Response to “Long Live the Web”:
In his section, “Universality is the Foundation,” Berners-Lee states, “A related danger is that one social-networking site—or one search engine or one browser—gets so big that it becomes a monopoly, which tends to limit innovation” (Berners-Lee 82). While reading this, I was struck by the many web-based monopolies that exist today. In social media, Facebook has become a monopoly, not only in its status as a social media platform, but also in the fact that is one of the first/only places users get their news and information about the world around them. This can be problematic, since unlike more mainstream news sources, Facebook algorithms limit the information and news users see based on their preferences and personal views. This can sometimes lead to biased intake of information, which can have consequences, as shown by Facebook’s role in the U.S’s 2016 election.
“Free speech should be protected, too. The Web should be like
a white sheet of paper: ready to be written on, with no control over what is written. Earlier this year Google accused the Chinese government of hacking into its databases to retrieve the e-mails of dissidents. The alleged break-ins occurred after Google resisted the government’s demand that the company censor certain documents on its Chinese-language search engine” (Berners-Lee 85). Not only is freedom of speech limited in the internet in China, but access to many web-sites/key-words is also highly censored. As a foreigner living in China, I run into this censorship any time I attempt to use Google, Facebook, or certain websites outside of NYU Shanghai’s VPN. I appreciate having unlimited access to the internet, but at the same time find it strange that some Chinese citizens around me without VPNs may not have access to the same information as I do. As Berners-Lee points out, “universality is the foundation” of the internet and in my opinion, such a limiting of freedom of information/speech in China violates this fundamental principle that all people have a basic human right to freedom of information and expression.
Response to “A Network of Fragments”:
Burrington ends her article by saying, “I have spent the last few years trying to glimpse the totality of the network in the fragments of network infrastructure, and while it is a far more coherent landscape today than it appeared to me a few years ago, at the end of the day these fragments remain the only forms I trust.” I found her reflections interesting that, in todays focus on data centers and wireless internet connection, we tend to forget the physic, tangible fragments of internet infrastructure. Fragments such as cable lines and cell towers are often passed by unseen, and often seem less important/impressive than data centers. However, these components are still essential to a functioning internet. While we tend to rely and trust wifi and the more intangible aspects of the internet on a daily basis, these physical fragments perhaps are more trustworthy because they cannot be hacked or altered in the same ways.