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A24 TECHNOLOGY
Thursday 14 March 2019
At age 30, World Wide Web is 'not the web we wanted'

By JAMEY KEATEN The conference, which
Associated Press brought together internet
GENEVA (AP) — At the ripe and tech experts, also gave
old age of 30 and with half CERN the chance to show-
the globe using it, the World case its reputation as an
Wide Web is facing grow- open-source incubator of
ing pains with issues like ideas. Berners-Lee worked
hate speech, privacy con- there in the late 1980s, and
cerns and state-sponsored had been determined to
hacking, its creator says, help bridge a communica-
trumpeting a call to make tions and documentation
it better for humanity. gap among different com-
Tim Berners-Lee on Tuesday puter platforms.
joined a celebration of the As a young English software
Web and reminisced about engineer at CERN, Berners-
his invention at CERN, the Lee, who is now 63, came
European Organization for up with the idea for hyper-
Nuclear Research, start- text transfer protocol — the
ing with a proposal pub- "http" that adorns web ad-
lished on March 12, 1989. It dresses — and other build-
opened the way to a tech- ing blocks for the web.
nological revolution that In this Tuesday, June 23, 2015 file photo, English computer scientist Tim Berners-Lee, best known The "http" system allowed
as the inventor of the World Wide Web, attends the Cannes Lions 2015, International Advertising
has transformed the way Festival in Cannes, southern France. text and small images to
people buy goods, share Associated Press be retrieved through a
ideas, get information and piece of software — the
much more. ers-Lee acknowledged that connect to the internet, to out what this really means,'" first browser — which Ber-
It's also become a place a sense among many who keep it available and to re- Berners-Lee said. It was un- ners-Lee released in 1990
where tech titans scoop up are already on the Web spect privacy. Companies clear, however, how such and is considered the start
personal data, rival gov- has become: "Whoops! are to make the internet rules would be enforced. of the web. In practice, the
ernments spy and seek to The web is not the web we affordable, respect privacy Berners-Lee cautioned it access to a browser on a
scuttle elections, and hate wanted in every respect." and develop technology was important to strike a home computer made the
speech and vitriol have His World Wide Web Foun- that will put people — and balance between over- internet easily accessible to
thrived — taking the Web dation wants to enlist gov- the "public good" — first. sight and freedom but diffi- consumers for the first time.
far from its roots as a space ernments, companies, and Citizens are to create and cult to agree what it should Speaking to reporters on
for progress-oriented minds citizens to take a greater to cooperate and respect be. Monday, Berners-Lee re-
to collaborate. role in shaping the web for "civil discourse," among "Where is the balance be- called how his research
As of late 2018, half of the good under principles laid other things. tween leaving the tech was helped by his former
world was online, with the out in its "Contract for the "The Contract for the Web companies to do the right boss at CERN, Mike Sendall,
other half often struggling Web." is about sitting down in thing and regulating them? who wanted a pretext to
to secure access. Under the contract, gov- working groups with other Where is the balance be- buy a then-new Next com-
Speaking at a "Web@30" ernments are called upon people who signed up, tween freedom of speech puter by Steve Jobs' Apple
conference at CERN, Bern- to make sure everyone can and to say, 'Ok, let's work and hate speech?" he said. needed for his research.q

Spotify files antitrust complaint to EU against Apple

By KELVIN CHAN also competing against Apple's payment system,
LONDON (AP) — Swedish services like Spotify with its Spotify alleges that Apple
music site Spotify has com- Apple Music service. blocks app upgrades or
plained to European Union Apple's media team in Brit- stops it from working with
regulators about Apple ain did not immediately Apple services like Siri as-
for allegedly abusing its respond to a request for sistant.
dominant position in music comment. The European U.S. tech giants have al-
streaming and stifling com- Commission said it has re- ready come under intense
petition. ceived Spotify's complaint, scrutiny from EU authorities
Spotify founder Daniel Ek which it is assessing under for their behavior. Apple
said Wednesday that the its "standard procedures." was ordered in 2016 to re-
company has filed a for- Spotify's beef with Apple pay $15 billion in taxes to
mal antitrust complaint centers on a 30 percent Ireland by EU competition
with the executive Euro- tax it and other digital ser- commissioner Margrethe
pean Commission against vices have to pay whenev- Vestager, who has also
Apple — a move that adds er they use Apple's "in-app" slapped Google with multi-
to the debate about how This March 20, 2018 file photo shows the Spotify app on an iPad payment system to pro- billion-dollar antitrust fines.
to rein in the power of big- in Baltimore. cess user purchases such Spotify and German rival
tech. Associated Press as upgrading subscriptions. Deezer were among Euro-
Writing in a blog post , Ek The charge makes Spo- pean tech industry players
said Apple is acting "as to its App Store that inten- gatekeeper to the internet tify's premium member- that issued a joint letter last
both a player and referee tionally limit choice and by controlling important ship more expensive than year calling on EU ministers
to deliberately disadvan- constrain innovation. platforms such as its iOS Apple Music, so the com- to get tougher on unfair
tage other app develop- The company takes issue mobile operating system pany said it refuses to use business practices by U.S.
ers" by bringing in new rules with how Apple acts as a and the App Store, while the system. But if it shuns tech giants.q