Los Angeles Times

Commentary: 50 years ago, I helped invent the internet. How did it go so wrong?

When I was a young scientist working on the fledgling creation that came to be known as the internet, the ethos that defined the culture we were building was characterized by words such as ethical, open, trusted, free, shared. None of us knew where our research would lead, but these words and principles were our beacon.

We did not anticipate that the dark side of the internet would emerge with such ferocity. Or that we would feel an urgent need to fix it.

How did we get from there to here?

You’re reading a preview, subscribe to read more.

More from Los Angeles Times

Los Angeles Times6 min read
LA Unified School District Parents And Teachers In Uproar Over Timed Academic Testing For 4-year-olds
LOS ANGELES — This month in her transitional kindergarten class at L.A. Unified, student Maria Arriaga will be timed to see how many uppercase and lowercase letters she can name in a minute. She'll be tested to see if she can sound out nonsense words
Los Angeles Times10 min read
At 'LA Progressive Shooters,' A Gun Space For People Sick Of American Gun Culture
At least two hours have gone by in the Pistol 101 class, and no student has fired a bullet or even picked up a gun. This isn't a lesson for anyone eager to pull the trigger. Tom Nguyen's teaching style is patient, aimed at demystifying an object many
Los Angeles Times2 min read
Deadly Overdoses Fell In US For First Time In Five Years, New Estimates Show
Deaths from drug overdoses fell last year in the United States as fewer people lost their lives to fentanyl and other opioids, marking the first time the death toll had dropped in five years, according to newly released estimates from the Centers for

Related Books & Audiobooks