation, and the polarisation of online debate. But the methods he is proposing aren’t great.Terry Flew, Professor of Communication and Creative Industries, Queensland University of TechnologyLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1189982019-06-20T20:02:33Z2019-06-20T20:02:33Z30 years since Australia first connected to the internet, we’ve come a long way<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/280347/original/file-20190620-171183-16vpzce.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=520%2C305%2C4446%2C2919&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Out of the science labs, our internet connectivity is now part of our everyday lives.</span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">Shutterstock/AngieYeoh </span></span></figcaption></figure><p><em>This article is part of our occasional long read series <a href="https://theconversation.com/au/topics/zoom-out-51632">Zoom Out</a>, where authors explore key ideas in science and technology in the broader context of society and humanity.</em></p>
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<p>When Australia joined the global internet on June 23, 1989 – via a connection made by the University of Melbourne – it was mostly used by computer scientists.</p>
<p>Three decades later, <a href="https://www.abs.gov.au/ausstats/abs@.nsf/mf/8146.0">more than 86% of Australian households</a> are connected to the internet.</p>
<p>But it was a slow start. At first, network capacity was limited to very small volumes of information.</p>
<p>This all changed thanks to the development of vastly more powerful computers, and other technologies that have transformed our online experience.</p>
<p>One of those technologies is probably in front of you now: the screen.</p>
<p>Look at how you view the web, email and apps today: not just on large desktop screens but also handheld devices, and perhaps even an internet-connected wristwatch. </p>
<p>This was barely imaginable 30 years ago. </p>
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<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/280351/original/file-20190620-171208-7wnul9.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/280351/original/file-20190620-171208-7wnul9.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=450&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/280351/original/file-20190620-171208-7wnul9.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=450&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/280351/original/file-20190620-171208-7wnul9.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=450&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/280351/original/file-20190620-171208-7wnul9.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=566&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/280351/original/file-20190620-171208-7wnul9.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=566&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/280351/original/file-20190620-171208-7wnul9.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=566&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
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<span class="caption">Today you can get share price updates on your internet connected Apple Watch.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/shinyasuzuki/17281936100/">Flickr/Shinya Suzuki</a>, <a class="license" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nd/4.0/">CC BY-ND</a></span>
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<h2>Connected to the world</h2>
<p>By the time Australia <a href="https://theconversation.com/how-australia-connected-to-the-internet-25-years-ago-28106">first connected</a>, the internet had been developing for 20 years. The <a href="https://www.britannica.com/topic/ARPANET">very first network</a> had been turned on in the United States in 1969.</p>
<p>Australia too had networks during the 1980s, but distance and a lack of interest from commercial providers meant these were isolated from the rest of the world.</p>
<p>This first international link provided just 56 kilobits of national connectivity. A 20th of a megabit for the whole country! That is not even enough to play a single piece of music from a streaming service (encoded at 128kbs), and it would take a week for a movie to be transferred to Australia.</p>
<p>But at that time digital music, video and images were not distributed online. Nor was the internet servicing a large community. Most of the users were academics or researchers in computer science or physics.</p>
<p>With continuous connection came live access. The most immediate impact was that email could now be delivered immediately. </p>
<p>At first, email and internet news groups (discussion forums) were the main traffic, but the connection also gave access to information sharing services such as Archie (an old example <a href="http://archie.icm.edu.pl/archie_eng.html">here</a>) and <a href="https://whatis.techtarget.com/definition/WAIS-Wide-Area-Information-Servers">WAIS</a>, which were mostly used to share software.</p>
<p>There was connection too, in principle at least, to the <a href="https://home.cern/science/computing/birth-web">newly created world wide web</a>, which in June 1989 was just three months old and largely unknown. It wouldn’t become significant for another four years or so.</p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/280361/original/file-20190620-171271-5cqj6m.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/280361/original/file-20190620-171271-5cqj6m.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/280361/original/file-20190620-171271-5cqj6m.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=511&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/280361/original/file-20190620-171271-5cqj6m.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=511&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/280361/original/file-20190620-171271-5cqj6m.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=511&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/280361/original/file-20190620-171271-5cqj6m.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=642&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/280361/original/file-20190620-171271-5cqj6m.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=642&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/280361/original/file-20190620-171271-5cqj6m.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=642&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">An early version of the first web page.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="http://info.cern.ch/hypertext/WWW/TheProject.html">CERN/Screengrab</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>This turning-on of a connection was not a “light in a darkened room” moment, in which we suddenly had access to the resources that are now so familiar to us.</p>
<p>But it was a crucial step, one of several developments maturing in parallel that created the technology that has so drastically transformed our society, commerce and daily lives. Within just a few years we were surfing the web and sending email from home.</p>
<h2>The technology develops</h2>
<p>The first of these developments was the internet itself, which was and is a cobbling-together of disparate networks around the globe. </p>
<p>Australia had several networks, ranging from the relatively open ACSNET (now called <a href="https://www.aarnet.edu.au/">AARNET</a>) created by computer science departments to connect universities to, at the other extreme, proprietary, secure networks operated by defence and industry.</p>
<p>When Melbourne opened that first link, it provided a bridge from ACSNET to the networks in the United States and from there to the rest of the world.</p>
<p>Just as important were developments in the underlying technology. At the time, the capacity of the networks was adequate - just. As the community of users rapidly grew, it sometimes seemed as though the internet might utterly break down.</p>
<p>By the mid-1990s <a href="https://www.pcmag.com/encyclopedia/term/38401/bandwidth">bandwidth</a> (the volume of digital traffic that a network can carry) increased to an extent that earlier had seemed unimaginable. This provided the data transmission infrastructure the web would come to demand.</p>
<p>Another development was computing hardware. Computers were doubling in speed every 18 months, as <a href="https://www.cnet.com/news/moores-law-to-roll-on-for-another-decade/">had been predicted</a>. They also became much cheaper. </p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/280363/original/file-20190620-171183-11e7k1f.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/280363/original/file-20190620-171183-11e7k1f.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/280363/original/file-20190620-171183-11e7k1f.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=560&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/280363/original/file-20190620-171183-11e7k1f.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=560&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/280363/original/file-20190620-171183-11e7k1f.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=560&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/280363/original/file-20190620-171183-11e7k1f.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=704&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/280363/original/file-20190620-171183-11e7k1f.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=704&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/280363/original/file-20190620-171183-11e7k1f.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=704&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">A Macintosh desktop computer from 1985.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/befuddledsenses/4453362124/">Flickr/Luke Jones</a>, <a class="license" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/">CC BY</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>Computer disks were also growing in capacity, doubling in size every year or so. The yet-to-appear web would require disk space for storage of web pages, and compute capacity for running <a href="https://www.pcmag.com/encyclopedia/term/51154/server">servers</a>, which are applications that provide a door into a computer, giving users remote access to data and software.</p>
<p>In the 1980s these had been scarce, expensive resources that would have been overwhelmed by even small volumes of web traffic. By the early 1990s growth in capacity could – just – accommodate the demand that suddenly appeared and homes were being connected, via dial-up at first.</p>
<p><audio preload="metadata" controls="controls" data-duration="36" data-image="" data-title="Dial-up internet connection" data-size="347600" data-source="SoundBible/ezwa" data-source-url="http://soundbible.com/136-Dial-Up-Modem.html" data-license="" data-license-url="">
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<div class="audio-player-caption">
Dial-up internet connection.
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<h2>A new operating system</h2>
<p>But it is a third concurrent development that is, to me, the most remarkable. </p>
<p>This is the emergence of the <a href="https://www.pcmag.com/encyclopedia/term/53459/unix">UNIX</a> operating system and of a community of people who collaboratively wrote UNIX-based code for free (yes, for no charge). Their work provided what is arguably the core of the systems that underpin the modern world.</p>
<p>UNIX was created by <a href="https://www.computerhistory.org/fellowawards/hall/dennis-ritchie/">Dennis Ritchie</a>, <a href="https://www.computerhistory.org/fellowawards/hall/ken-thompson/">Ken Thompson</a> and a small number of colleagues at AT&T Bell Labs, in the US, from 1970.</p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/280368/original/file-20190620-171208-1vpo7z4.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/280368/original/file-20190620-171208-1vpo7z4.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/280368/original/file-20190620-171208-1vpo7z4.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=481&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/280368/original/file-20190620-171208-1vpo7z4.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=481&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/280368/original/file-20190620-171208-1vpo7z4.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=481&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/280368/original/file-20190620-171208-1vpo7z4.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=604&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/280368/original/file-20190620-171208-1vpo7z4.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=604&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/280368/original/file-20190620-171208-1vpo7z4.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=604&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Ken Thompson and Dennis Richie with DEC PDP-11 system running UNIX.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Ken_Thompson_(sitting)_and_Dennis_Ritchie_at_PDP-11_(2876612463).jpg">Wikimedia/Peter Hamer</a>, <a class="license" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/">CC BY-SA</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>At that time, operating systems (like iOS on today’s Apple phones) were limited to a single type of computer. Code and programs could not be used across machines from different manufacturers.</p>
<p>UNIX, in contrast, could be used on any suitable machine. This is the reason UNIX variants continue to provide the core of Apple Mac computers, Android phones, systems such as inflight entertainment and smart TVs, and many billions of other devices.</p>
<h2>The open source movement</h2>
<p>Along with UNIX came a culture of collaborative code development by programmers. This was initially via sharing of programs sent on tape between institutions as parcels in the mail. Anyone with time to spare could create programs and share them with a community of like-minded users.</p>
<p>This became known as the open source movement. Many thousands of people helped develop software of a diversity and richness that was beyond the resources of any single organisation. And it was not driven by commercial or corporate needs.</p>
<p>Programs could embody speculative innovations, and any developer who was frustrated by errors or shortcomings in the tools they used could update or correct them.</p>
<p>A key piece of open source software was the <a href="https://www.pcmag.com/encyclopedia/term/51154/server">server</a>, a computer system in a network shared by multiple users. Providing anonymous users with remote access was far from desirable for commercial computers of the era, on which use of costly computing time was tightly controlled.</p>
<p>But in an academic, sharing, open environment such servers were a valuable tool, at least for computer scientists, who were the main users of university computers in that era.</p>
<p>Another key piece of open source software was the <a href="https://www.pcmag.com/encyclopedia/term/50637/router">router</a>, which allowed computers on a network to collaborate in directing network requests and responses between connected machines anywhere on the planet.</p>
<p>Servers had been used for email since the beginnings of the internet and initially it was email, delivered with the help of routers, that brought networked desktop computing into homes and businesses.</p>
<p>When the web was proposed, extending these servers to allow the information from web page servers to be sent to a user’s computer was a small step.</p>
<h2>What you looking at?</h2>
<p>The last component is so ubiquitous that we forget what is literally before our eyes: the screen. </p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/280381/original/file-20190620-171258-v5h79j.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/280381/original/file-20190620-171258-v5h79j.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/280381/original/file-20190620-171258-v5h79j.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=399&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/280381/original/file-20190620-171258-v5h79j.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=399&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/280381/original/file-20190620-171258-v5h79j.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=399&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/280381/original/file-20190620-171258-v5h79j.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=502&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/280381/original/file-20190620-171258-v5h79j.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=502&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/280381/original/file-20190620-171258-v5h79j.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=502&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">The Macintosh Plus had a screen resolution of 512x342 pixels.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/raneko/13507827355/">Flickr/raneko</a>, <a class="license" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/">CC BY</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>Affordable computer displays in the 1980s were much too limited to pleasingly render a web page, with resolutions of 640x480 pixels or lower, with crude colours or just black and white. Better screens, starting at 1024x768, first became widely available in the early 1990s.</p>
<p>Only with the appearance of the <a href="http://www.ncsa.illinois.edu/enabling/mosaic">Mosaic browser</a> in 1993 did the web become appealing, with a pool of about 100 web sites showing how to deliver information in a way that for most users was new and remarkably compelling.</p>
<figure>
<iframe width="440" height="260" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/BLcBZ2_k1OI?wmode=transparent&start=0" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen=""></iframe>
<figcaption><span class="caption">How things have changed.</span></figcaption>
</figure>
<p>The online world continues to grow and develop with access today via cable, wireless and mobile handsets. We have internet-connected services in our homes, cars, health services, government, and much more. We live-stream our music and video, and share our lives online.</p>
<p>But the origin of that trend of increasing digitisation of our society lies in those simple beginnings - and the end is not yet in sight.</p>
<hr>
<p><em>This article was amended at the request of the author to correct the amount of data accessible from the initial link.</em></p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/118998/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Justin Zobel does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>In just three decades we’ve gone from a very limited internet connection in Australia to now sharing our lives online.Justin Zobel, Pro Vice-Chancellor, Graduate & International Research, The University of MelbourneLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1131392019-03-11T14:47:36Z2019-03-11T14:47:36ZWeb 3.0: the decentralised web promises to make the internet free again<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/263139/original/file-20190311-86690-65ppll.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">
</span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.shutterstock.com/image-photo/group-people-devices-hands-working-together-685860454">Khakimullin Aleksandr/Shutterstock</a></span></figcaption></figure><p>Have you recently considered <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/deletefacebook-facebook-movement-2018-3?r=US&IR=T">deleting your Facebook</a> account, <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/technology/2018/dec/17/amazon-boycott-customers-holiday-shopping">boycotting Amazon</a> or trying to find an <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/technology/2013/may/02/how-stop-using-google-search-services">alternative to Google</a>? You wouldn’t be alone. The tech giants are <a href="https://theconversation.com/online-privacy-must-improve-after-the-facebook-data-uproar-94435">invading our privacy</a>, misusing our data, strangling <a href="https://www.bloomberg.com/opinion/articles/2018-11-26/tech-monopolies-strangle-economic-growth">economic growth</a> and helping governments <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/news/2018/dec/20/googles-earth-how-the-tech-giant-is-helping-the-state-spy-on-us">spy on us</a>. Yet because these few companies own so many of the internet’s key services, it seems there is <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2018/04/01/business/boycott-facebook-apple-google-failed.html">little people can do</a> to avoid having to interact with them if they want to stay online.</p>
<p>However, 30 years after the world wide web <a href="https://home.cern/science/computing/birth-web">was created</a>, a third generation of web technology might offer a way to change things. <a href="https://hacks.mozilla.org/2018/07/introducing-the-d-web/">The DWeb</a>, a new decentralised version of cyberspace, promises to enable better user control, more competition between internet firms and less dominance by the large corporations. But there are still serious questions over whether it’s possible – or even desirable.</p>
<p>The first generation of the web lasted from its creation by Sir Tim Berners Lee in 1989 to roughly 2005. It was mostly a passive, <a href="https://www.w3.org/History.html">“read-only” web</a> with minimal interaction between users. Most of us were merely recipients of information. Then came Web 2.0, <a href="https://www.oreilly.com/pub/a/web2/archive/what-is-web-20.html">a “read-write web”</a> based on social networks, wikis and blogs that let users create and share more of their own content, which increased their participation and collaboration.</p>
<p>Web 3.0 is the next step. In part it will be a <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2006/05/23/technology/23iht-web.html">“semantic web”</a> or a <a href="https://www.w3.org/standards/semanticweb/">“web of data”</a> that can understand, combine and automatically interpret information to provide users with a much more enhanced and interactive experience. But it could also be a decentralised web that challenges the dominance of the tech giants by moving us away from relying so heavily on a few companies, technologies and a relatively small amount of internet infrastructure</p>
<h2>Peer-to-peer technology</h2>
<p>When we currently access the web, our computers use the HTTP protocol in the form of web addresses to find information stored at a fixed location, usually on a single server. In contrast, <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/technology/2018/sep/08/decentralisation-next-big-step-for-the-world-wide-web-dweb-data-internet-censorship-brewster-kahle">the DWeb</a> would find information based on its content, meaning it could be stored in multiple places at once. As a result, this form of the web also involves all computers providing services as well as accessing them, known as peer-to-peer connectivity. </p>
<p>This system would enable us to break down the immense databases that are currently held centrally by internet companies rather than users (hence the decentralised web). In principle, this would also better protect users from private and government surveillance as data would no longer be stored in a way that was easy for third parties to access. This actually harks back to the the original philosophy <a href="https://theconversation.com/how-the-internet-was-born-the-network-begins-to-take-shape-67904">behind the internet</a>, which was first created to decentralise US communications during the Cold War to make them less vulnerable to attack.</p>
<figure>
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<p>Some of the technologies that could make the DWeb possible are already being developed. For example, the <a href="https://www.databoxproject.uk/about/">Databox Project</a> aims to create an <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/technology/2015/feb/01/control-personal-data-databox-end-user-agreement">open-source device</a> that stores and controls a user’s personal data locally instead of letting tech companies gather and do whatever they like with it. <a href="https://zeronet.io/">Zeronet</a> is an alternative to the existing web, where websites are hosted by a network of participating computers instead of a centralised server, protected by the same cryptography that’s used for Bitcoin. There’s even a DWeb version of YouTube, <a href="https://about.d.tube/">called DTube</a> that hosts videos across a decentralised network of computers using a “blockchain” public ledger as its database and payment system.</p>
<p>However, this technology is still in its <a href="https://www.wired.com/story/the-decentralized-internet-is-here-with-some-glitches/">early stages</a>. And even once it’s ready, it will be difficult to get users to use new, DWeb-based applications. Whereas Web 2.0 provided an obviously more attractive and easy-to-navigate experience to all users in an open marketplace, the DWeb offers something with less obvious benefits, and requires more user responsibility. Yet enough people would have to be tempted to adopt the technology for it to break down the established oligopoly and succeed.</p>
<h2>Risks and regulation</h2>
<p>The DWeb also comes with some significant legal and regulatory risks. It would make policing cybercrime, including online harassment, hate speech and child abuse images, even more difficult because of its lack of central control and access to data. A centralised web helps governments make large corporations enforce rules and laws. In a decentralised web, it wouldn’t even necessarily be clear which country’s laws applied to a particular website, if its content was hosted all around the world.</p>
<p>This concern brings us back to debates from the 1990s, when <a href="http://www.temple.edu/lawschool/dpost/Anarchy.html">legal scholars</a> were <a href="http://chicagounbound.uchicago.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1001&context=occasional_papers">arguing</a> for and against the influence national laws could have on internet regulation. The DWeb essentially reflects the <a href="https://www.eff.org/cyberspace-independence">cyber-libertarian views and hopes of the past</a> that the internet can empower ordinary people by breaking down existing power structures. </p>
<p>But this relies on users taking more initiative and responsibility for their data and their online interactions. <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/cifamerica/2012/jan/18/sopa-blackout-protest-makes-history">We’ve seen</a> that large numbers of people are willing to take action when their day-to-day experience of the internet is threatened. However, it’s not yet clear whether the <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/technology/2017/jul/02/is-it-time-to-rein-in-the-power-of-the-internet-regulation">current push</a> for more regulation will align with the DWeb’s principles of responsibility or place internet freedoms at risk.</p>
<p>Decentralised systems also don’t necessarily abolish unequal power structures, but can instead replace one with an another. For instance, Bitcoin works by saving records of financial transactions on a network of computers and is designed to bypass traditional financial institutions and give people greater control over their money. But its critics argue that it has turned into an oligopoly, since a large percentage of Bitcoin wealth <a href="https://www.digitaltrends.com/computing/who-owns-all-the-bitcoin/">is owned by</a> a very small number of people.</p>
<p>The DWeb certainly has its benefits and the potential to give ordinary internet users more power. But it would require some major shifts in how we perceive the web and our place in it. Whether its benefits will be sufficient to drive enough users away from the tech giants to make it viable remains to be seen. However, with governments becoming keen <a href="https://publications.parliament.uk/pa/ld201719/ldselect/ldcomuni/299/29902.htm">to increase regulation</a> of the internet, the DWeb might actually offer a more liberal alternative in the long run.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/113139/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Edina Harbinja is affiliated with Open Rights Group (member of the Advisory Council).
</span></em></p><p class="fine-print"><em><span>Vasileios Karagiannopoulos does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>A third generation of web technology could return the web to its original ideals – but do we really want it?Edina Harbinja, Senior Lecturer in Law, Aston UniversityVasileios Karagiannopoulos, Senior Lecturer in Law and Cybercrime, University of PortsmouthLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1022402018-09-04T10:32:52Z2018-09-04T10:32:52ZHow will Google’s innovation continue beyond its 20th year?<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/234477/original/file-20180831-195322-1423p34.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=108%2C131%2C3538%2C3306&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">The past and present of Google – what's next?</span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.shutterstock.com/image-photo/bangkok-thailand-january-24-2017-woman-572139568">Sirirat/Shutterstock.com</a></span></figcaption></figure><p>As millions of people <a href="https://www.w3.org/History.html">came online in the late 1990s</a> they needed help figuring out what each webpage was about, and how to find what they were looking for. Web indexes and search engines sprang up. When Google was founded in September 1998, it had to compete with the <a href="https://pdfs.semanticscholar.org/8395/6915975520e4941610b0cf683ab7bd8521d4.pdf">information retrieval algorithms and techniques</a> – nicknamed “<a href="https://www.searchdecoder.com/ingredients-googles-secret-sauce">secret sauce</a>” – used by <a href="https://gizmodo.com/how-lycos-almost-won-the-search-engine-wars-1719546124">Lycos, Yahoo and other companies</a>. </p>
<p>Technically speaking, Google added two innovations: highly efficient processes for crawling webpages to index their text, and a <a href="https://doi.org/10.1016/S0169-7552(98)00110-X">new way of ranking a page’s relevance</a> based on the number and quality of pages that linked to it. In addition, its interface was refreshingly clean: In an internet then pervaded by pages with lists of lists, <a href="https://www.nngroup.com/articles/search-visible-and-simple/">Google offered a spare alternative</a>, with just a box to type search terms and a “Search” button.</p>
<p>Even more startling was Google’s confidence in its abilities. The company offered a second button, whimsically labeled “<a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20040820044854/http://www.google.com/">I’m feeling lucky</a>,” which would take users directly to the webpage that was the top result – skipping the step of listing possible search results for a user to choose from. It also sought to be a different kind of technology company, early on adopting a straightforward corporate motto: “<a href="https://gizmodo.com/google-removes-nearly-all-mentions-of-dont-be-evil-from-1826153393">Don’t be evil</a>.” Two decades into Google’s history, the power of search is still paramount: <a href="https://searchenginewatch.com/">Entire businesses and professions</a> are built around crafting internet content that will rise to the top of its search results.</p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/233705/original/file-20180827-75996-2whnf3.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/233705/original/file-20180827-75996-2whnf3.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/233705/original/file-20180827-75996-2whnf3.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=189&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/233705/original/file-20180827-75996-2whnf3.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=189&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/233705/original/file-20180827-75996-2whnf3.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=189&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/233705/original/file-20180827-75996-2whnf3.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=238&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/233705/original/file-20180827-75996-2whnf3.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=238&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/233705/original/file-20180827-75996-2whnf3.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=238&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">The earliest version of the Google search engine, as stored by the Internet Archive’s Wayback Machine.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://web.archive.org/web/19981111183552/http://google.stanford.edu:80/">Screenshot by The Conversation of Archive.org cache of google.stanford.edu</a>, <a class="license" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nd/4.0/">CC BY-ND</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>But there are signs of trouble. The company’s role in <a href="https://theconversation.com/when-will-google-defend-democracy-96838">providing misleading information to U.S. voters</a> is under scrutiny. More than 3,100 Google employees signed a <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2018/04/04/technology/google-letter-ceo-pentagon-project.html">public letter protesting the use of their work in warfare technologies</a> – and about a dozen of them <a href="https://gizmodo.com/google-employees-resign-in-protest-against-pentagon-con-1825729300">resigned in protest</a>. Even more recently, 1,600 Googlers signed a petition to <a href="https://www.digitaltrends.com/web/sundar-pinchai-google-china-censor/">stop their employer from opening a government-restricted search service</a> in China. Additionally, President Donald Trump has questioned whether its <a href="https://theconversation.com/google-news-serves-conservatives-and-liberals-similar-results-but-favors-mainstream-media-102389">rankings for news stories</a> are fair. What might the next 20 years of Google bring? </p>
<h2>Rapid growth</h2>
<p>Google is used to being under scrutiny. In late July 2004 in Sheffield, England, I recall the buzz the company created at the 27th Annual Association of Computing Machinery Special Interest Group in Information Retrieval Research Conference. There were betting pools about when Google would offer its stock for public purchase, and at what price. The Google employees were easy to spot, only using their laptops while sitting with their backs to a wall, so nobody could see what they were reading or typing. </p>
<p>The company <a href="https://www.google.com/about/our-story/">founded by two Stanford graduate students</a> in 1998, which went public on <a href="https://www.investopedia.com/articles/active-trading/081315/if-you-would-have-invested-right-after-googles-ipo.asp">Aug. 19, 2004, at US$85 a share</a>, still gets the <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/the-switch/wp/2018/02/01/google-parent-alphabet-reports-soaring-ad-revenue-despite-youtube-backlash/">vast majority of its annual revenue</a> from selling search-related advertising. </p>
<p>Yet Google has grown too, in part thanks to a policy giving employees the freedom to work <a href="https://mashable.com/2018/05/11/google-20-percent-rule/">one day a week on side projects</a> that catch their fancy. Now reorganized into an <a href="https://abc.xyz/">umbrella company called Alphabet</a>, the company has expanded into industries as diverse as smartphone operating systems, mapping apps and self-driving vehicles. </p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/234908/original/file-20180904-45172-1k64m2x.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/234908/original/file-20180904-45172-1k64m2x.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/234908/original/file-20180904-45172-1k64m2x.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=446&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/234908/original/file-20180904-45172-1k64m2x.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=446&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/234908/original/file-20180904-45172-1k64m2x.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=446&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/234908/original/file-20180904-45172-1k64m2x.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=560&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/234908/original/file-20180904-45172-1k64m2x.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=560&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/234908/original/file-20180904-45172-1k64m2x.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=560&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Google’s ad revenue from 2001 to 2017 (in billion U.S. dollars).</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.statista.com/statistics/266249/advertising-revenue-of-google/">Statista</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<h2>Diversification</h2>
<p>Many of the company’s efforts to diversify build on strengths it has developed providing search, such as <a href="https://www.theverge.com/2016/7/21/12246258/google-deepmind-ai-data-center-cooling">cloud computing systems</a> that take advantage of Google engineers’ experience <a href="https://www.wired.com/2012/10/ff-inside-google-data-center/">managing massive data centers</a> and huge amounts of traffic from – and to – sites all around the world.</p>
<p>The company’s massive index of information in many languages is what enabled Google to build a machine-translation system between <a href="https://translate.google.com/intl/en/about/languages/">any of 100 languages</a>. That will help Google remain globally valuable even as <a href="https://www.theverge.com/2018/8/7/17660364/baidu-ceo-google-china">Baidu dominates Chinese-language searches</a>.</p>
<p>Google’s future depends on continuing to create and leverage indexes on features beyond the words on webpages. Combining the ability to identify a user performing the search with its knowledge of that person’s search history and their current location, Google can already provide <a href="https://www.pcworld.com/article/3299042/privacy/google-privacy-checkup-faq.html">finely tuned personalized results</a>. A new company effort is already planning to use <a href="https://slate.com/technology/2018/08/google-coach-is-google-going-to-help-you-lose-weight-and-eat-better.html">health devices people wear, implant or carry on their bodies</a> to provide useful nutrition and fitness tips.</p>
<p>Google is no doubt planning to add to its special sauce indexes of social media posts, data from <a href="https://techcrunch.com/2017/05/11/google-funded-super-sensor-project-brings-iot-powers-to-dumb-appliances/">sensors in the environment</a> – including cameras, microphones and all sorts of connected “internet of things” devices.</p>
<h2>Future challenges</h2>
<p>Google is already applying its expertise to its line of <a href="https://slate.com/technology/2018/08/amazon-echo-is-losing-smart-speaker-market-share-to-google-home-heres-why.html">smart speakers and personal assistants</a>, offering its well-regarded search results through voice recognition and spoken responses. One day typing text onto a screen may seem as quaint as rotary phones.</p>
<p>A next category of features might be called anticipatory search, providing information or suggesting action without a user even specifying a query. For instance, some cars already go beyond alerting the driver to low fuel levels, locating and <a href="https://www.lexusofroseville.com/FeaturesTechnology_D?p=2019_NX">providing directions to nearby gas stations</a>. One day a personal fitness tracker might note that a user’s resting heart rate is 15 percent higher this week than the average over the past six months. From there, it might offer up research or doctors’ advice about cardiovascular health. </p>
<p><a href="https://developers.google.com/recaptcha/"><img src="https://cdn.theconversation.com/static_files/files/254/newCaptchaAnchor.gif?1535735401"></a></p>
<p>Google may even ramp up its efforts to distinguish people from machines – such as “<a href="https://www.google.com/recaptcha/intro/v3beta.html">captcha</a>” challenges and <a href="https://support.google.com/accounts/answer/1066447?co=GENIE.Platform%3DAndroid&hl=en">multi-factor</a> <a href="https://venturebeat.com/2018/08/30/hands-on-with-the-titan-security-key-a-50-fido-fob-that-secures-your-online-accounts/">authentication processes</a>. From there, it may work to eliminate the increasing efforts from both humans and computers – such as <a href="https://theconversation.com/how-the-russian-government-used-disinformation-and-cyber-warfare-in-2016-election-an-ethical-hacker-explains-99989">Russian government agents</a> and <a href="https://theconversation.com/how-twitter-bots-affected-the-us-presidential-campaign-68406">Twitter bots</a> – to secretly influence search results for malicious purposes.</p>
<p>These features may sound exciting and useful, but they also carry <a href="https://theconversation.com/facebooks-social-responsibility-should-include-privacy-protection-94549">important ethical concerns</a>, about who can access people’s personal data, and for what purposes. It will be interesting to see whether the concerns Google employees are currently expressing about political uses of their work will extend to personal privacy, and whether – and how – any objections might influence searches in the future.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/102240/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Gary Marchionini owns a small amount of Google stock (2 shares I bought for my grandchildren) and of course through various funds in my retirement accounts.
I have had grants from NSF to study information retrieval research over the past 25 years and my students and I have had research grants from Google (most recent was about 5 years ago).</span></em></p>As Google turns 20, a look at how the company has grown – and what the next two decades might bring for the company.Gary Marchionini, Professor of Information and Library Science, University of North Carolina at Chapel HillLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/986262018-09-04T06:35:36Z2018-09-04T06:35:36ZA nostalgic journey through the evolution of web design<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/234307/original/file-20180830-195328-1c0awq1.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">The Space Jam website circa 1997 – all those planets are clickable.</span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="http://web.archive.org/web/19970412180040/http://www.spacejam.com:80/jam.htm">Internet Archive</a></span></figcaption></figure><p>The World Wide Web was invented almost 30 years ago by <a href="https://webfoundation.org/about/vision/history-of-the-web/">Tim Berners Lee</a> to help people easily share information around the world. Over the following decades, it has changed significantly – both in terms of design and functionality, as well its deeper role in modern society.</p>
<p>Just as the architectural style of a building reflects the society from which it emerges, so the evolution of web design reflects the changing fashions, beliefs and technologies of the time. </p>
<p>Web design styles have changed with remarkable speed compared with their bricks and mortar cousins. The <a href="http://info.cern.ch/hypertext/WWW/TheProject.html">first website</a> contained only text with hyperlinks explaining what the web was, how to use it, and basic set-up instructions. From those early days to the present, web design has taken a long and winding journey.</p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/234145/original/file-20180829-195304-pffmyu.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/234145/original/file-20180829-195304-pffmyu.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/234145/original/file-20180829-195304-pffmyu.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=260&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/234145/original/file-20180829-195304-pffmyu.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=260&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/234145/original/file-20180829-195304-pffmyu.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=260&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/234145/original/file-20180829-195304-pffmyu.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=326&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/234145/original/file-20180829-195304-pffmyu.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=326&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/234145/original/file-20180829-195304-pffmyu.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=326&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Early Facebook.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://web.archive.org/web/20060101014129/http://facebook.com:80/">Internet Archive</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<hr>
<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/poor-design-means-terrible-websites-still-haunt-the-web-22049">Poor design means terrible websites still haunt the web</a>
</strong>
</em>
</p>
<hr>
<h2>In the beginning</h2>
<p>In the early 1990s, we welcomed the first publishing language of the Web: Hypertext Markup Language, or HTML. </p>
<p>But the language – used to share text-only pages via a simple browser – was limiting. Many early web sites were basic, using vertically structured, text-heavy pages with few graphics. People quickly adapted to vertically scrolling text and eye-catching blue underlined hypertext to navigate the virtual Web space.</p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/234144/original/file-20180829-195307-1dnkl6v.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/234144/original/file-20180829-195307-1dnkl6v.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/234144/original/file-20180829-195307-1dnkl6v.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=500&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/234144/original/file-20180829-195307-1dnkl6v.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=500&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/234144/original/file-20180829-195307-1dnkl6v.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=500&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/234144/original/file-20180829-195307-1dnkl6v.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=628&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/234144/original/file-20180829-195307-1dnkl6v.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=628&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/234144/original/file-20180829-195307-1dnkl6v.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=628&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">The first website – restored by CERN in 2013.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="http://info.cern.ch/hypertext/WWW/TheProject.html">Internet Archive</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<h2>Tables!</h2>
<p>In the mid- to late-1990s, designers became more involved in the development of websites, and along came the Graphical User Interface (GUI), which allowed designers to incorporate images and graphical icons into websites. </p>
<p>When the Web started to gain popularity as a means of communicating information, designers saw an opportunity to use tables for arranging text and graphics.</p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/234321/original/file-20180830-195307-1byhjc1.PNG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/234321/original/file-20180830-195307-1byhjc1.PNG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/234321/original/file-20180830-195307-1byhjc1.PNG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=598&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/234321/original/file-20180830-195307-1byhjc1.PNG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=598&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/234321/original/file-20180830-195307-1byhjc1.PNG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=598&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/234321/original/file-20180830-195307-1byhjc1.PNG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=752&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/234321/original/file-20180830-195307-1byhjc1.PNG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=752&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/234321/original/file-20180830-195307-1byhjc1.PNG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=752&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Apple’s website in 1997.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="http://web.archive.org/web/19970404064352/http://www.apple.com:80/">Internet Archive</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>Before the introduction of tables as a web page structure, there were few design components in websites, and there was no way to emulate the layouts of conventional printed documents. </p>
<p>But while tables allowed designers to arrange text and graphics easily, the code required to build them was <a href="https://vanseodesign.com/css/css-divs-vs-tables/">more complex</a> than methods that came later.</p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/234323/original/file-20180830-195304-1j5qjl5.PNG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/234323/original/file-20180830-195304-1j5qjl5.PNG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/234323/original/file-20180830-195304-1j5qjl5.PNG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=595&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/234323/original/file-20180830-195304-1j5qjl5.PNG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=595&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/234323/original/file-20180830-195304-1j5qjl5.PNG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=595&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/234323/original/file-20180830-195304-1j5qjl5.PNG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=748&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/234323/original/file-20180830-195304-1j5qjl5.PNG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=748&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/234323/original/file-20180830-195304-1j5qjl5.PNG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=748&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Early eBay.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="http://web.archive.org/web/20010531230651/http://www.ebay.com:80/">Internet Archive</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<h2>Flashy design</h2>
<p>In the late 1990s, a new technology appeared on the scene: Flash. </p>
<p>Flash was a software platform that allowed designers to incorporate music, video and animation into websites, making for a more dynamic audio-visual experience. Flash also gave designers more freedom to make websites interactive. This was indeed the era of a creative and technological breakthrough in web design. Interactive menus, splash pages, decorative animations, and beautifully rendered bubble buttons dominated the web design trend to wow people. </p>
<p>The concept of the Web was still new to many people, and these visually exciting designs had a double purpose. They were not only bright and attention-grabbing, but they also introduced unfamiliar technology to novice users: “Look at me”, they screamed. “I look like a real button. Press me!” </p>
<figure>
<iframe width="440" height="260" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/gWxb7EEggPk?wmode=transparent&start=0" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen=""></iframe>
<figcaption><span class="caption">Screen capture demo of the award-winning Levi’s 150th Anniversary web site back in the early 2000s.</span></figcaption>
</figure>
<p>But the popularity of Flash was short-lived. It required users to have the latest Flash plugin installed on their computers, limiting the usability and accessibility of websites.</p>
<hr>
<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/a-new-way-to-fix-those-frustrating-websites-34531">A new way to fix those frustrating websites</a>
</strong>
</em>
</p>
<hr>
<h2>Everyone is a web designer</h2>
<p>Although Flash didn’t live up to expectations, it changed the way websites were designed and used. </p>
<p>People became sophisticated at browsing the Web, and the design elements no longer had to educate in a way that visually articulates the functionality, such as blue underlined hyperlinks. </p>
<p>Then social media emerged and demanded even greater flexibility. This led to the birth of Cascading Style Sheets (<a href="https://www.w3schools.com/css/">CSS</a>). </p>
<p>CSS were used to define particular styles – such as larger font sizes for sub-headings – across multiple pages of a single website without having to code each element individually. The idea behind CSS was to separate the content (HTML) of websites from the presentation (CSS). </p>
<p>Web design templates began to surface, allowing everyday people to create and publish their own websites. Unfortunately this was often at the expense of usable, accessible and aesthetically pleasing design.</p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/234334/original/file-20180830-195304-16qbo64.PNG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/234334/original/file-20180830-195304-16qbo64.PNG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/234334/original/file-20180830-195304-16qbo64.PNG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=485&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/234334/original/file-20180830-195304-16qbo64.PNG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=485&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/234334/original/file-20180830-195304-16qbo64.PNG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=485&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/234334/original/file-20180830-195304-16qbo64.PNG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=610&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/234334/original/file-20180830-195304-16qbo64.PNG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=610&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/234334/original/file-20180830-195304-16qbo64.PNG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=610&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">The International Online Fan Club website for the TV show ‘Home Improvement’.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="http://web.archive.org/web/20090228162738/http://www.morepower.com/">Wayback Machine</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<h2>Flat design</h2>
<p>Fast forward to 2010 when a new web design approach called <a href="https://alistapart.com/article/responsive-web-design">responsive web design</a> was created by Ethan Marcotte. This introduced a different way of using HTML and CSS. </p>
<p>The main idea underpinning responsive design was that a single website could respond and adapt to different display environments, facilitating use on different devices. People would have the same experience on their mobile device as on their desktop computer, meaning increased efficiency in web development and maintenance. </p>
<p>This led to another wave of web design trend: flat design. This trend embraced an efficient and visually pleasing minimalist two-dimensional style. It emphasises functionality over ornamental design elements. </p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/229181/original/file-20180725-194140-1occi93.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/229181/original/file-20180725-194140-1occi93.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/229181/original/file-20180725-194140-1occi93.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=432&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/229181/original/file-20180725-194140-1occi93.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=432&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/229181/original/file-20180725-194140-1occi93.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=432&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/229181/original/file-20180725-194140-1occi93.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=543&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/229181/original/file-20180725-194140-1occi93.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=543&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/229181/original/file-20180725-194140-1occi93.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=543&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Fremantle Arts Centre’s website was a winner of the 2017 Australian Web Awards.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.fac.org.au/">Fremantle Arts Centre</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>Today, flat design is still going strong. Web design has made a full circle back to the beginning of the Web, prioritising the content and the communication of information. Buttons and icons have taken a back seat, gracefully bowing to the content as the forefront of websites, and reduced complexity in design.</p>
<hr>
<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/google-wants-more-mobile-friendly-websites-in-its-mobile-searches-40457">Google wants more mobile-friendly websites in its mobile searches</a>
</strong>
</em>
</p>
<hr>
<h2>The future…</h2>
<p>The history of Web is relatively short, yet it has gone through a succession of renaissances in a short period of time. </p>
<p>Previously, technology drove advances in web design. But I believe we are at a point where web design is no longer limited by technology. Virtually, we can do pretty much everything we might want to do on the Web. </p>
<p>The future of web design is no longer about what we <em>can</em> do, but rather about what we <em>should</em> do. That means being considerate about how design can affect the people who use it, and designing websites that result in positive experiences for users.</p>
<p>You can look up previous incarnations of your favourite website using the <a href="http://web.archive.org/">Wayback Machine</a>.</p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/234533/original/file-20180902-195316-tjqncn.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/234533/original/file-20180902-195316-tjqncn.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/234533/original/file-20180902-195316-tjqncn.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=377&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/234533/original/file-20180902-195316-tjqncn.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=377&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/234533/original/file-20180902-195316-tjqncn.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=377&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/234533/original/file-20180902-195316-tjqncn.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=473&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/234533/original/file-20180902-195316-tjqncn.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=473&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/234533/original/file-20180902-195316-tjqncn.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=473&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">The Conversation when it launched in March 2011.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://web.archive.org/web/20110408175559/http://theconversation.edu.au/">Internet Archive</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/98626/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Jo Jung does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>Web design has come a long way since the days of blue hyperlinks and flashy GIFs.Jo Jung, Lecturer, Edith Cowan UniversityLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/787342017-06-13T02:56:41Z2017-06-13T02:56:41ZBefore the digital age, how religious groups increased the numbers in their order<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/172966/original/file-20170608-32294-12jzcpj.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Cloistered nuns in the Monastery of Saint Clare in the western Mediterranean Sardinian city of Oristano.</span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="http://www.lalucedelleclarisse.monasterosantachiaraoristano.it">Gabriele Calvisi</a>, <a class="license" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/">CC BY</a></span></figcaption></figure><p>A monastery of 10 nuns on the Italian island of Sardinia is <a href="http://religionnews.com/2017/05/30/cloistered-nuns-on-facebook-whats-not-to-like/">using social media</a> to share their community’s work and ensure its very survival. This might appear surprising considering these nuns chose a life of quiet work and prayer separated from the world.</p>
<p>But as a Catholic theologian focusing on liturgical and religious life, my research shows the nuns’ turn to cyberspace is only the latest chapter in a long history of religious orders’ using the best means of communication.</p>
<p>The story of how the Jesuits grew their order back in the 16th century provides an interesting case study. </p>
<h2>Communicating for cloistered sustainability</h2>
<p>Nearly all Roman Catholic men’s and women’s orders in Europe and North America have in recent decades undergone <a href="http://cara.georgetown.edu/services/religious-institutes/">steep declines in membership</a>. <a href="http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/europe/vaticancityandholysee/10103961/Number-of-priests-and-nuns-in-marked-decline.html">Among those hard hit</a> have been many cloistered women’s communities, who practice their lives of prayer and work behind walls separating them from the wider world.</p>
<figure class="align-left ">
<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/172967/original/file-20170608-22791-dlxp4e.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=237&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/172967/original/file-20170608-22791-dlxp4e.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=548&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/172967/original/file-20170608-22791-dlxp4e.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=548&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/172967/original/file-20170608-22791-dlxp4e.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=548&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/172967/original/file-20170608-22791-dlxp4e.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=688&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/172967/original/file-20170608-22791-dlxp4e.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=688&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/172967/original/file-20170608-22791-dlxp4e.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=688&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">A nun in the Monastery of Saint Clare.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="http://www.lalucedelleclarisse.monasterosantachiaraoristano.it">Gabriele Calvisi</a>, <a class="license" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/">CC BY</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>One such struggling cloister is the <a href="https://www.monasterosantachiaraoristano.it">Monastery of Saint Clare</a>, which was founded in the 14th century in the western Mediterranean Sardinian city of Oristano. Today, this community has dwindled to 10 sisters, most of whom are elderly, some in their 90’s. While all the sisters join as best they can in the <a href="http://religionnews.com/2017/05/30/cloistered-nuns-on-facebook-whats-not-to-like/">eight daily sessions of prayer</a>, only a few can work at the gardening, sewing and care of children, as well as listening to people who come to talk or ask for prayers. The elderly nuns, of course, need care themselves. In order to survive today, wider support and new members need to be found. </p>
<p>Back in the Middle Ages, <a href="http://www.metmuseum.org/toah/hd/mona/hd_mona.htm">as monasteries proliferated</a> in Western Europe, they often situated themselves in cities or towns. Withdrawn from the surrounding society, the monks and nuns nonetheless would offer instruction or guidance to visitors. People could sit in designated edges of the monastic chapels to listen and pray silently as the community chanted in the <a href="https://books.google.com/books?id=iepJAgAAQBAJ&pg=PT1496&lpg=PT1496&dq=monastic+choir+stalls&source=bl&ots=cu4UJL4hQm&sig=lrDzfYsHLwg2kHAaUbDySnKeFXo&hl=en&sa=X&ved=0ahUKEwixiaSEy6nUAhWj64MKHVLoC4AQ6AEIVTAJ#v=onepage&q=monastic%20choir%20stalls&f=false">choir stalls</a>. It was through such interaction between the monastery and “world” that the <a href="https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Matthew%209:35-38">call for co-workers</a> to join the community would quietly go out. Men and women were exposed to the monastery’s existence and way of life through physical proximity and personal visits. </p>
<p>Today, however, the appeal to vocations needs to go out through the World Wide Web. Joining the ranks of numerous <a href="http://poorclaresosc.org/">convents</a> and <a href="http://www.chartreux.org/">monasteries</a> around the globe, the sisters of St. Clare have recognized the need to communicate better who they are and what they have to offer. Their youngest member, 42-year-old Sister Maria Caterina, has launched the community’s <a href="https://www.monasterosantachiaraoristano.it">website</a> and <a href="https://www.facebook.com/Monastero-Santa-Chiara-Oristano-416775662020874/">Facebook</a> page.</p>
<iframe src="https://www.facebook.com/plugins/post.php?href=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.facebook.com%2Fpermalink.php%3Fstory_fbid%3D434498623581911%26id%3D416775662020874&width=500" width="100%" height="579" style="border:none;overflow:hidden" scrolling="no" frameborder="0" allowtransparency="true"></iframe>
<p>But this is not the first time that religious communities are having to think about the best way of communication to be able to grow their membership. </p>
<h2>Growth of the early Jesuits</h2>
<p>The Society of Jesus, an order of priests and brothers commonly known as the <a href="http://jesuits.org/aboutus">Jesuits</a>, traces its origins to 1541. Its initial group comprised seven friends who vowed not only poverty, chastity and obedience but also their availability to the pope for any mission.</p>
<p>Unlike monastic religious communities, the Jesuits were an <a href="http://biblehub.com/greek/652.htm">apostolic</a>, that is, a missionary order. Rather than being cloistered, this type of Roman Catholic order is “on mission” in “the world.”</p>
<p>By the time those few founders passed away, the order had already grown to over a thousand. One key to that success was the circulation of handwritten letters – a quaint medium today but a vital communications tool for its time.</p>
<p>The new Jesuit order quickly found itself invited by church and royal officials to set up missions in Asia. Letters between religious superiors and their men abroad predictably conveyed information, sought or issued directives and gave advice. Some letters, however, were designed to gain support for the order, to edify the members and to inspire new men to join.</p>
<p>Jesuit historian <a href="http://explore.georgetown.edu/people/jwo9/">John O'Malley</a> <a href="http://www.hup.harvard.edu/catalog.php?isbn=9780674303133">explains</a>, “Most importantly, both Jesuits and others learned who Jesuits were by reading about what they did.”</p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/172787/original/file-20170607-5408-zigvua.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/172787/original/file-20170607-5408-zigvua.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/172787/original/file-20170607-5408-zigvua.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/172787/original/file-20170607-5408-zigvua.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/172787/original/file-20170607-5408-zigvua.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/172787/original/file-20170607-5408-zigvua.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/172787/original/file-20170607-5408-zigvua.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Francis Xavier’s letters helped inspire the growth of the Jesuit order.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/bc-burnslibrary/9161642822/in/photolist-eXzPe1-bjTTYD-p6Tt7n-dCWENQ-bobVPo-dUW92D-bjTUdv-9aw6vp-9y8a13-4r35Vd-c8mcUG-2gfmgz-5Dscye-e7JuXW-9PMHGv-5VE63Y-iT462u-DZ3YKc-5obRC-6etSQB-5B8hzB-e7Jxuj-hCkQFm-e5Bdci-nBhzcv-xQRjuf-dYC8hr-bA1zLk-5uXBnW-dYHQNU-eCeRmD-4fD9wV-5C6AFP-dCYJfb-e78EvJ-JujGA-a1ACZ8-8avyJ2-dYC7jz-dMq18J-gjVKZW-deWX7k-8gBT7h-qVcxJm-ad3Qay-7Ga1Ce-5pviTW-bW4H5t-RRE8cg-p6QNFE">Burns Library, Boston College</a>, <a class="license" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/">CC BY-NC-ND</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p><a href="http://jesuitsources.bc.edu/the-letters-and-instructions-of-francis-xavier/">Francis Xavier</a>, the first Jesuit missionary to India and Japan, sent letters not only to his religious superiors in Rome and Portugal but also to Portuguese King John III, <a href="https://www.bc.edu/content/dam/files/libraries/pdf/frances-xavier-catalog.pdf">from 1542 to 1552</a>. The king had each of <a href="https://acmrs.org/sites/default/files/v6_Laberinto_Conrod.pdf">his eight letters from Xavier</a> read publicly at Masses celebrated throughout his realm. <a href="https://www.jstor.org/stable/25024096?seq=1#page_scan_tab_contents">The letters</a>, which included requests for high-quality recruits, both reinforced the king’s support of Xavier as his ambassador to the East and helped inspire the rapid growth of the fledgling Society of Jesus back in Europe.</p>
<p>Meanwhile, the Jesuit order developed its own system of letters sent within and among their communities. Notable examples are the semiannual circular letters of <a href="http://jesuitsources.bc.edu/year-by-year-with-the-early-jesuits-1537-1556-selections-from-the-chronicon-of-juan-de-polanco-s-j/">Juan de Polanco</a> in the mid-1500s. Polanco served as the executive secretary to the first three Jesuit superior generals in Rome. <a href="http://epublications.marquette.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1062&context=marq_fac-book">His letters</a> conveyed the leadership’s shaping of the Jesuit way of life and their <a href="https://www.bc.edu/content/dam/files/top/church21/pdf/HowtheFirstJesuitsBecameInvolvedinEducation.pdf">educational system</a>. These letters built up the distinct Jesuit style of religious life and projected what proved to be an attractive image for new recruits.</p>
<p>Letters between Jesuits in foreign lands, such as Francis Xavier, and officials in Europe were transported through trade ships and <a href="https://acmrs.org/sites/default/files/v6_Laberinto_Conrod.pdf">often took several years</a> to reach their intended recipients. For the letters to circulate among wider audiences – such as members of Jesuit houses or the public attending Masses in King John’s Portugal – they had to be copied by hand.</p>
<p>The <a href="https://www.prepressure.com/printing/history">evolution of the printing press</a> exploded the written word onto the pages of books, journals and newsprint. Over the <a href="https://www.timetoast.com/timelines/67472">20th century</a>, mass communication came through the development of the telephone, radio, film and televised and internet media. The sharing of ideas and information increasingly <a href="https://2012books.lardbucket.org/books/a-primer-on-communication-studies/s15-media-technology-and-communica.html">grew in volume and reach</a>. </p>
<h2>New Jesuits reaching the world on the web</h2>
<p>Throughout this modern period, Catholic institutions and religious orders, including the Jesuits, have used all such means of communication. More recently, from the <a href="http://w2.vatican.va/content/vatican/it.html">Vatican</a> down through regional to local institutions has come a proliferation of Catholic presence on the internet. The websites largely present information about a given diocese, school or religious order. Some use traditional-style <a href="https://www.commonwealmagazine.org/">journalism</a>, such as <a href="http://www.americamagazine.org/">magazines</a> and <a href="https://www.ncronline.org/">newspapers</a>, to convey their message.</p>
<p>A group of young American Jesuits have also started their own internet platform, <a href="https://thejesuitpost.org/">The Jesuit Post</a>. Their blogs and tweets are aimed at their generation. As they say on their <a href="https://thejesuitpost.org/introducing-tjp/">website</a>, these young Jesuits seek “to show that faith is relevant to today’s culture and that God is already at work in it.” As with the circulating letters of yore, these days it is cyberposting that promotes the Jesuit image. Other apostolic orders, such as <a href="https://www.dominicanajournal.org/">the Dominicans</a>, are doing so as well.</p>
<p>By sharing their work through the latest means of communication, these religious orders are only adapting what has been a long tradition of making contact with the world. Even for cloistered nuns like the Monastery of Saint Clare, staying alive in this wide world is a matter of sharing their life on the Web.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/78734/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Bruce Morrill is a Roman Catholic priest and member of the Society of Jesus (the Jesuits). </span></em></p>A key to the successful growth of Jesuits were handwritten letters – transported through trade ships from India.Bruce T. Morrill, Edward A. Malloy Chair of Catholic Studies, Professor of Theological Studies, Vanderbilt UniversityLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/584722017-01-09T01:33:11Z2017-01-09T01:33:11ZSearching deep and dark: Building a Google for the less visible parts of the web<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/147632/original/image-20161126-32063-1fvvbsm.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">A geographical map depicting hotbeds of dark web activity related to illegal products. Larger circles indicate more activity.</span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">Christian Mattmann</span>, <a class="license" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/">CC BY-SA</a></span></figcaption></figure><p>In today’s data-rich world, companies, governments and individuals want to analyze anything and everything they can get their hands on – and the World Wide Web has loads of information. At present, the most easily indexed material from the web is text. But <a href="http://www.popsci.com/dark-web-revealed">as much as 89</a> to <a href="https://www.quora.com/How-big-is-the-deep-web/answer/Joseph-Hirschhorn-Howard">96 percent</a> of the content on the internet is actually something else – images, video, audio, <a href="http://www.iana.org/assignments/media-types/media-types.xhtml">in all thousands of different kinds of nontextual data types</a>. </p>
<p>Further, the vast majority of online content isn’t available in a form that’s easily indexed by electronic archiving systems like Google’s. Rather, it requires a user to log in, or it is provided dynamically by a program running when a user visits the page. If we’re going to catalog online human knowledge, we need to be sure we can get to and recognize all of it, and that we can do so automatically. </p>
<p>How can we teach computers to recognize, index and search all the different types of material that’s available online? Thanks to federal efforts in the global fight against human trafficking and weapons dealing, my research forms the basis for a new tool that can help with this effort.</p>
<h2>Understanding what’s deep</h2>
<p>The “deep web” and the “dark web” are often discussed in the context of scary news or films like “<a href="http://www.deepwebthemovie.com/">Deep Web</a>,” in which young and intelligent criminals are getting away with illicit activities such as drug dealing and human trafficking – or even worse. But what do these terms mean?</p>
<p>The “deep web” has existed ever since businesses and organizations, including universities, put large databases online in ways people could not directly view. Rather than allowing anyone to get students’ phone numbers and email addresses, for example, many universities require people to log in as members of the campus community before searching online directories for contact information. Online services such as <a href="http://dropbox.com/">Dropbox</a> and <a href="http://gmail.com/">Gmail</a> are publicly accessible and part of the World Wide Web – but indexing a user’s files and emails on these sites does require an individual login, which our project does not get involved with.</p>
<p>The “surface web” is the online world we can see – shopping sites, businesses’ information pages, news organizations and so on. The “deep web” is closely related, but less visible, to human users and – in some ways more importantly – to search engines exploring the web to catalog it. I tend to describe the “deep web” as those parts of the public internet that:</p>
<ol>
<li>Require a user to first fill out a login form,</li>
<li>Involve dynamic content like AJAX or Javascript, or</li>
<li>Present images, video and other information in ways that aren’t typically indexed properly by search services.</li>
</ol>
<h2>What’s dark?</h2>
<p>The “dark web,” by contrast, are pages – some of which may also have “deep web” elements – that are hosted by web servers using the anonymous web protocol called <a href="https://theconversation.com/securing-web-browsing-protecting-the-tor-network-56840">Tor</a>. Originally <a href="https://doi.org/10.1109/49.668972">developed by U.S. Defense Department researchers</a> to secure sensitive information, Tor was <a href="https://pando.com/2014/07/16/tor-spooks/">released into the public domain in 2004</a>.</p>
<p>Like many secure systems such as <a href="http://www.hindustantimes.com/bhopal/mp-pimps-criminals-take-to-whatsapp-to-network/story-doMhO07QgHgldgYXH9c0OO.html">the WhatsApp messaging app</a>, its original purpose was for good, but has also been used by criminals hiding behind the system’s anonymity. Some people run Tor sites handling <a href="https://video.vice.com/en_us/video/darknet-buying-drugs-and-guns-on-the-deep-web/563a243f8e1a5def252970ff">illicit activity</a>, such as <a href="http://www.businessinsider.com/silk-road-wasnt-even-close-to-the-biggest-drug-market-on-the-internet-2015-6">drug trafficking</a>, <a href="http://www.npr.org/sections/alltechconsidered/2016/06/17/482483537/semi-automatic-weapons-without-a-background-check-can-be-just-a-click-away">weapons</a> and <a href="http://motherboard.vice.com/read/my-brief-encounter-with-a-dark-web-human-trafficking-site">human trafficking</a> and even <a href="http://www.ibtimes.co.uk/hitman-hire-how-dark-web-contract-killer-site-besamafia-was-exposed-by-hacker-1560001">murder for hire</a>. </p>
<p>The U.S. government has been interested in trying to find ways to use modern information technology and computer science to combat these criminal activities. In 2014, the <a href="http://www.darpa.mil/">Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency</a> (more commonly known as DARPA), a part of the Defense Department, launched a program called <a href="http://www.darpa.mil/program/memex">Memex</a> to fight human trafficking with these tools. </p>
<p>Specifically, Memex wanted to create a search index that would help law enforcement identify human trafficking operations online – in particular by mining the deep and dark web. One of the key systems used by the project’s teams of scholars, government workers and industry experts was one I helped develop, called <a href="https://tika.apache.org/">Apache Tika</a>.</p>
<h2>The ‘digital Babel fish’</h2>
<p>Tika is often referred to as the “<a href="http://blog.lingo24.com/next-steps-digital-babel-fish/">digital Babel fish</a>,” a play on a creature called the “<a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_races_and_species_in_The_Hitchhiker%27s_Guide_to_the_Galaxy#Babel_fish">Babel fish</a>” in the “<a href="http://www.douglasadams.com/creations/hhgg.html">Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy</a>” book series. Once inserted into a person’s ear, the Babel fish allowed her to understand any language spoken. Tika lets users understand any file and the information contained within it.</p>
<p>When Tika examines a file, it automatically identifies what kind of file it is – such as a photo, video or audio. It does this with a curated taxonomy of information about files: their name, their extension, a sort of “digital fingerprint. When it encounters a file whose name ends in ”.MP4,“ for example, Tika assumes it’s a video file stored in the <a href="http://mpeg.chiariglione.org/standards/mpeg-4">MPEG-4 format</a>. By directly analyzing the data in the file, Tika can confirm or refute that assumption – all video, audio, image and other files must begin with specific codes saying what format their data is stored in.</p>
<p>Once a file’s type is identified, Tika uses specific tools to extract its content such as <a href="http://pdfbox.apache.org/">Apache PDFBox</a> for PDF files, or <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tesseract">Tesseract</a> for capturing text from images. In addition to content, other forensic information or "metadata” is captured including the file’s creation date, who edited it last, and what language the file is authored in. </p>
<p>From there, Tika uses advanced techniques like <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Named-entity_recognition">Named Entity Recognition (NER)</a> to further analyze the text. NER identifies proper nouns and sentence structure, and then fits this information to databases of people, places and things, identifying not just whom the text is talking about, but where, and why they are doing it. This technique helped Tika to automatically identify offshore shell corporations (the things); where they were located; and who (people) was storing their money in them as part of the <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Panama_Papers">Panama Papers</a> scandal that exposed financial corruption among global political, societal and technical leaders. </p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/147631/original/image-20161126-32026-1fmvr2r.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/147631/original/image-20161126-32026-1fmvr2r.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/147631/original/image-20161126-32026-1fmvr2r.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=357&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/147631/original/image-20161126-32026-1fmvr2r.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=357&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/147631/original/image-20161126-32026-1fmvr2r.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=357&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/147631/original/image-20161126-32026-1fmvr2r.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=448&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/147631/original/image-20161126-32026-1fmvr2r.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=448&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/147631/original/image-20161126-32026-1fmvr2r.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=448&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Tika extracting information from images of weapons curated from the deep and dark web. Stolen weapons are classified automatically for further follow-up.</span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<h2>Identifying illegal activity</h2>
<p>Improvements to Tika during the Memex project made it even better at handling multimedia and other content found on the deep and dark web. Now Tika can process and identify images with common human trafficking themes. For example, it can automatically process and analyze text in images – a victim alias or an indication about how to contact them – and certain types of image properties – such as camera lighting. In some images and videos, Tika can identify the people, places and things that appear.</p>
<p>Additional software can help Tika find automatic weapons and <a href="https://github.com/memex-explorer/image_space">identify a weapon’s serial number</a>. That can help to track down whether it is stolen or not.</p>
<p>Employing Tika to monitor the deep and dark web continuously could help identify human- and weapons-trafficking situations shortly after the photos are posted online. That could stop a crime from occurring and save lives.</p>
<p>Memex is not yet powerful enough to handle all of the content that’s out there, nor to comprehensively assist law enforcement, contribute to humanitarian efforts to stop human trafficking and even interact with commercial search engines. </p>
<p>It will take more work, but we’re making it easier to achieve those goals. Tika and related software packages are part of an open source software library available on DARPA’s <a href="http://opencatalog.darpa.mil/MEMEX.html">Open Catalog</a> to anyone – in law enforcement, the intelligence community or the public at large – who wants to shine a light into the deep and the dark.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/58472/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Christian Mattmann is affiliated with Jet Propulsion Laboratory, California Institute of Technology (NASA JPL).</span></em></p>The deep and dark web can be a scary place, but modern open-source technologies funded by the Defense Department can help explore it.Christian Mattmann, Director, Information Retrieval and Data Science Group and Adjunct Associate Professor, USC and Principal Data Scientist, NASALicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/689542016-12-12T03:41:07Z2016-12-12T03:41:07ZTrump trolls, Pirate Parties and the Italian Five Star Movement: The internet meets politics<p>We blame the internet for a lot of things, and now the list has grown to include our politics. In a turbulent year marked by the U.K.’s decision to leave the European Union and the election of Donald Trump, some have started to wonder to what extent the recent events have to do with the technology that most defines our age.</p>
<p>In the aftermath of Trump’s victory, commentators accused Facebook of being <a href="http://www.forbes.com/sites/markrogowsky/2016/11/17/facebook-with-great-power-comes-great-responsibility/#380f552d6e7d">indirectly responsible</a> for his election. Specifically, they point to the role of social media in spreading virulent political propaganda and fake news. The internet has been increasingly presented as a possible cause for the <a href="https://theconversation.com/in-a-post-truth-election-clicks-trump-facts-67274">post-truth culture</a> that allegedly characterizes contemporary democracies.</p>
<p>These reactions are a reminder that new technologies often stimulate <a href="http://www.tandfonline.com/doi/10.1080/13688804.2014.898904">both hopes and fears</a> about their impact on society and culture. The internet has been seen as both the harbinger of political participation and the main culprit for the decline of democracy. The network of networks is now more than a mere vehicle of political communication: It has become a powerful rhetorical symbol people are using to achieve political goals. </p>
<p>This is currently visible in Europe, where movements such as the <a href="http://piratar.is/en/">Pirate Parties</a> and the Italian <a href="https://theconversation.com/what-is-italys-five-star-movement-69596">Five Star Movement</a>, which we have <a href="http://mcs.sagepub.com/content/36/1/105.abstract">studied</a>, build their political messages around the internet. To them, the internet is a catalyst for radical and democratic change that channels growing dissatisfaction with traditional political parties.</p>
<h2>Web utopias and dystopias</h2>
<p>The emergence of political enthusiasm for the internet owes much to U.S. culture in the 1990s. Internet connectivity was spreading from universities and corporations to an increasingly large portion of the population. During the Clinton administration, Vice President Al Gore made the “<a href="http://www.ibiblio.org/icky/speech2.html">Information Superhighway</a>” a flagship concept. He linked the development of a high-speed digital telecommunication network to a new era of enlightened market democracy. </p>
<p>The enthusiasm for information technology and free-market economics spread from Silicon Valley and was dubbed <a href="http://www.imaginaryfutures.net/2007/04/17/the-californian-ideology-2">Californian Ideology</a>. It inspired a generation of digital entrepreneurs, technologists, politicians and activists in Silicon Valley and beyond. The <a href="http://time.com/3741681/2000-dotcom-stock-bust/">2000 dot-com crash</a> only temporarily curbed the hype.</p>
<p>In the 2000s, the rise of sharing platforms and social media – often labeled as “<a href="http://www.oreilly.com/pub/a/web2/archive/what-is-web-20.html">Web 2.0</a>” – supported the idea of a new era of increased participation of common citizens in the production of cultural content, software development and even political revolutions against authoritarian regimes.</p>
<p>The promise of the unrestrained flow of information also engendered deep fears. In 1990s, the web was already seen by critics as a vehicle for poor-quality information, hate speech and extreme pornography. We knew then that the Information Superhighway’s dark side was worryingly <a href="http://www.nytimes.com/1996/01/15/business/limiting-medium-without-boundaries-you-let-good-fish-through-net-while-blocking.html">difficult to regulate</a>.</p>
<p>Paradoxically, the promise of decentralization has resulted in few massive advertising empires like Facebook and Google, employing sophisticated <a href="https://theconversation.com/western-democracys-new-maxim-surveillance-and-soft-despotism-48879">mass surveillance techniques</a>. Web-based companies like Uber and Airbnb bring new efficient services to millions of customers, but are also seen as <a href="https://theconversation.com/how-uber-opens-cities-only-to-close-them-59067">potential monopolists</a> that threaten local economies and squeeze profits out of impoverished communities.</p>
<p>The <a href="https://techliberation.com/2011/01/31/the-case-for-internet-optimism-part-1-saving-the-net-from-its-detractors/">public’s views</a> on digital media are rapidly shifting. In less than 10 years, the stories we tell about the internet have moved from praising its democratic potential to imagining it as a dangerous source of extreme politics, polarized echo chambers and a hive of misogynist and racist trolls.</p>
<h2>Cyber-optimism in Europe</h2>
<p>While cyber-utopian views have lost appeal in the U.S., the idea of the internet as a promise of radical reorganization of society has survived. In fact, it has become a defining element of political movements that thrive in Western Europe.</p>
<p>In Italy, an anti-establishment party know as the Five Star Movement became the second most-voted for party in Italy in the 2013 national elections. According to <a href="http://www.reuters.com/article/us-italy-politics-5star-idUSKCN0ZM130">some polls</a>, it might soon even win general elections in Italy.</p>
<p>In <a href="http://mcs.sagepub.com/content/36/1/105.abstract">our research</a>, we analyzed how the Italian Five Star Movement uses a mythical idea of the internet as a catalyst for its political message. In the party’s rhetoric, declining and corrupt mainstream parties are allied with newspapers and television. By contrast, the movement claims to harness the power of the web to “kill” old politics and bring about direct democracy, efficiency and transparency in governance.</p>
<p>Similarly in Iceland, the Pirate Party is now poised to lead a <a href="http://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/europe/pirate-party-may-step-in-as-iceland-hits-election-stalemate-a7435971.html">coalition government</a>. Throughout the few last years, other Pirate Parties have emerged and have been at times quite successful in other European countries, including <a href="https://newrepublic.com/article/137305/rise-fall-pirate-party">Germany</a> and <a href="http://pol.sagepub.com/content/31/3/121?patientinform-links=yes&legid=sppol;31/3/121">Sweden</a>. While they differ in many ways from the Five Star Movement, their leaders also insist that the internet will help enable new forms of democratic participation. Their success was made possible by the powerful vision of a new direct democracy facilitated by online technologies. </p>
<h2>A vision of change</h2>
<p>Many politicians all over the world run campaigns on the promise of change, communicating a positive message to potential voters. The rise of forces such as the Five Star Movement and the Pirate Parties in Europe is an example of how the rhetoric of political change and the rhetoric of the digital revolution can interact with each other, merging into a unique, coherent discourse.</p>
<p>In thinking about the impact of the internet in politics, we usually consider how social media, websites and other online resources are used as a vehicle of political communication. Yet, its impact as a symbol and a powerful narrative is equally strong.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/68954/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>The authors do not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organization that would benefit from this article, and have disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>While the US is reeling from rampant fake online news, political movements in Europe are using the internet as a powerful democratic symbol to win elections. Will cyber-optimism or pessimism win?Andrea Ballatore, Lecturer in Geographic Information Science, Birkbeck, University of LondonSimone Natale, Lecturer in Communication and Media Studies, Loughborough UniversityLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/661272016-10-05T04:55:09Z2016-10-05T04:55:09ZHappy 30th anniversary to .au domains – what comes next?<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/140425/original/image-20161005-15886-xajvld.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Web addresses from Shutterstock.</span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">shutterstock</span></span></figcaption></figure><p>This year marks the 30th anniversary of Australian domain names – websites ending in .au. As of June this year, <a href="https://www.ausregistry.com.au/wp-content/uploads/2016/07/BTD_Issue_8.pdf">more than three million such domains have been registered</a>. This is a lot for a country of only 24 million people, but especially notable when you think there were only a few hundred thousand domain names as recently as 2002. </p>
<p>This explosion in registrations is the result of the constant evolution of our system – changes that have not only opened domains up to more and more people, but will set us up for the fourth decade of Australian websites. </p>
<h2>It began with one man</h2>
<p>The story of .au, Australia’s Top Level Domain (TLD), really began in March 1986. It was then that University of Melbourne network administrator, Kevin Robert Elz – known to most as Robert Elz – was given authority to administer Australian domain name registration. Elz set the rules for the system and held this authority from 1986 through the 1990s.</p>
<p>There were a couple of different phases during Elz’s tenure. The first ten years were marked by slow growth and informal management. But from 1996 there was a boom in demand as the internet rapidly became a central part of our lives and businesses jumped on board. </p>
<p>1996 was the beginning of the commercial domain name industry in Australia. The boom in demand for Australian domain names led Elz to delegate responsibility for Australian second-level domains (2LDs). In her <a href="http://www.routledge.com/books/details/9780415668132/">book on the domain name registration system</a>, academic and lawyer Jenny Ng writes:</p>
<blockquote>
<p>In October 1996 Elz granted a five-year licence to administer com.au to his employer, the University of Melbourne through Melbourne IT Ltd.</p>
</blockquote>
<p>After this, registering a domain was no longer free.</p>
<h2>A formal system</h2>
<p>As commercial players moved in, more formal management of the Australian domain name system (DNS) was established. In 1997 the Australian Domain Name Administration (ADNA) was created, and in April 1999 its role was transferred to the .au Domain Administration (<a href="https://www.auda.org.au/">auDA</a>). </p>
<p>In December 2000 the Australian Government <a href="https://www.auda.org.au/about-auda">formally endorsed</a> auDA as the appropriate body to hold the delegation of authority for .au. In 2002, new policies and a new registry, operated by AusRegistry, came into operation. With this, the contemporary Australian domain name system (DNS) came into being.</p>
<p>Reliable data are not available for the early years, but when the first registry was launched in 2002, there were <a href="https://www.ausregistry.com.au/wp-content/uploads/2016/07/BTD_Issue_8.pdf">282,632 domains</a>, which grew to 500,000 domain names in 2005, and 710,428 on 30 June 2006. We surpassed a million domains registered by 2007 and three million in 2016; about 87% of these are .com.au. </p>
<p>This growth was facilitated by relaxation of the previous rules as a result of successive policy review panels.</p>
<h2>Evolution of Australian policy</h2>
<p>Domain name policies during the first 10-15 years reflected the beliefs and assumptions of the Internet’s pioneers. One guiding principle was that no one should be able to gain an undeserved advantage over other participants. So it was only possible for a registrant to register one domain name, and it was not possible to register a generic term (such as a common noun) or a place name. The principle of “first come, first served” was enshrined; there was no hierarchy of entitlement to a particular name.</p>
<p>Since the first formal policy was developed and implemented in 2002, most of these restrictions have been abolished, and the Australian DNS has followed the path of evolution in other countries, albeit more slowly.</p>
<p>Some fundamental principles remain: first come, first served; the requirement that the registrant for an Australian domain name must be Australian; provisions to reduce abusive practices; and a requirement for a link between the registrant and the name registered. As a result, the Australian DNS is <a href="https://www.ausregistry.com.au/wp-content/uploads/2016/07/BTD_Issue_8.pdf">regarded</a> as relatively well-administered, trusted and stable. But we aren’t done yet.</p>
<h2>Direct registration: the next step</h2>
<p>In August 2015 I <a href="https://theconversation.com/a-change-in-australias-web-rules-would-open-up-the-au-space-46203">wrote</a> about the work of the 2015 Name Panel established by auDA to review domain name policy and propose changes to the board of .auDA. Policy change proposals are adopted by a consensus of each panel, and the panels must be broadly representative of the industry and domain name users.</p>
<p>The panel made one major recommendation: in addition to registering second-level domains (like .com.au, .edu.au, and .net.au), Australians should also be able to register directly (such as example.au). Both the UK and New Zealand have already made this change.</p>
<p>The <a href="https://www.auda.org.au/assets/pdf/2015npp-final-report.pdf">final report</a> of the Panel was presented to the auDA Board in December 2015. The <a href="https://www.auda.org.au/policies/panels-and-committees/2015-names-policy-panel/">Names Policy 2015 website</a> includes the text of all non-confidential submissions, panel minutes, and other panel documents; there was also a minority report by four of the 23 panel members.</p>
<p>The auDA Board considered and <a href="https://www.auda.org.au/about-auda/our-org/board-meetings/2016/15-february-2016-board-meeting-minutes/">accepted</a> the final report in February 2016 and in <a href="https://www.auda.org.au/about-auda/our-org/board-meetings/2016/18-april-2016-board-meeting-minutes/">April</a> agreed to <a href="https://www.auda.org.au/news/auda-to-introduce-direct-registrations-in-au/">implement</a> the recommendation. Australians will soon be able to register domains directly.</p>
<p>Against this backdrop, auDA will soon consider the best way to manage one of its largest policy changes. This is the move from the strict hierarchy of names which has prevailed for thirty years using a TLD and 2LDs, to a dual system which permits both direct and second-level registrations. The changes will set a direction for the fourth decade of .au.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/66127/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Derek Whitehead is a member of auDA and has previously chaired auDA policy panels. </span></em></p>This year marks the 30th birthday of .au domains. We’ve come a long way but there’s big change ahead.Derek Whitehead, Adjunct professor, Swinburne University of TechnologyLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/611612016-06-24T04:39:34Z2016-06-24T04:39:34ZWhat’s wrong with the web and do we need to fix it?<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/127880/original/image-20160623-30242-1man9he.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Do we need a decentralised web?</span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">Shutterstock/cybrain</span></span></figcaption></figure><p>More than 20 years after the first web server started bringing the internet into our lives, a <a href="http://www.decentralizedweb.net/">recent conference</a> in San Francisco brought together some of its creators to discuss its future.</p>
<p>The general tone of the conference is probably best summed up by the <a href="http://eff.org/">Electronic Frontiers Foundation’s</a> <a href="https://www.eff.org/about/staff/cory-doctorow">Cory Doctorow</a>:</p>
<blockquote>
<p>In the last twenty years, we’ve managed to nearly ruin one of the most functional distributed systems ever created: today’s Web.</p>
</blockquote>
<p>This might seem like a surprising statement. To many of us, the web has become an indispensable part of modern life. It’s the portal through which we get news and entertainment, stay in touch with family and friends, and gain ready access to more information than any human being has ever had. The web today is probably more useful and accessible to more people than it has ever been.</p>
<p>Yet for people such as <a href="https://www.w3.org/People/Berners-Lee/">Sir Tim Berners-Lee</a>, the inventor of the world wide web, and <a href="http://www.internethalloffame.org/inductees/vint-cerf">Vinton Cerf</a> who is often referred to as one of the “<a href="http://theinstitute.ieee.org/people/achievements/the-fathers-of-the-internet">fathers of the internet</a>”, Doctorow’s comment cuts right to the heart of the problem. The internet has not evolved in the way they had envisioned.</p>
<h2>The centralised web</h2>
<p>Their main concern is that the internet – and the information on it – has become increasingly centralised and controlled. </p>
<p>In the early days of the web, people who wanted to publish online would run their own web servers on their own computers. This required a reasonably good understanding of the technology, but meant that information was distributed across the internet.</p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/127985/original/image-20160624-30272-ezkenn.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/127985/original/image-20160624-30272-ezkenn.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/127985/original/image-20160624-30272-ezkenn.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=345&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/127985/original/image-20160624-30272-ezkenn.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=345&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/127985/original/image-20160624-30272-ezkenn.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=345&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/127985/original/image-20160624-30272-ezkenn.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=434&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/127985/original/image-20160624-30272-ezkenn.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=434&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/127985/original/image-20160624-30272-ezkenn.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=434&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">The photo-sharing website flickr.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.flickr.com/">Screenshot</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>As the web grew, companies that took the technical hurdles out of web publishing were established. With <a href="https://www.flickr.com/">Flickr</a>, for example, a photographer can easily upload his or her photos to the internet and share them with other people.</p>
<p><a href="http://youtube.com/">YouTube</a> did the same thing for video, while tools such as <a href="https://wordpress.com/">Wordpress</a> made it easy for anyone to write blogs.</p>
<p>Social media in particular has made it easy for everyone to get online. The period in which these services really took off is generally referred to as <a href="http://www.oreilly.com/pub/a/web2/archive/what-is-web-20.html">web 2.0</a>.</p>
<p>But along with this development of easy-to-use publishing technologies came a centralisation of the internet, and with that, the loss of some of the internet’s potential.</p>
<h2>The decentralised web</h2>
<p>Proponents of the decentralised web argue that there are three main problems with the web today: openness and accessibility; censorship and privacy; and archiving of information.</p>
<p>Openness and accessibility refers to the tendency of centralisation to lock people into a particular service. So, for example, if you use Apple’s iCloud to store your photos, it’s difficult to give someone access to those photos if they have a Microsoft OneDrive account, because the accounts don’t talk to each other.</p>
<p>The second issue – censorship and privacy – is a deep concern for people like Doctorow and Berners-Lee. Centralised web services make it relatively easy for internet use to be monitored by governments or companies. For example, social media companies make money by <a href="http://mashable.com/2013/10/24/personal-data-monetization/#KX.ADubJ_mqq">trading on the value of personal information</a>. </p>
<p>As we use social media, fitness trackers and health apps to document our lives, we generate a lot of personal data. We freely give this personal data to social media companies by agreeing to their terms of service when we create our accounts. </p>
<p>The third issue with today’s web is that it is ephemeral; information changes and websites go offline all the time, and very little is retained or archived. Vinton Cerf has referred to this as the “<a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Digital_dark_age">digital dark age</a>” because when historians look back at this point in history, much of the material on the internet won’t exist anymore – there will be no historical record.</p>
<p>A <a href="http://deletedcity.net/">good example</a> of this loss of history occurred when GeoCities, which hosted millions of web pages created by individuals, was first bought out by Yahoo and then discontinued.</p>
<figure>
<iframe src="https://player.vimeo.com/video/41777233" width="500" height="281" frameborder="0" webkitallowfullscreen="" mozallowfullscreen="" allowfullscreen=""></iframe>
</figure>
<p>The technologies to support a more decentralised web are <a href="http://www.decentralizedweb.net/learn-more/">already being developed</a>, and are based upon some you are probably already familiar with.</p>
<p>One of the key technologies to support a decentralised web is peer-to-peer networking (or more simply, P2P). You might be familiar with this concept already, as it’s the technology behind BitTorrent – the software used by <a href="http://www.gizmodo.com.au/2014/06/pirate-kings-almost-3-million-australians-visited-the-top-two-illegal-download-sites-in-may/">millions of Australians</a> to illegally download new episodes of Game of Thrones.</p>
<p>On P2P networks, information is distributed across thousands or millions of computers rather than residing on a single server. Because the contents of the files or website are distributed and decentralised, it’s much more difficult to take the site offline unless you own of the files.</p>
<p>It also means that information uploaded to these networks can be retained, creating archives of old information. There are already organisations such as <a href="http://maidsafe.net/">MaidSafe</a> and <a href="http://freenetproject.org/">FreeNet</a> who are creating these P2P networks. </p>
<p>Other technologies, such as encryption and something called <a href="https://theconversation.com/blockchain-is-useful-for-a-lot-more-than-just-bitcoin-58921">blockchain</a>, provide levels of security that make transactions on these networks extremely difficult to track, and very robust. </p>
<p>Together these technologies could protect the privacy of internet users and would make censorship very difficult to enforce. It could also allow people to securely pay creators for online content without the need to an intermediary. </p>
<p>For example, a musician could make a song available online and people could pay the artist directly to listen to it, without the need for a recording company or online music service.</p>
<h2>But do we need it?</h2>
<p>Perhaps the biggest question with decentralising the web is whether it is actually something most people want or value. While archiving some parts of the internet is clearly valuable, there is probably a lot on the internet that can safely be forgotten, and <a href="http://www.newyorker.com/magazine/2014/09/29/solace-oblivion">some things that should be</a>.</p>
<p>The technology itself is a hurdle to adoption. Peer-to-peer and blockchain technology are clever, but they are also complex. If decentralised web technologies are going to be widely used, they need to be easy to install and operate.</p>
<p>This isn’t an insurmountable problem, though. In the early 1990s, installing the software to get the internet working on your computer required substantial technical knowledge. Today it’s simple, and that’s one of the main reasons the internet took off.</p>
<p>Beyond the technical challenges, there are other social concerns that are potentially more substantial. Recently Facebook’s live streaming facility has <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/technology/2016/jun/17/chicago-man-shot-dead-facebook-live-stream-video">raised questions</a> about the level of control that should be exercised over internet media.</p>
<p>At the end of the day, it may be that the decentralised web is ready for us, but we’re not yet ready for it.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/61161/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Sam Hinton does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>The world wide web today is more useful and accessible to more people than it ever has been. So why do some early pioneers of the web think it has been ruined?Sam Hinton, Assistant Professor in Web Design, University of CanberraLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/542442016-02-17T19:17:32Z2016-02-17T19:17:32ZHow online advertising can work in a world of ad blockers<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/111747/original/image-20160217-19269-v0f786.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Ad blockers are here to stay so advertisers need to think differently to reach their target audience.</span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">Shutterstock/Aleksandar Karanov</span></span></figcaption></figure><p>Ask online advertisers what their biggest headache is today, and they will probably say <a href="https://www.techopedia.com/definition/23090/ad-blocker">ad blockers</a>, which are browser extensions and add-ons that can remove adverts from websites.</p>
<p>The growth of ad blocking has been followed closely by Dublin-based <a href="https://pagefair.com/">PageFair</a>, a group looking to find a way for online advertising to survive. In its third <a href="http://downloads.pagefair.com/reports/2015_report-the_cost_of_ad_blocking.pdf">annual study</a>, published in August last year, it revealed that ad blockers are costing around US$22 billion a year in lost revenue.</p>
<p>With around 200 million active users and rising, the loss of revenue is already <a href="http://www.adnews.com.au/news/adblocking-media-crisis-3-0">disrupting</a> the industry, with worse to come as more people get on board.</p>
<p>For many advertisers and publishers, the next 12 to 18 months will see a tipping point, as the gap between the cost of doing business and dwindling revenue widens.</p>
<h2>What users want</h2>
<p>The reality is that ad blockers are here to stay, and so is online advertising. The problem lies at both ends of the spectrum; those who want something for nothing and everything for free, and with those at the other end who push profit over propriety.</p>
<p>The problem is that people are becoming more digitally savvy, taking control of their online experience. They use ad blockers because they dislike having their online experience marred by objectionable content, or their personal details bought and sold. </p>
<p>Since much content on the web is only possible through advertising, the challenge is to find a way that works for everyone. </p>
<h2>How advertisers are responding</h2>
<p>Advertisers are countering ad blockers in various ways, such as cajoling the user to <a href="http://www.pcmag.com/encyclopedia/term/54441/whitelist">white list</a> them so the adverts show up, erecting pay walls or finding ways to circumvent ad blockers.</p>
<p>Some say <a href="https://blog.stackoverflow.com/2016/02/why-stack-overflow-doesnt-care-about-ad-blockers/">they don’t care about ad blockers</a> because it saves money on pay-per-click ads by separating out the people who were never going to buy. </p>
<p>Rather than trying to circumvent ad blockers or pretend they don’t matter, online advertisers need to negotiate a workable compromise by producing content that people <em>want</em> to consume. They need to engage people in a win-win dialogue that ultimately leads to a conversion. </p>
<p>Advertisers could hire new categories of creative talent who can leverage social media and mobile platforms to connect with people in new ways. There will be much trial and error before getting things right so clients will need to be understanding.</p>
<p>Advertisers may also decide, for pragmatic reasons, to produce quality online content that meets a typical ad blocker’s published guidelines. These are based on what people say they do not like. For example, <a href="https://adblockplus.org/en/acceptable-ads#not-acceptable-ad">Adblock Plus says</a> it would probably white list ads that avoid some of these these features: </p>
<ul>
<li>ads with excessive or non user-initiated hover effects</li>
<li>autoplay-sound or video ads</li>
<li>overlay, expanding or oversized image ads</li>
<li>pop-ups and pop-unders</li>
<li>animated ads or rich media ads such as Flash and Shockwave ads</li>
</ul>
<p>And sometimes online ad placement goes <a href="https://econsultancy.com/blog/6666-ten-horrifying-display-ad-placements-nsfw/">terribly wrong</a> simply because it can. </p>
<h2>Improve quality, raise standards</h2>
<p>Apart from avoiding these annoying or objectionable tactics, what else can online advertisers do? They might do more high quality native advertising. These are sponsored articles that match the form and style of a publication, but which contain a clear message and call to action. </p>
<p>Some would argue that native advertising is deceptive. However, if it is clearly identified as sponsored content and is of high quality, it is arguably acceptable and people will consume it.</p>
<p>When Netflix wanted to promote its <a href="https://www.netflix.com/au/title/80025172">Narcos</a> series, it commissioned a well-written piece of native advertising that appeared in the Wall Street Journal that tells the story of <a href="http://creativity-online.com/work/netflix-cocainenomics/43432">cocaine as a business</a>. This follows an earlier piece in the New York Times advertising <a href="http://adage.com/article/media/york-times-runs-native-ad-orange-black/293713/">Orange is the New Black</a>.</p>
<p>Native advertising and sponsored content generally calls for careful editorial judgement. It can backfire badly if the readership is misjudged. For example, in January 2013, The Atlantic ran paid <a href="http://www.theatlantic.com/national/archive/2013/02/on-the-atlantics-scientology-ad-and-aftermath/273447/">advertorial</a> from the Church of Scientology praising its leader David Miscavige.</p>
<p>A strong reader backlash prompted the magazine to retract the ad and publish an apology the next day. The incident did some damage to the magazine’s reputation. </p>
<h2>What people like</h2>
<p>If online advertising is to survive, it needs to learn fast from the ad blocking lesson. If people don’t like something they will find a way to avoid or get rid of it.</p>
<p>So advertisers need to understand what people do like, what doesn’t annoy or offend. That’s something the biggest players on the internet – Google, Apple and Facebook for example – are <a href="http://www.theverge.com/2015/9/17/9338963/welcome-to-hell-apple-vs-google-vs-facebook-and-the-slow-death-of-the-web">trying to figure out</a>.</p>
<p>People like relevance. Ads will be interesting if they are relevant to what people are doing online. Google tries to do this with its targeted advertising links that appear on the right side of the search results page that are linked to the topic of the search. </p>
<p>And online advertising is one of the biggest earners for Google with year-on-year revenue up 17% to US$19-billion for the final three months of 2015, according to parent company ABC’s <a href="https://abc.xyz/investor/news/earnings/2015/Q4_google_earnings/index.html">latest financial report</a>.</p>
<p>Any online ad should also give enough contextual information to let the reader know what to expect, helping them to make informed choices. And the link should not deceive the user into clicking on it. </p>
<p>People hate interstitial ads, those whole page pop-ups that dominate the screen. You cannot proceed until you either sign up or find an obscure button. Even worse is no button; you are trapped. And that’s when they look to install an ad blocker.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/54244/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>David Tuffley does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>Online publishers are losing millions in lost earnings to ad blockers. But they are here to stay. So how can advertising change to reach its audience?David Tuffley, Senior Lecturer in Applied Ethics and Socio-Technical Studies , Griffith UniversityLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/469692015-09-09T10:16:00Z2015-09-09T10:16:00ZThe web has become a hall of mirrors, filled only with reflections of our data<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/93889/original/image-20150904-14642-vtmkzo.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">The web should expand our horizons, but instead it's shrinking our view.</span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://pixabay.com/en/sphere-mirror-reflection-614974/">uroburos</a></span></figcaption></figure><p>The “digital assistant” is proliferating, able to combine intelligent natural language processing, voice-operated control over a smartphone’s functions and access to web services. It can set calendar appointments, launch apps, and run requests. But if that sounds very clever – a computerised talking assistant, like HAL9000 from the film <a href="http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0062622/">2001: A Space Odyssey</a> – it’s mostly just running search engine queries and processing the results.</p>
<p>Facebook has now joined Apple, Microsoft, Google and Amazon with the launch of its digital assistant M, part of its Messaging smartphone app. It’s special sauce is that <a href="https://theconversation.com/facebooks-digital-assistant-blends-ai-with-customer-service-staff-but-will-it-cope-without-human-help-46835">M is powered not just by algorithms but by data serfs</a>: human Facebook employees who are there to ensure that every request that it cannot parse is still fulfilled, and in doing so training M by example. That training works because <a href="http://www.wired.com/2015/08/facebook-launches-m-new-kind-virtual-assistant/">every interaction with M is recorded</a> – that’s the point, according to David Marcus, Facebook’s vice-president of messaging:</p>
<blockquote>
<p>We start capturing all of your intent for the things you want to do. Intent often leads to buying something, or to a transaction, and that’s an opportunity for us to [make money] over time. </p>
</blockquote>
<p>Facebook, through M, will capture and facilitate that “intent to buy" and take its cut directly from the subsequent purchase rather than as an ad middleman. It does this by leveraging messaging, which was <a href="http://www.androidcentral.com/facebook-kill-app-messaging-favor-using-dedicated-facebook-messenger-app">turned into a separate app of its own</a> so that Facebook could integrate PayPal-style <a href="http://techcrunch.com/2015/03/17/facebook-pay/">peer-to-peer payments between users</a>. This means Facebook has a log not only of your conversations but also your financial dealings. In an interview with Fortune magazine at the time, Facebook product manager, Steve Davies, <a href="http://fortune.com/2015/03/19/facebook-payments-paypal/">said</a>:</p>
<blockquote>
<p>People talk about money all the time in Messenger but end up going somewhere else to do the transaction. With this, people can finish the conversation the same place started it.</p>
</blockquote>
<p>In a somewhat creepy way, by reading your chats and knowing that you’re "talking about money all the time” – what you’re talking about buying – Facebook can build up a pretty compelling profile of interests and potential purchases. If M can capture our intent it will not be <a href="http://eprints.soton.ac.uk/360065/">by tracking what sites we visit and targeting relevant ads</a>, as per advert brokers such as Google and Doubleclick. Nor by targeting ads based on <a href="http://eprints.soton.ac.uk/364394">the links we share</a>, as Twitter does. Instead it simply reads our messages.</p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/93885/original/image-20150904-14642-1f2ct2u.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/93885/original/image-20150904-14642-1f2ct2u.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/93885/original/image-20150904-14642-1f2ct2u.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=480&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/93885/original/image-20150904-14642-1f2ct2u.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=480&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/93885/original/image-20150904-14642-1f2ct2u.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=480&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/93885/original/image-20150904-14642-1f2ct2u.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=603&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/93885/original/image-20150904-14642-1f2ct2u.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=603&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/93885/original/image-20150904-14642-1f2ct2u.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=603&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">‘Hello Dave. Would you like to go shopping?’</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/summer1978/19012443860">summer1978/MGM/SKP</a>, <a class="license" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nd/4.0/">CC BY-ND</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<h2>Talking about money, money talks</h2>
<p>M is built to carry out tasks such as booking flights or restaurants or making purchases from online stores, and rather than forcing the user to leave the app in order to visit a web store to complete a purchase, M will bring the store – more specifically, the transaction – to the app. </p>
<p>Suddenly the <a href="http://www.theretailbulletin.com/news/mcommerce_quadruples_in_two_years_24-05-12/">64% of smartphone purchases</a> that happen at websites and mobile transactions outside of Facebook, are brought into Facebook. With the opportunity to make suggestions through eavesdropping on conversations, in the not too distant future our talking intelligent assistant might say:</p>
<blockquote>
<p>I’m sorry Dave, I heard you talking about buying this camera. I wouldn’t do if I were you Dave: I found a much better deal elsewhere. And I know you’ve been talking about having that tattoo removed. I can recommend someone – she has an offer on right now, and three of your friends have recommended her service. Shall I book you in? </p>
</blockquote>
<p>Buying a book from a known supplier may be a low risk purchase, but other services require more discernment. What kind of research about cosmetic surgery has M investigated? Did those three friends use that service, or were they paid to recommend it? Perhaps you’d rather know the follow-up statistics than have a friend’s recommendation. </p>
<p>Still, because of its current position as the dominant social network, Facebook knows more about us, by name, history, social circle, political interests, than any other single internet service. And it’s for this reason that Facebook wants to ensure M is more accurate and versatile than the competition, and why it’s using humans to help the AI interpret interactions and learn. The better digital assistants like M appear to us, the more trust we have in them. Simple tasks performed well <a href="http://www.slideshare.net/jerwschm/switch-by-dan-chip-heath">builds a willingness to use that service elsewhere</a> – say, recommending financial services, or that cosmetic treatment, which stand to offer Facebook a cut of much more costly purchase. </p>
<h2>No such thing as a free lunch</h2>
<p>So for Facebook, that’s more users spending more of their time using its services and generating more cash. Where’s the benefit for us?</p>
<p>We’ve been trained to see such services as “free”, but as the saying goes, if you don’t pay for it, then it’s you that’s the product. We’ve seen repeatedly in our <a href="http://meaningfulconsent.org">Meaningful Consent Project</a> that it’s difficult to evaluate the cost to us when we don’t know what happens to our data.</p>
<p>People were once nervous about how much the state knew of them, with whom they associated and what they do, for fear that if their interests and actions were not aligned with those of the state they might find ourselves detained, disappeared, or disenfranchised. Yet we give exactly this information to corporations without hesitation, because we find ourselves amplified in the exchange: that for each book, film, record or hotel we like there are others who “like” it too.</p>
<p>The web holds a mirror up to us, reflecting back our precise interests and behaviour. Take search, for instance. In the physical world of libraries or bookshops we glance through materials from other topics and different ideas as we hunt down our own query. Indeed we are at our creative best when we absorb the rich variety in our peripheral vision. But online, a search engine shows us only things narrowly related to what we seek. Even the edges of a web page will be filled with targeted ads related to something known to interest us. This narrowing self-reflection has grown ubiquitous online: on social networks we see ourselves relative to our self-selected peers or idols. We create reflections.</p>
<p>The workings of Google, Doubleclick or Facebook reveal these to be two-way mirrors: we are observed through the mirror but see only our reflection, with no way to see the machines observing us. This “free” model is so seductive – it’s all about us – yet it leads us to become absorbed in our phones-as-mirrors rather than the harder challenge of engaging with the world and those around us. </p>
<p>It’s said not to look too closely at how a sausage is made for fear it may put you off. If we saw behind the mirror, would we be put off by the internet? At least most menus carry the choice of more than one dish; the rise of services like M suggests that, despite the apparent wonder of less effortful interactions, the internet menu we’re offered is shrinking.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/46969/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>mc schraefel research research funding from the RCUK. The EPSRC project Meaningful Consent in the Digital Economy (meaningfulconsent.org) is an example of such funding. mc also holds a Royal Academy of Engineering (RAEng) Research Chair co-funded between Microsoft Research and the RAEng. She is also a visiting scientist in the Decentralised Information Group, MIT. </span></em></p>A web obsessed with gathering data about our habits becomes less valuable to us, showing us only more and more of the same.mc schraefel, Professor of Computer Science and Human Performance, University of SouthamptonLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/462032015-08-18T20:26:16Z2015-08-18T20:26:16ZA change in Australia’s web rules would open up the .au space<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/92194/original/image-20150818-5083-1jbvfpa.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">What comes next in an Australian domain name could be up to you.</span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">Shutterstock/Maram</span></span></figcaption></figure><p>If you want to register an Australian web address, your options may be about to change due to a review of domain name policy that is currently underway.</p>
<p>The Australian domain name system (DNS) has been managed by .au Domain Administration (<a href="http://www.auda.org.au/">auDA</a>) since 2001, and it now oversees more than three million names <a href="https://www.ausregistry.com.au/australias-au-domain-celebrates-3-million-registrations">registered</a>.</p>
<p>The Australian DNS is already distinctive for a number of reasons. The registrant must be Australian. Names are allocated on a first-come, first-served basis – there is no hierarchy of rights. Registration for the sole purpose of resale is also not permitted, unlike most other top level domains (TLDs). </p>
<p>The domain name system (DNS) is also considered a public good, with its stability and effectiveness fundamental to the proper functioning of the internet. In Australia, a relatively high level of regulation exists and is accepted, and there are no plans to change this.</p>
<h2>Time for change?</h2>
<p>However, auDA is currently engaged in a <a href="http://www.auda.org.au/policies/panels-and-committees/">consultative process</a> to consider changes to the DNS system itself. Anyone can provide a submission or comments along the way. </p>
<p>The <a href="http://www.auda.org.au/policies/panels-and-committees/2015-names-policy-panel/">2015 Names Panel</a> is today issuing its draft recommendations. The main recommendation is that, in principle, Australians should be able to register domain names directly under .au (such as myname.au, or abc.au, or westpac.au).</p>
<p>This has not been possible before. Currently, the .au country code is considered the top level domain (ccTLD) for Australia. As a part of the current scheme, all sites must also be registered under second level domain name (2LDs). Some 2LDs are “open”, thus available to members of the public, such as .com.au, .net.au and org.au. And some are “closed”, meaning they’re restricted to certain sectors, such as .edu.au and .gov.au.</p>
<p>The proposed change would leave the existing 2LDs in place, and add a new option of registering directly under .au for any Australian entity.</p>
<p>Australia has strong <a href="http://www.auda.org.au/policies/">rules</a> on what name can be registered, and would continue these under the proposed new scheme. To register directly, you would need to be eligible to register a domain under the existing 2LD rules, and if necessary provide evidence of eligibility. The existing rules would also apply to the kind of name that could be registered – you can’t have any name you want.</p>
<h2>Why the need to change?</h2>
<p>The main reason the panel has recommended this change is that direct registrations would create more options. They include names that are shorter, more appealing and more memorable. They would make the domain name system simpler and easier to use.</p>
<p>Moreover, the proposed change would open a wide range of new choices for registrants. For some they would be better options. For example, the panel thinks it would be simpler for people to obtain an acceptable Australian domain name.</p>
<p>Those against this change, such as the Australian Communications Consumer Action Network (<a href="http://accan.org.au/">ACCAN</a>), <a href="http://www.auda.org.au/assets/pdf/sub-accan4.pdf">argue</a>) that we now have an orderly, logical hierarchy of names, and many new registrations would just be new versions of the same name, registered for defensive reasons.</p>
<p>The main value added, some say, would be revenue for the domain name industry in selling more domain names. It is also argued that the change would be confusing for users, and less clear than what we have in the exist hierarchy of domain names.</p>
<h2>It’s all about you</h2>
<p>One of the issues that has been widely discussed is that of the use of the DNS by individuals who are not commercial enterprises (.com.au and .net.au) or non-profit organisations (.org.au and .asn.au). </p>
<p>Individuals can have a <a href="https://www.ausregistry.com.au/domains/what-is-a-idau">.id.au</a> domain name, but although this 2LD has been simplified and heavily promoted, only 16,000 people currently use it. </p>
<p>There has been an increase in the number of people registering different types of domain names for individual use, but there has been a decrease in the number of id.au domain names being registered. The proposed changes will hopefully encourage individuals to readily obtain a desirable Australian domain name.</p>
<p>Many other Australian entities might find the new names attractive, too.</p>
<p>The timing of this proposal has been influenced by events outside Australia. Most comparable jurisdictions have already made this change. Most recently, <a href="https://dnc.org.nz/story/more-options-nz">New Zealand</a> and the <a href="http://www.dotuklaunch.uk/">United Kingdom</a> adopted direct registration through consultative processes.</p>
<p>The context is a dramatic increase in the number of <a href="http://www.iana.org/domains/root/db">global top level domains</a>, and hundreds of new TLDs have come into being since 2014, and continue to do so. The panel’s terms of reference specifically mention direct registration and were framed with these developments in mind.</p>
<p>As Australian internet users gain a better understanding of the DNS and become used to seeing many different types of domain name, they may be more receptive to, and demanding of, changes in the .au domain.</p>
<p>You won’t be able to register anythingyouwant.au; there will still be rules on what you can and can’t register, and we will continue to have a regulated .au, which is relatively safe. But if the panel recommendations are accepted, there will be a lot more choice.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/46203/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Derek Whitehead Chairs the current 2015 Names Panel on behalf of auDA. He is a member of auDA.</span></em></p>The rules that govern what Australian web address people can register could be changed to allow more personalised .au domain names.Derek Whitehead, Adjunct professor, Swinburne University of TechnologyLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.