After 15 years working to develop a safer and more accessible Internet, the World Wide Web Foundation (WF) is about to close.
The foundation's co-founders, Rosemary Leith and Sir Tim Berners-Lee, the inventor of the World Wide Web, confirmed the decision in a letter shared online by the organization.
The letter details how the Foundation's initial mission has largely been met, however, new challenges lie ahead that will require their own attention.
The WWW Foundation declares mission accomplished
Founded in 2009, when only one in five had access to the internet, the letter draws attention to new and emerging challenges in a world where almost three quarters (70%) of the world's population is online.
Berners-Lee and Leith thanked WF supporters for helping to “move the needle,” however, the data-centric nature of Web 2.0 has brought with it its own challenges.
“Threats to the Web have also increased, the dominant business model of social networks has led to the commodification of user data and a concentration of power contrary to Tim's original vision,” he added.
To address this issue, Berners-Lee plans to end the Foundation and dedicate his time and resources to the development of decentralized technologies such as Solid Protocol, which he hopes will return control of personal data to individuals.
The Protocol, which has been in the works since 2015, aligns with an open letter written by Berners-Lee in 2023 where he emphasized the urgent need to restore the decentralized, user-controlled Internet he had previously envisioned. The founder of the website has spoken on several occasions about how the Internet is “dominated by the self-interest of various corporations.”
WF's letter continues: “We pay tribute to the incredible partnerships we have formed with colleagues, other NGOs, governments, private funders and advocates in the space.”
Looking ahead, Solid Protocol, sometimes called Web 3.0, plans to structure the Internet through decentralized data stores called Pods.
