Hey Friends,

I have been an avid user of the Internet for a long time. I remember spending £1000+ on a 'Time' PC (now ceased trading) in 1999, inserting my AOL dial-up internet CD into the tray, and being excited to jump on the Internet and start surfing. I also remember at that moment sitting in front of my 15" beige monitor and struggling to think of something to look for. Being a typical brit, I think I checked the weather.

Thirty one years ago Sir Tim Berners-Lee, then a researcher for CERN, came up with a way to transfer large amounts of data between scientists throughout the world. He later expanded his vision for the world wide web to be a place, not just for scientists, but for ALL people to have a place where they could access the best information at any time.

Fast forward thirty years and the Internet has changed a lot. In fact, I read an article this week where the author suggested the Internet (as we knew it, and as Tim envisaged) no longer exists, and instead we have what he calls a 'Splinternet', a world wide web made up of many 'Internet's' namely:

• An American web made up of disparate and competing companies;
• A Chinese web the product of an authoritarian communist party;
• A libertarian free-for-all web envisioned by an earlier generation of digital pioneers (Tim probably included);
• A European, heavily regulated web.

I think the author's thinking in this area has some merit. China heavily restricts what its citizens can see on the Internet. India and Indonesia tried to ban Chinese owned apps such as Tik Tok. And the US even tried to force the sale of the platform to a US company! Shadow banning is rife on platforms such as YouTube, Twitter and Facebook, forcing many (often libertarians) to flee to other platforms such as Parler.

Although the four 'kingdoms' above may be connected, they are not united. We can't access the best information at any time, as Berners-Lee envisaged. Instead, we have a web rampant with misinformation, conspiracy theories and fake news (which spreads six times faster than truth). A web full of addictive technologies, designed to monetize and manipulate our thoughts and thinking. And a web used to polarize and sway political opinion, distorting dialogue, and potentially disrupting democratic process (watch out November).

And yet, I am still free (at the moment) to write this newsletter and share it freely on the Internet. When I sat in front of my monitor in 1999 I knew I was connecting to something amazing, I just didn't know what it was capable of. Today I know exactly what it can be used for, but let's hope it remains this way for a long time to come.

Stay safe

Chris

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Things I've found interesting this week

\\ One Article: Security cameras exploited again, but not by who you think

\\ Two Article: Google admits to huge DDoS attack against in 2017

\\ Three Article: The mind boggles to think that a company such as British Airways would store your payment details in plaintext.

Favourite Quote

If you are not paying for the product, you are the product - The Social Dilemma

My Articles this week

OK good intentions failed to materialise any articles this week. Watch out for one next week!

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