Web User - UK (2019-12-11)

What wethink of this fortnight’s top tech news stories and rumours,

and howtheyaffect you

Discusswebnewsatwww.facebook.com/webusermagazine 11 -26December 2019^9

Needto Know

If youwanttomemorialise

an ac count, Twittersaidit’s

workingonasystemtosave

messagesposted by people

whohave pass ed away.The

companyhasn’ tsaidwhen

this will be availabl e, bu tit

won’tdeletethose accounts

untilthatsystemisupand

running.

Theaccountremovalswill

startint he EU, which Twitter

pinsonGDPR, though it isn’t

thebestin

humanity

while

challenging

theworst.

Governments

areaskedto

ensurethat

everyonecan

connectto

theinternet,

andthatit’s

keptavailableatalltimes.

Whatdowethink?

SirTimisanimportantvoice

ontheseissues,buthealone

can’tbringtoheeltech

giantssuchasGoogleor

Facebook,letalone

surveillance-obsessed

governmentslikeChina–or,

even,ourown.Hisideasare

welcomeandtheprinciples

inthecontractaresound,but

Twitter halts plans to delete inactive accounts

TimBerners-Lee unveils plan to save the web

clearunder whichaspect

of th elegislation.

What dowethink?

Twitterapologi sedfor not

thinkingthisthrou gh but

it’s surp rising no oneatt he

companyrealisedthe

impactofmass account

deletions.You’d thinkany

social-media company

would onlymakesucha

decision afteraskingits

usersfirst.Did noneoft he

engineersworkingonthis

prob lemconsiderthat

peop le like to go backand

read messagesfrom lost

lovedones–notleast

when Facebook haslong

offeredmemorialised

accounts?Itj ust shows

howout of touchsomebig

tech companies are.

theseare companies that

have alreadyfeltthe

weight of yearsofnegative

head linesand complain ts

from users– aslaponthe

wrist, such as being

removedfromSir Tim’s list

of goodweb citizens,is

hardlygoingtodeter them.

We needtougher

regulation,not empty

promises, no matter how

well intentioned they are.

What happened?

Twitterannounced plans

to star tdeletinginactive

accounts,son ew users

could take overprofile

namesthatare no longer

–orhave neverbeen –

used.The news sparked

abacklashafteritw as

realisedthatthe proposed

deletions included

accounts setupbypeople

whoare nowdeceased,

so lovedoneswould no

longer beable to read their

messages.Twittersaidthe

move wastoc omplywith

GDPR,the EU’s regulation

fordataprivacy.

Now, Twitterhas said it

will come up with away to

memorialiseaccounts –

somethingFacebook

alreadydoes–before it

What happened?

TheBritish cr eatoroft he

web, SirTim Berners-Lee,

hasunveiled aglobalplan

to target onlineproblems

includingfakenews,

privacy invasion, political

prop agandaand more.

Dubbedthe ‘Contractfor

theWeb’, theplanwas

developedoverthe course

of ayearbymorethan 80

relatedorganisations,and

is backedby150 in total so

far. Theaim is forthe

contract to be endorsed by

companies, governments

and webusers,with each

groupgiven three

principles to adhereto.

Thosewho endorse the

contract butfallshortof

followingits guidelines will

be publicly removedfrom

thelist. Amazonhasn’t

commences theaccount

deletions.

Howwillitaffectyou?

If youhaven’tchecked into

your Twitteraccountfor

morethan sixmonths, you

could risklosingit. Originally,

thedeadlin etol og backin

and recoveryouraccount

was11D ecember,but that

hasbeen extendedfollowing

thebacklash.

signed it at thetimeof

writing.

Howwillitaffectyou?

Youcan endorse the

Contractfor theWeb at

bit.ly/contract490.For

indi viduals, that means

abidingbythree principles:

usethe webtocreateand

collaborate; buildstrong

communities that respect

civil discourseand human

dignity;and fightfor theweb,

by creating awaren ess

among your friendsand

family of thethreats it faces

and by supporting

companiesand politicians

whoare goodwebcitizens.

Thecontractalso calls for

companiestor espectand

protectusers’privacy and

data ,and to develop

technologie sthatsupport