As time goes on, we become more and more attached to the technologies we are provided. We grow dependent on them and expect our addictions to be around forever. Although the technologies we are lucky to have today continue to excel and grow because of success and upgrades/new inventions, we must not continue taking our luxuries for granted. In Long Live the Web: A Call for Continued Open Standards and Neutrality, Tim Berners-Lee mentions how we are so used to having the Web in our everyday lives. “We take it for granted, expecting it to ‘be there’ at any instant, like electricity.” There is no denying that almost every individual that is so lucky to have access to some form of technology takes it for granted. We become so reliant on it every single day of our lives, we almost forget what life was like without it. That is the scary thought. Thinking about how much of a struggle it would be if we would have to adjust back to a life without technology. A lot of us wouldn’t know how to stay entertained, let alone survive!
Berners-Lee continues to describe the ways that the Web is being threatened. Things that the Web introduced, such as information sharing with anyone at anytime and anywhere, are being restricted.
“Large social-networking sites are walling off information posted by their users from the rest of the Web. Wireless Internet providers are being tempted to slow traffic to sites with which they have not made deals. Governments–totalitarian and democratic alike–are monitoring people’s online habits, endangering important human rights.”
Although I don’t believe the Web will be picked apart, there’s simply too much to it, I’m shocked to see that the government is retaliating our human rights. That begins to make this issue much larger and holds it at a higher stake. The government and other large and powerful bodies can try and ruin what we’ve grown so attached to, but initially WE created the Web; therefore we can do something to stop them from taking away what we love. Trust me, I’m more than sure that we will come together to stand up for something that has grown to be a part of our everyday lives. Universality is the foundation of the Web, as it is for us to ban together.