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There are three big threats to the world wide web as it currently exists – sharing personal data, misinformation, and political advertising.

That's according to Sir Tim Berners-Lee, the founder of the web, who has written an open letter to mark the anniversary of his creation. Twenty-eight years ago today, March 12, 1989, Berners-Lee set out his initial idea for the system that became the web. Since then he has witnessed the introduction of smartphones, creation of social media, and a wider ability for people to connect.


In the open letter, Berners-Lee says he has become "increasingly worried" in the past year and says there should be a "fight against government overreach in surveillance laws".

"I imagined the web as an open platform that would allow everyone, everywhere to share information, access opportunities and collaborate across geographic and cultural boundaries," the founding director of the World Wide Web Foundation writes. "In many ways, the web has lived up to this vision, though it has been a recurring battle to keep it open."

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Berners-Lee highlights losing control of personal data as being one of the key areas where work on the web needs to happen and he added that there is little control for individuals over how big companies, such as Facebook and Google, use data given to them for access to their platforms.

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"Through collaboration with – or coercion of – companies, governments are also increasingly watching our every move online, and passing extreme laws that trample on our rights to privacy. It creates a chilling effect on free speech and stops the web from being used as a space to explore important topics, like sensitive health issues, sexuality or religion."

In a similar tact, the web's creator has previously spoken out about the UK's new Investigatory Powers Act that lawfully grants hacking and data collection powers to law enforcement and security services. In November 2016 he said the laws were "undemocratic" and created a "security nightmare".

Elsewhere in the open letter, Berners-Lee says, "fake news" is able to spread too easily. Without naming any particular companies, but linking to an article about Facebook, he said websites make more money when links are clicked on. This means content which is "surprising, shocking, or designed to appeal to our biases" spreads easily.

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He adds: "Through the use of data science and armies of bots, those with bad intentions can game the system to spread misinformation for financial or political gain".

The final area of concern for the web's creator is that there needs to be more transparency and understanding about political advertising.

"There are suggestions that some political adverts – in the US and around the world - are being used in unethical ways – to point voters to fake news sites, for instance, or to keep others away from the polls," he writes.


"Targeted advertising allows a campaign to say completely different, possibly conflicting things to different groups."

The solution to the three issues? Berners-Lee claims there needs to be new ways for people to own their own information online and work with companies that have a huge online influence.

Read Sir Tim Berners-Lee's letter on the future of the web here.