Do we really want to break free from monopolies and reclaim the network? Quo vadis, internet

On the one hand, the Internet is being oppressed by the monopolies of Silicon Valley (1), who are too powerful and have become too arbitrary, competing for power and the last word even with governments. On the other hand, it is increasingly controlled, monitored and protected by closed networks by government authorities and large corporations.

Pulitzer Prize winner Glenn Greenwald interviewed Edward Snowden (2). They talked about the state of the Internet today. Snowden talked about the old days when he thought the Internet was creative and collaborative. It has also been decentralized due to the fact that most of the websites were created physical people. Although they were not very complex, their value was lost as the Internet became more and more centralized with the influx of large corporate and commercial players. Snowden also mentioned the ability of people to protect their identities and stay away from the total tracking system, combined with the rampant collection of personal information.

“Once upon a time, the Internet was not a commercial space,” Snowden said, “but then it began to turn into one with the emergence of companies, governments and institutions that made the Internet primarily for themselves, not for people.” “They know everything about us, and at the same time they act in a mysterious and completely opaque way for us, and we have no control over this,” he added. He also noted that this is becoming more common. censorship attacks people for who they are and what their beliefs are, not for what they actually say. And those who want to silence others today don't go to court, but go to tech companies and pressure them to shut up uncomfortable people on their behalf.

The world in the form of a stream

Surveillance, censorship and blocking access to the Internet are phenomena typical of today. Most people do not agree with this, but are usually not active enough against it. There are other aspects of the modern web that receive less attention, but they have far-reaching implications.

For example, the fact that today information is usually presented in the form of streams is typical of the architecture of social networks. This is how we consume Internet content. Streaming on Facebook, Twitter, and other sites is subject to algorithms and other rules that we have no idea about. More often than not, we don't even know that such algorithms exist. Algorithms choose for us. Based on data about what we have read, read and seen before. They anticipate what we might like. These services carefully scan our behavior and customize our news feeds with posts, photos, and videos they think we'd most like to see. A conformist system is emerging in which any less popular but no less interesting content has a much smaller chance.

But what does this mean in practice? By providing us with an increasingly tailored stream, the social platform knows more and more about us than anyone else. Some believe that it is really more than we are about ourselves. We are predictable to her. We are the data box that she describes, knows how to set up and use. In other words, we are a consignment of goods suitable for sale and having, for example, a certain value for the advertiser. For this money, the social network receives, and we? Well, we're glad everything is working so well that we can see and read what we like.

Flow also means the evolution of content types. There is less and less text in what is being offered because we place more emphasis on pictures and moving images. We like and share them more often. So the algorithm gives us more and more of that. We read less and less. We are looking more and more. Facebook it has been compared to television for a long time. And every year it becomes more and more the type of television that is watched "as it goes". Facebook's model of sitting in front of the TV has all the disadvantages of sitting in front of the TV, passive, thoughtless and increasingly staggering in the pictures.

Does Google manage the search engine manually?

When we use a search engine, it seems that we just want the best and most relevant results, without any additional censorship that comes from someone not wanting us to see this or that content. Unfortunately, as it turns out, most popular search engine, Google does not agree and interferes with its search algorithms by changing the results. The internet giant is reportedly using a range of censorship tools, such as blacklists, algorithm changes and an army of moderator workers, to shape what the uninformed user sees. The Wall Street Journal wrote about this in a comprehensive report published in November 2019.

Google executives have repeatedly stated in private meetings with outside groups and in speeches before the US Congress that the algorithms are objective and essentially autonomous, untainted by human bias or business considerations. The company states on its blog, "We do not use human intervention to collect or organize the results on the page." At the same time, he claims that he cannot reveal the details of how the algorithms work, because fights those who want to cheat algorithms search engines for you.

However, The Wall Street Journal, in a lengthy report, described how Google has been tampering with search results more and more over time, far more than the company and its executives are willing to admit. These actions, according to the publication, are often a response to pressure from companies, external interest groups and governments around the world. Their number increased after the 2016 US elections.

More than a hundred interviews and the magazine's own tests of Google search results showed, among other things, that Google made algorithmic changes to its search results, favoring large companies over smaller ones, and in at least one case made changes on behalf of an advertiser. eBay. Inc. contrary to his claims, he never takes any action of this kind. The company is also increasing the profile of some major venues.such as Amazon.com and Facebook. Journalists also say that Google engineers regularly make behind-the-scenes tweaks elsewhere, including in autocomplete suggestions and in the news. Moreover, although he publicly denies Google will blacklistwhich remove certain pages or prevent them from appearing in certain types of results. In the familiar autocomplete feature that predicts search terms (3) as the user types in a query, Google engineers created algorithms and blacklists to reject suggestions on controversial topics, eventually filtering out multiple results.

3. Google and manipulation of search results

In addition, the newspaper wrote that Google employs thousands of low-paid workers whose job it is to officially evaluate the quality of ranking algorithms. However, Google has made suggestions to these employees that it considers to be the correct rankings of the results, and they have changed their rankings under their influence. So these employees do not judge themselves, as they are subcontractors who guard the pre-imposed Google line.

Over the years, Google has evolved from an engineer-focused culture to an almost academic advertising monster and one of the most profitable companies in the world. Some very large advertisers have received direct advice on how to improve their organic search results. This type of service is not available to companies without Google contacts, according to people familiar with the case. In some cases, this has even meant delegating Google experts to these companies. That's what the WSJ informants say.

In secure containers

Perhaps the strongest, apart from the global fight for a free and open Internet, is the growing resistance to the looting of our personal data by Google, Facebook, Amazon and other giants. This background is being fought not only on the front of monopoly users, but also among the giants themselves, which we write about in another article in this issue of MT.

One suggested strategy is the idea that instead of divulging your personal data, keep it safe for yourself. And dispose of them as you wish. And even sell them so that you yourself have something to trade with your privacy, instead of letting the big platforms make money. This (theoretically) simple idea became the banner for the “decentralized web” (also known as d-web) slogan. His most famous protector Tim Berners-Lee who created the World Wide Web in 1989.. His new open standards project, called Solid, co-developed at MIT, aims to be the operating system for "a new and better version of the Internet."

The main idea of ​​the decentralized internet is to provide users with the tools to store and manage their own data so that they can move away from dependence on large corporations. This means not only freedom, but also responsibility. Using d-web means changing the way you use the web from passive and platform controlled to active and user controlled. It is enough to register in this network using an email address, either in a browser or by installing an application on a mobile device. The person who made it then creates, shares, and consumes the content. just like before and has access to all the same features (messaging, email, posts/tweets, file sharing, voice and video calls, etc.).

So what's the difference? When we create our account on this network, the hosting service creates a private, highly secure container just for us, called "lift" (English abbreviation for "personal data online"). No one but us can see what's inside, not even the hosting provider. The user's primary cloud container is also synchronized with secure containers on the various devices used by the owner. A "Pod" contains tools for managing and selectively sharing everything it contains. You can share, change or remove access to any data at any time. Every interaction or communication is end-to-end encrypted by default.therefore only the user and the other party (or parties) can see any content (4).

4. Visualization of private containers or "pods" in the Solid system

In this decentralized network, a person creates and manages his own identity using well-known websites such as Facebook, Instagram and Twitter. Each interaction is cryptographically verified, so you can always be sure that each party is authentic. Passwords disappear and all logins happen in the background using the user's container credentials.. Advertising on this network does not work by default, but you can enable it at your discretion. Application access to data is strictly limited and fully controlled. The user is the legal owner of all data in his pod and retains full control over how it is used. He can save, change or permanently delete whatever he wants.

The Berners-Lee Vision Network can use social and messaging applications, but not necessarily for communication between users. The modules connect directly to each other, so if we want to share with someone or chat privately, we just do it. However, even when we use Facebook or Twitter, the content rights remain in our container and sharing is subject to the user's terms and permissions. Whether it's a text message to your sister or a tweet, any successful authentication in this system is assigned to a user and tracked on the blockchain. In a very short time, a huge number of successful authentications are used to verify the user's identity, meaning that scammers, bots, and all malicious activities are effectively removed from the system.

However, Solid, like many similar solutions (after all, this is not the only idea to give people their data in their hands and under their control), makes demands on the user. It's not even about technical skills, but about understandinghow the mechanisms of data transmission and exchange work in the modern network. By giving freedom, he also gives full responsibility. And as to whether this is what people want, there is no certainty. In any case, they may not be aware of the consequences of their freedom of choice and decision.