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SCIENCE Saturday 13 June 2020
Web inventor: Closing digital divide must be top priority

By EDITH M. LEDERER living up to commitments
Associated Press to achieve a "safe and
UNITED NATIONS (AP) — empowering web, con-
World Wide Web inventor necting the unconnected,
Tim Berners-Lee said Thurs- respecting privacy (and)
day the COVID-19 pan- fighting misinformation,"
demic demonstrates "the Berners-Lee said.
gross inequality" of a world Since the onset of the CO-
where almost half the pop- VID-19 crisis, internet usage
ulation is unable to con- has jumped 70 percent,
nect to the internet. the use of communication
He told a high-level U.N. apps has grown by 300 per-
meeting "our number one cent and virtual collabora-
focus must be to close the tion tools by 600 percent.
digital divide." Some video streaming ser-
Some 3.5 billion people vices have grown 20-fold,
have missed out on the said Klaus Schwab, execu-
"lifeline" the internet has tive chairman of the World
provided during the coro- Economic Forum.q
navirus crisis that has en-
abled work, education and
social connections online,
Berners-Lee said.
"This inequality is a barrier In this March 12, 2019, file photo, English computer scientist Tim Berners-Lee, best known as the
to wider equality, and we inventor of the World Wide Web, delivers a speech during an event at the CERN in Meyrin near
Geneva, Switzerland, marking 30 years of World Wide Web.
know it most affects those Associated Press
who are already marginal-
ized — people in develop- power of it," Berners-Lee nect, respect, and protect divides risk becoming "the
ing countries, those on low said. people in the digital age" new face of insecurity and
incomes, and of course, When people do get on- by promoting open data, conflict."
women and girls, he said. line, they must also find that open artificial intelligence The World Wide Web Foun-
"Men remain 21 percent it is safe, participants said. and financing models and dation, co-founded by Ber-
more likely than women to The digital world has many open source software, ners-Lee, helped develop
be online, and 52 percent benefits, but also has been Guterres said. the Roadmap. Last year
more likely in the least de- "gravely misused," Guterres It also calls for expanded it launched the "Contract
veloping countries." said. training, data protection for the Web," a global ac-
A first step is to develop "Hate speech, discrimina- and privacy, and offers the tion plan for governments,
new financial models to tion and abuse are on the U.N. as a platform for coop- companies and civil so-
provide affordable con- march in digital spaces," eration to ensure that artifi- ciety to counter growing
nectivity to the Internet for the U.N. chief said. "Misin- cial intelligence is trustwor- anti-democratic activity
everyone by 2030. formation campaigns put thy, respects human rights on the internet and keep
Tackling inequality requires health and lives at risk. ... and promotes peace. knowledge freely avail-
raising the bar from basic Life-threatening cyber at- "Unless we address digital able.
access to ensuring that tacks on hospital systems instability and inequality, The contract has 1,300 en-
people have "meaningful threaten to disrupt lifesav- they will continue to exac- dorsements and the foun-
connectivity" to the Inter- ing care." erbate physical instability dation is developing ways
net "that must include data The Roadmap for Digital and inequality," Guterres for governments and com-
and devices to use the full Cooperation aims "to con- said, warning that digital panies to show how they're

Temperature spike: Earth ties record high heat May reading

BY SETH BORENSTEIN Temperature on land set a
AP Science Writer heat record, while ocean
Earth's temperature spiked temperatures ranked sec-
to tie a record high for ond.
May, U.S. meteorologists Parts of Africa, Asia, west-
reported Friday. ern Europe, South and
Last month the global av- Central America had re-
erage temperature was cord warmth.
60.3 degrees (15.7 de- "We continue to warm on
grees Celsius), tying 2016 the long term and in any
for the hottest May in 141 given month we're likely to In this Wednesday, May 27, 2020 file photo, a boy stands on
years of record keeping, be knocking on the door, the shore of the Ganges River during a hot summer day in
according to the National close to a record in the Prayagraj, India.
Oceanic and Atmospher- era that we're in," NOAA Associated Press
ic Administration. climate monitoring chief on record. five-month start of a year.
That's 1.7 degrees (nearly Deke Arndt said. This past spring was the Arndt said it's highly likely
1 degree Celsius) higher The last seven Mays, from second hottest on record, that 2020 will be one of
than the 20th century av- 2014 to 2020, have been behind 2016. And this year the two hottest years since
erage for Earth. the seven warmest Mays so far is the second hottest 1880.q