The web is becoming hostile to humans. Users are tracked and their privacy is routinely violated. Search results are populated with ads. We are consta

Manifesto for a Humane Web

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2024-05-10 10:00:07

The web is becoming hostile to humans. Users are tracked and their privacy is routinely violated. Search results are populated with ads. We are constantly spammed by bots. Generative AI threatens to turn previously useful public forums into soulless marketing soup, while sacrificing the livelihoods of the creators that unwittingly power them 1. Power-hungry data centres2 demand the burning of fossil fuels, and divert water and energy from communities, emitting tonnes of carbon in order to power this digital junkyard. Users abandon hostile websites that take too long to load on low-powered devices, or are forced to upgrade, as the pile of electronic waste grows3.

The good news is, rebirth is possible. A humane web can rise from the ashes. Life can flourish in the dirt. By tending our safe havens in our own corners of the web, and by sharing with our friends and neighbours, away from the gaze of monolithic corporations, a new web can thrive. We can rewild the internet4.

If what we don’t want from the web is increasingly clear, perhaps it’s time to identify what kind of web we do want. How do we define a humane web?