The Internet is an amazing universe with some very dark alleys. How did we get there? One small step at a time …
In the beginning
The World Wide Web is created from work at the CERN laboratory as an information retrieval system using hyperlinked assets. (Go here to see one of the first early sites).
You’ve got mail!
One of the first killer web sites was AOL. It was the dialer most people used to gain access (broadband and Wi-Fi not being readily available). A misguided merger with Time Warner led to its downfall (Go here to see the AOL dial up sequence).
Yahoo!
Next up, Yahoo was an early internet portal, providing some order to the growing website lists. Some say their downfall was not including targeted search ads with their search, which opened the door for Google. (Go here to hear the Yahoo yodel).
Don’t be evil
Google rises to be the dominant search engine, generating massive amounts of revenue through targeted search ads. Famously it included “don’t be evil” in its initial code of conduct (removed in 2006). Go here to see an early version of the Google website).
Google buys YouTube
Broadband users exceed dial-up users.
Facebook buys Instagram
Misinformation follows us like a plague
Popular social sites are flooded with misinformation. Some of it coming from Russia in attempts to inject chaos into US elections, some just coming from misinformed people.
Facebook Papers
The Facebook papers reveal how lax Facebook is in policing its users and how it favors engagement over safety
We’re from the government, we’re here to help
What to do to combat intentional misinformation on the Internet?
- Let these company police themselves?
- Break up these companies?
- Legislate solutions?
- Force transparency?
- Reduce amount of data collection?
- Rely on market forces?
- Introduce a fiduciary agent between users / sites that take in user data?
- Educate the public?
