The Web is Broken – On net neutrality and the closed web (2017)

Facebook has done an amazing job getting Billions of users.

But that same success (and the users themselves) have helped create a closed Web.

I totally get it. Facebook has made it so easy and convenient to create your digital presence, and one that can be easily monetized, that it’s easy to understand why the regular user will totally depend on Facebook.

The issue is that this digital presence is all behind their wall. Perhaps I’m a purist from the early days of the Web and Mobile, but I can’t help it — this is clearly a closed Web.

The Web was built based on the philosophy of openness and open standards.

Are the days of the open web gone? No. I believe it is a phase. Noise, fake news, tracking and personal privacy issues — will all force redefinition of the Web as it exists today.

And while Facebook continues to redefine the original Web, let’s not forget that Facebook is not the Web, but rides on top of it.

There has been a lot of focus and attention to Net Neutrality (as it should be). Wikipedia defines Network Neutrality as:

Net neutrality is the principle that Internet service providers must treat all data on the Internet the same, and not discriminate or charge differently by user, content, website, platform, application, type of attached equipment, or method of communication.

But about a closed Web?

Perhaps “broken” is relative.

Let the Web be open.

/ceo

P.S. This article is not against Facebook, but against the closed Web. Facebook is just one example, but it is the top/best example.