“Long Live the Web” written by Tim Berners-Lee stresses that the Internets and the Web are a major part of our life, but sometimes we take it for granted. Lee supports that the Web brought us free speech, and just “like democracy itself, it needs defending” (80). It is the users who need the Internet and the Web to run, and therefore it is our responsibility to maintain, protect, and improve it.
Before reading this, when I think about the benefits of Internets, it would be access to numerous websites and to communicate globally. However, I never thought about how the Web grants us free speech. Thinking more of it, (through its’ purpose) it is the only thing we completely have control on. No matter who you are, you have the power to choose what to write and post. Despite that, there are threats that arise from the freedom we earned. For instance, the issue of web security and the monopoly of information. I never thought about the scary versions of the web. It’s scary to know that our personal data that are posted can be reused for other purposes. It’s also scary to see that if one browser gets bigger than others it can limit innovation. To prevent those threats that affect everyone, not only the person who posts, we should keep the web within “open standards” (83). Therefore, to successful reach universality, we must ensure and regulate through laws that the Web respects all human rights.
“The Room Where the Internet Was Born” written by Ingrid Burrington fascinates me. I see how much the internet has impacted all our life greatly that thinking about how it originates from just a small room is totally incredible. It’s unbelievable that all of this starts from a single message, sent through the ARPANET. Burrington emphasizes that the web is after all ahistorical and that it cannot be seen as a whole, but rather as the emersion of fragments.