Tech giants, such as Facebook and Google, are so powerful that they may have to break up, Tim Berners Lee, the “father” of the World Wide Web, told Reuters. The only situation where that might not happen is if a competitor emerges or public preferences change.
Dr. Berners-Lee, creator of the world wide web, expressed frustration by recent privacy scandals and data breaches. “What naturally happens is ending up with one company dominating the sector. So historically, there’s no alternative to intervening and breaking them up,” the 63-year-old said. “There is a risk of concentration,” he added. He warned, in addition, that caution is necessary. The speed of innovation in both technology and user preferences could ultimately lead to a reduction in the power and size of some of the largest tech companies.
“Before breaking them, we would have to see if they do not simply face threats by a small player that outperforms them in the market, but by changes in the market, by shifting interest,” he said.
Apple, Microsoft, Amazon, Google and Facebook have a combined market capitalization of more than $3 trillion. This is the same as Germany’s GDP last year.
Sir Tim Berners-Lee expressed his discontent with the Cambridge Analytica scandal and how it took 87 million social media users’ personal data. “I’m disappointed by the current state of the Web. We have lost the sense of empowerment of the individual. I think at one point optimism has been ‘broken’,” he said.
He underlined the use of social media to spread hate messages. “If you drop a drop of love on Twitter, it seems to go away, but if you drop a drop of hate, it feels like it resonates much louder. And you wonder, is that because of the way Twitter is set up as a medium?” he said.
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Author: PC-GR
The World of Technology
