Solid (web decentralization project)
Two decades after Berners-Lee invented the World Wide Web in 1989, he outlined the design issues of what later became the Solid project in drafts he wrote for the World Wide Web Consortium. Berners-Lee became increasingly dismayed at seeing his invention being abused, such as when Russian hackers allegedly interfered with the 2016 US elections, when the Facebook–Cambridge Analytica data scandal became public, when Facebook in 2012 conducted psychological experiments on nearly 700,000 users in secret, and when Google and Amazon applied for patents on devices that listen for emotional changes in human voices.
The Virtual Revolution
The programme team interviewed a number of people who have played a part in the development of the web, including its inventor Sir Tim Berners-Lee and founders of notable brands; Bill Gates (Microsoft), Steve Wozniak (Apple), Chad Hurley (YouTube), Jimmy Wales (Wikipedia), Stewart Brand (The WELL), Biz Stone and Evan Williams (Twitter), Peter Thiel (PayPal) and Martha Lane Fox (lastminute.com). Academics, including Terry Winograd, Sherry Turkle, A. C. Grayling, David Runciman, Ross Anderson and Nigel Shadbolt, commentators, including David Weinberger, Lee Siegel, Douglas Rushkoff, Andrew Keen and Stephen Fry, and Estonian President Toomas Ilves were also interviewed. Footage of the interviews was also made available on the programme's website.