Tagged "The Internet"

I think we can all agree that the internet is a fantastic invention that has shaped both the 20th and 21st centuries; for quite a while it was the wild west of innovation. Nevertheless, what once was a great variety, has now declined into a monolith wherein only a few companies have monopoly: Google, Amazon and Facebook, among others, dominate practically every possible service. If you want entertainment, you watch YouTube; if you want online shopping and hosting, you go to Amazon; if you want social media, you go to Facebook and Instagram; if you want communication, you go to WhatsApp, Messenger and G-Mail. Suffice it to say, almost everything you do is enabled by “Big Tech”. And although it is fair to argue the fact that these services may in some ways simplify our lives or make them better, there are certain issues with the way in which they and the internet are currently operated. Namely, the model employed in this new era raises questions about privacy, sustainability and efficiency. This especially in the wake of the recent Facebook server outage that took Facebook itself, Messenger and WhatsApp along with it