Tim Berners-Lee: Modern Internet should be decentralized and protected by encryption

British scientist Tim Berners-Lee (Tim Berners-Lee), the creator of the World Wide Web, finally won the 2016 Turing Award. This award is also called the "Nobel Prize in IT." Each year, it is awarded by the Association of Computing Technician Specialists, who contribute, which "is of great importance for IT." The amount of the premium is $ 1 million. But this, of course, is not about the amount of the premium.

The point is Berners Lee himself. And before and after the award, he continues to assert that the modern Network is becoming more and more centralized. According to the creators of the Internet, this is unacceptable, so it is necessary to carry out a fundamental change in the infrastructure and principles of the Global Network. This, according to Berners-Lee, needs to be done in order to avoid the ability of states to control key segments of the Internet.

He also opposes the actions of the authorities of Great Britain and other countries, which are trying to introduce various systems of large-scale monitoring of users of the Network. According to him , the Internet should be decentralized and protected from unauthorized interference with encryption wherever possible. After this transformation, the Internet can be called Web 3.0, but not before.
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With regard to decentralization, some companies and organizations are already working on solving this problem. For example, a Blockstack startup creates open source software that allows you to create something like a parallel network that works thanks to the blockchain chain. Thanks to the new system, users can fully control the distribution of their data or isolate them from outside access. The company promises to implement the technology in the form of a special browser.



Another Internet decentralization company is MaidSafe . Another startup that has been working painstakingly for many years is called the creation of a p2p network. Now it allows you to host sites, store regular data.

As for encryption, now there are many different technologies and programs that block user data. As an example, e-mail providers like ProtonMail or instant messengers like Signal.

In addition, VPN services are increasingly being introduced. Some, like NordVPN , are safer than others. There is no storage of user logs, encryption protocols and solutions like DoubleVPN are used. VPN hides the user's IP, does not allow to determine his location, so that the person gets into his hands another tool to protect against unwanted surveillance from the outside.

As for Berners-Lee, a few years ago he stated the following: “I want to see an open Internet, which works perfectly at the international level and does not depend on countries.” As a matter of what he would not want to see, Berners-Lee set another example: “I do not want an Internet in which the Brazilian government stores all the data of social networks on servers in Brazil. Now it's even easier to substitute people. ” He believes that perhaps the idea of ​​social networks should be rethought in the name of the “common good of the planet”, since the very same Facebook strongly fragmented the Internet, being a thing in itself.

By the way, he spoke on such an important issue as the AI. According to Berners-Lee, after some time, artificial intelligence will fully control the economy. And we are talking about a weak form of AI, when a computer can solve problems not only about issuing loans, but also about acquiring companies. “Machine intelligence will begin to create its own companies, create holdings and generate new copies of itself to manage these companies,” said Berners-Lee. He believes that sooner or later a struggle will unfold between the “machine” companies, in which only the strongest will survive.