YouA shock for some, a surprise for others. Tim Berners-Lee, the inventor of the World Wide Web, announced the closure of his foundation after fifteen years of existence. This organization aimed to promote an open Web, accessible to all, free of controls and restrictions.
At its birth, the Web embodied this promise: a neutral and borderless space, where information circulated freely. When we look at the commercial Web as it is today, this vision seems very distant.
Let’s remember the beginnings of the Web: Tim Berners-Lee, in a corner of his laboratory at the European Council for Nuclear Research, dreamed of a world where everyone could create and share freely. That was the essence of the Internet: an open network, based on standards accessible to all, far from commercial logic.
An increasingly closed network
The Web has democratized at breakneck speed, but over time something has changed. “The Web should not be a tool of control, but rather a free space”Berners-Lee warned. However, States, large platforms and digital giants, each in their own way, have been transforming this space into an increasingly closed network.
Today we talk about “Splinternet”, a physically and legally fragmented Web, with differentiated blocks. The United States, China, Russia and Europe have developed their own version of the Internet, with their own rules, infrastructure and, above all, interests. This separation is not just geopolitical; It is also commercial. Private standards are multiplying, restricting access and generating profits on what should remain a common good.
What happened to the utopia of a global network, open to all? We are forced to navigate between centralized services and closed ecosystems, as Tim Berners-Lee’s Web fades under the weight of growing commercial and political interests.
Fortunately, there remains resistance. Wikipedia still embodies what the Web should be: a space for sharing knowledge, accessible to all, free of advertising. But how many other examples can we cite? Very little. The non-commercial Web is disappearing.
Resist commoditization
This is what motivates certain movements to protect this free Internet. The Open Internet Project, for example, strives to “promote healthy competition in the European digital ecosystem” and of “ensure net neutrality”.
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