Tim Berners-Lee: 'Stop web's downward plunge to dysfunctional future'
Tim&#x27;s letter:
  <a href="https:&#x2F;&#x2F;webfoundation.org&#x2F;2019&#x2F;03&#x2F;web-birthday-30&#x2F;" rel="nofollow">https:&#x2F;&#x2F;webfoundation.org&#x2F;2019&#x2F;03&#x2F;web-birthday-30&#x2F;</a><p>I actually thought it was pretty carefully worded and not super alarmist (despite the BBC headline).<p>I personally think it is worse than he presents it. Perhaps it is just nostalgia, but today&#x27;s web &#x2F; internet seems to have given up on open standards and cooperation. Instead most of the money and effort is going into figuring out how to capture people in a walled garden such as Facebook etc.. so you can mine their data and advertise to them.<p>For all its downsides, Bitcoin is the last exciting open standard I can remember that has done well and maybe has a future.<p>We seem to have failed as a community to solve chat with an open standard (that has broken out enough to win), which is a serious shame. That&#x27;s a hugely important medium today and we have essentially handed that to WhatsApp &#x2F; Facebook &#x2F; whoever. Imagine if we had done the same with email or the web itself.<p>I wonder if it is just a cultural difference somehow. The Stalman&#x27;s of the world seem farther and farther apart, or perhaps just the internet has become so monetized that the best talent just can&#x27;t refuse the $$$s from a FANG job that focuses on crushing the competition and owning everything.<p>I don&#x27;t know, but it makes me sad.