The Internet Has Challenges: Five of Them

The top five challenges for the Internet on its 20th anniversary should come as no great surprise to anyone who follows the industry, or rather, industries. But now they’re at least semi-official.

The International Academy of Digital Arts and Sciences, the organization behind the prestigious Webby Awards, has come out with its top five list of challenges for the Web in the next decade. And here they are:

• Privacy protection. It’s a top-of-mind issue as high-profile challenges to companies like Google and Facebook that collect reams of personal data on their users have come in for serious criticism. Web-based publishers will have to learn to balance the wish to personalize user experiences (and advertising) with the need to protect users’ privacy.
• Modernizing copyright laws. Should everything on the Web be open and free for anyone to grab? If so, what happens to the legitimate rights of creative artists and companies that pay to gather news? It’s been a thorny issue for years as more and more people turn to the Web for entertainment and information, and governments will have to address this new world with proper copyright protection.
• Net Neutrality. OK, it sounds so wonkish when you use the term. But what net neutrality means boils down to this: Protecting the ability of creators to move their content across the Web freely and seamlessly. The complicating factor is that the companies that have built the infrastructure of the Web have spent billions of dollars on that investment, and many want to put in tiered pricing structures for content that uses more of the bandwidth they’ve built. For alarmists, such a move by telecoms and cable companies could mean the end of creative innovation on the Web and the squelching of content competitors by companies that have interests in both Web infrastructure and content.
• Maintaining an open Web. This seems close to net neutrality, and it’s certainly related, but the International Academy sees it as keeping the free discourse currently thriving on the Internet from falling behind the walls of such social-networking communities as Facebook and LinkedIn.
• Strengthening online security. The security of sensitive information on the Web has to be protected, especially as more and more important personal, government, and business information makes its way into the cloud.

Get more business intelligence from Portfolio.com:

• A Tweet Way to Travel: A note to business travelers dealing with winter storms: Use Twitter. If you want to fly as efficiently as possible, add it your arsenal of on-the-road tools.
• Developers Hail Verizon iPhone: Verizon selling the iPhone means not only more customers and more money for Apple, but it also creates a stronger environment for application developers.
• Pushing the Reset Button: The Chamber of Commerce and President Obama have had a chilly relationship. But biz-friendly appointments and a new White House tone may warm things up.