Social media politics
The web is at a tipping point and its inventor has launched a plan to save the world from a "digital dystopia." Sir Tim Berners-Lee said, "if we don’t act now...to prevent the web being misused by those who want to exploit, divide and undermine, we are at risk of squandering [its] potential." The Contract for the Web has the backing of more than 150 organisations and countries, including Google, Facebook, France and Germany. They've signed up to 9 central principles to protect the web, and if they can't show they're implementing them they could be removed from the list of endorsers. But there's no sanction beyond that and it's hard to see some of the principles taking hold in practice. In theory, governments and companies should respect and protect people's online privacy, and individuals should respect civil discourse and human dignity. Measured against those ideals, one might argue that a digital dystopia is already here.