The web is fucked and there’s nothing we can do about it. This is a manifesto by Kev Quirk looking back at Web 1.0 and why it was better.
  • southerntofu
    15·
    3 years ago

    I think something important to point out is that the old web was declarative: we standardized HTML elements (like <form>) so that different browsers and spiders could interoperate. The powers this provided are being eroded by the move to the web as an app distribution platform (whether it’s JS or wasm).

    We need protocol-first design so that more solutions can interoperate. ActivityPub, Webmention/Microformats or Matrix, although i have some technical criticism of these protocols, are really a breathe of fresh air in this direction.

  • ☆ Yσɠƚԋσʂ ☆
    14·
    3 years ago

    I’m very optimistic about the rise of federation and ActivityPub in particular. The main problem with web 1.0 was discoverability, and that’s precisely the problem addressed by federation using a common protocol. Other important factors are availability of cheap VPS hosting solutions and containerization. Running your own server today is much cheaper and easier than it was even a few years ago.

    All the tools are there to start rebuilding open web and I think we’re seeing that starting to happen now with stuff like Mastodon, PeerTube, Pixelfed, and Lemmy. It might be a tiny percentage of the overall web right now, but I’m going to argue that it’s the absolute size that matters here. Open platforms only need to attract enough users to be self sustaining. As long as there are enough people willing to develop them, fund hosting, and create content, then these platforms can exist indefinitely without the need for rapid growth.

  • Zerush
    8·
    3 years ago

    It is not a problem of web 0.1 or web whatever, it is a problem of the clear violation of basic user rights, when large companies, mainly American, began to create income with the sale of users’ private data. For this reason, there are already more and more initiatives against the practices of surveillance advertising, because it is only this that is fucking the internet, nothing else.

    https://www.forbrukerradet.no/side/new-report-details-threats-to-consumers-from-surveillance-based-advertising/

    https://www.natlawreview.com/article/accountable-tech-files-petition-ftc-rulemaking-to-ban-surveillance-advertising

    https://www.bansurveillanceadvertising.com

    https://blog.mailfence.com/ban-surveillance-advertising/

  • Helix 🧬@feddit.de
    8·
    3 years ago

    Content warning: If you hadn’t noticed already, this manifesto is not suitable for work as it contains curse words throughout.

    Joke’s on you, slave of capitalism, my workplace tolerates swearing. It’s a sign of honesty if you can swear to someone. Think about it ;)

  • ErmahghrrdDavid
    7·
    3 years ago

    Kev is a bit of a personal hero of mine, he’s just an ordinary IT professional (like me) who uses his free time to blog about important tech issues, write open source and run fosstodon - one of the larger and more active mastodon instances. More info is available at his site https://kevq.uk

    The only thing I disagree with him on in this manifesto is that there is nothing we can do. We can and are fighting a lot of the bullshit with decentralisation and decommercialisation of the many services. It is a slow and painful process that isn’t happening overnight but people are waking up to how crap Meta Facebook is (fuck Mark and his awful attempt at distracting folks with a rebrand) - anecdotal but most people I’ve spoken to in recent months about Facebook say they only keep it around for messenger and meme groups or they have deleted it entirely and they say they no longer share life updates or engage in ‘meaningful’ discussion there.

    There is a huge opportunity for a grassroots push away from the corporate Web and surely we’ve got to take it? We can keep building usable tools like Lemmy, Mastodon and simple to use indieweb tooling to help draw in the average Joe and evangelising where possible. We should try to use some of their tools against them e.g pool together to pay for ads on Facebook, reddit etc to pull people away.

    The decentralise and federate and anti-corporate web movement gives me hope that whilst the Web is fucked right now we can still fix it

  • Helix 🧬@feddit.de
    5·
    3 years ago

    Why are forums classified as Web 1.0 still? I think Web 2.0 was about the ability of people being able to create content without having to set up their own website, mostly fuelled by AJAX and similar technologies. Wikipedia has an even broader definition:

    Web 2.0 (also known as participative (or participatory) web and social web) refers to websites that emphasize user-generated content, ease of use, participatory culture and interoperability (i.e., compatibility with other products, systems, and devices) for end users.

    This applies to forums, as far as I’m concerned. And yes, Web 2.0 was a mistake.

  • CHEF-KOCH
    79·
    3 years ago
    • Title is clickbait.
    • People only upvote it because admin posted it, that is all.
    • Web is not controlled by larger companies only, they might be the ones with most impact, true but they do not dictate what you should do. Face it, most people believe everything Microsoft, Google telling them no matter if it is right or wrong because they think big Corps have more credibility.
    • We have dozens of articles like this already, why write another one … What have you done to make things better… Why not list organizations like EFF who fight for us or help them to get more attention.
    • Saying things like - we cannot do much about it - without even trying to provide some solution is seriously the wrong way to motivate readers.
    • Even domain name is based and redpilled.
    • Echo chambering the same over and over again helps how … People will give up an feel helpless.

    Here is what people could do

    • Support small platforms like Lemmy, Fediverse in general.
    • Support actual organization that fight for you, such as EFF.
    • Instead of whining that web is miserable, I read this nonsense since 20+ years now, each year new clickbait … oh adblock destroys the web, oh Microsoft destroys the web, web is broken … Blah blah blah. Provide some serious solutions, because this is what will consume Brain power here. Some people actually did, created crypto and other systems that are not controlled by the big Corpos or the government.

    My opinion on the submission and Tech + Web, not meant to offend but my little review on this.

    • bunkrra
      6·
      3 years ago

      good points. only one think is bothering me and that is EFF, by my opinion they are like a wolf in the sheep skin. Yes they acting in the favor of more private, secure and “better” web, but if you just look who is backing up the organization, who are the board members, then its clear that its a shady band (good example with fb and analytica scandal). im sorry but im applying zero trust policy even for them, even if i like the work what the whole EFF doing. this is just my personal view on the matter.

      edit: they suggesting Signal to use, so fck eff particularry

      • CHEF-KOCH
        6·
        3 years ago

        Yeah, you always find something to criticize if you want to. However, they also often update statements and criticism. I am not going to defend them on Signal because I also dislike it, but sure as hell it is better than what most people use WhatsApp, Facebook etc.

        Still upvote you because it is your opinion, which seems legitimate and has some points that I also think could be improved from EFFs end.

        • bunkrra
          5·
          3 years ago

          yes, correct. you can be like that, it was not an intention now, eff is big platform with huge impact. there is no point to criticize some/something if it is meaningless. respect for your efforts with badger. i hope it will not turn dark and evil on the end all with eff.

    • Zerush
      2·
      3 years ago

      This is what the user can do, use software and services that do not use these spying techniques, but this is efficient in the first line when a large part of the users is aware of this problem, this should be the main task. We all here use Lemmy, Raddle, Diaspora, Mastodon, Friendica, and others to communicate, using decentralized networks, all kinds of extensions, front ends, and VPNs to avoid this surveillance.

      All of this would not be necessary, if this surveillance and censorship did not exist on the Internet. But as I said before, this, apart from initiatives by consumer associations and legislators, requires the activity of the user himself who boycotts companies that use these criminal techniques, which has even expanded into the OpenSource field, since Big Tech has gotten involved. also there widely.

      With the use of the Smartphone things have even worsened, to which almost all OS are directly controlled by Google, MS and Apple, if you cannot root and install a distro, such as LineageOS or similar. There is also no use in using decentralized networks, since the same OS is controlling us.

      Among the users here all this is mainly well known, but this should also be spread among those who use shit like Facebook, WhatsApp, Instagram and the like massively, unaware of having become simple raw material to enrich the oligopolies.

      The initiatives are underway with increasing force, but there is still a long way to go and a lot of common sense among users, this must be transmitted by all of us who can, starting with our children, family and friends. I do at least.

      • CHEF-KOCH
        1·
        3 years ago

        Yeah I see, the thing is that the average user cannot see any difference between spying techniques, legitimate telemetry or is simply not aware of some alternatives. You cannot expect everyone to research stuff like we do and some people are cheap that following influencer, and they usually use TikTok, Facebook etc.

        I fully agree with you that the main priority must be to make people aware of things, this is what some organizations doing, since years, persistently and often without any profit. But you cannot expect someone to fight, giving his time and money for absolute nothing, so there is a relationship between people and organizations fighting for us because they simply need support and donations to establish changes on a bigger scale and this requires media attention and lots of money. My opinion here is that we should first support such things because you can use apps all day you want, it does not change the law and if such apps are declared illegal then your effort is useless or only a workaround.

        I do not think the web is broken, we have here some very good people which shows that the web itself is not an issue, I think most people here come to an agreement that Big Tech is the real threat to free speech, surveillance and stuff that directly benefits themselves instead of all of us - which is the web. I think the web is like security, a concept which you constantly need to work on, together to make the idea reality.

        • Zerush
          1·
          3 years ago

          Agree with you. Naturally developers and companies do not work for love, but they also have to pay their bills, especially if it is a service that needs a certain infrastructure, servers, etc. But there are many other possibilities to earn money that do not put the privacy and security of the user at risk. It is no longer a lack of privacy if your personal data circulates on the network, but this is a serious security risk, since once these data are sold to who knows, there is no possible control as they are treated or protected. It is not the first time that hundreds of thousands of personal data have been leaked from FB, Google and others, including banking and medical data. This is the underlying problem, not just that Google reads your Gmail.

    • Halce
      11·
      3 years ago

      You still run into the problem of something like DigitalOcean/OVH becoming the centralised AWS…