Status of This Document
This section describes the status of this
document at the time of its publication. A list of current W3C
publications and the latest revision of this technical report can be found
in the W3C technical reports index at
https://www.w3.org/TR/.
This document reflects the consensus of the TAG at the time of publication.
It will continue to evolve and the TAG will issue updates as often as needed.
The intent is for this document to become a W3C Statement.
This document was published by the Technical Architecture Group as
a Group Draft Note using the
Note track.
Group Draft Notes are not endorsed by
W3C nor its Members.
This is a draft document and may be updated, replaced or obsoleted by other
documents at any time. It is inappropriate to cite this document as other
than work in progress.
The
W3C Patent
Policy
does not carry any licensing requirements or commitments on this
document.
This document is governed by the
2 November 2021 W3C Process Document.
The web should empower an equitable, informed and interconnected society.
It has been, and should continue to be, designed
to enable communication and knowledge-sharing for everyone.
In order for the web to continue to be beneficial to society,
we need to consider the ethical implications of our work
when we build web technologies, applications, and sites.
The web is made up of a number of technologies and technical standards.
HTML, CSS and JavaScript are often thought of as the web's core set of technologies
but there are a raft of other technologies, standards,
languages and APIs that come together to form the "web platform."
One of the web platform's differentiators has always been a strong ethical framework;
for example an emphasis on
internationalization,
accessibility,
privacy, and
security.
Web technologies are also offered
royalty free
to enable open source implementation.
These are often cited as some of the strengths of the web.
Despite this, in the 30 years since development of the web began,
it has become clear that the web platform can often be used in ways that subvert its original mission,
or even be used to cause harm.
The architecture of the web is designed with
the notion of different classes of application that retrieve and process content,
and represent the needs of the application's users.
This includes web browsers,
web-hosted applications such as search engines,
and software that acts on web resources.
This lends itself well towards empowering people
by allowing them to choose the browser, search engine, or other application
that best meets their needs
(for example, with strong privacy protections).
The web should also support human rights, dignity and personal agency.
We need to put internationally recognized human rights at the core of the web platform [UDHR].
We can reinforce this approach by promoting ethical thinking across the web industry.
The principles in this document are deliberately unordered,
and many are interconnected with each other.
They are intended to be viewed holistically, rather than each in isolation.
While all of the principles together aim to provide pillars that collectively support
a web that is beneficial for society, there are cases where the effects of upholding one principle
may diminish the efficacy of another principle.
Thus in applying these principles, there are benefits and tradeoffs
that may need to be carefully balanced.
When proposals which support particular principles
appear to be in conflict with other principles,
it is important to consider the context in which the technology
is being applied, the expected audience(s) for the technology,
who the technology benefits and who it may disadvantage,
and any power dynamics involved (see also the
priority of constituencies).
This document is intended to guide thoughtful development of
web platform technologies,
for standards developers and website authors alike.
In particular, the purpose of this document is to
inform wide review of new charters,
new specifications, and
candidate additions to published recommendations,
as well as to support work on other horizontal review documents,
such as the Web Platform Design Principles, Self-Review Questionnaire: Security and Privacy,
or other similar checklists and sets of principles.
When we are adding new web technologies and platforms,
we will build them to cross regional and national boundaries.
People in one location should be able to view web pages
from anywhere that is connected to the web.
When we are adding a feature or technology to the web,
we will consider what harm it could do to society or groups,
especially to vulnerable people.
We will prioritize potential benefits for web users over potential benefits to web developers,
content providers, user agents, advertisers or others in the ecosystem,
in line with the
priority of constituencies.
We will ensure the requirements and views of marginalized communities
and underrepresented groups are heard and respected.
We will build new web technologies in a collaborative manner
according to open processes
(for example, the W3C process),
and adhering to codes of conduct
(such as the W3C Code of Ethics and Professional Conduct).
We are building technologies and platforms for distributing ideas,
for virtual interaction,
and for mass collaboration on any topic.
While those tools can be used for good,
they can also be used for spreading misinformation,
revealing private personal information (doxing),
harassment, and persecution.
We will consider these risks in the work we do,
and will build web technologies and platforms
that respect individuals' rights
and provide features to empower them against dangers like these.
Anyone should be able to meaningfully participate
in the creation of specifications, user agents, and content,
and the platform should enable a fully accessible end user experience.
We will build internationalization and localization capabilities
into our specifications and websites.
We will accommodate people on low bandwidth networks and with low specification equipment.
The web platform and the tools we use to create it
must be accessible to people with disabilities,
including visual, auditory, physical, speech, cognitive, language, learning, and neurological disabilities.
When we add features to the web platform,
we are making decisions
that may change the ability of people to protect their personal data.
This data includes their conversations,
their financial transactions
and how they live their lives.
We will start by creating web technologies
that create as few risks as possible,
and will make sure people understand
what risks they are taking when they use the web.
We will create web technologies and platforms
that encourage free expression,
where that does not contravene other human rights.
Our work should not enable state censorship, surveillance
or other practices that seek to limit this freedom.
This principle must be balanced with respect for other human rights,
and does not imply that individual services on the web must therefore support all speech.
(For example: hate speech, harassment or abuse may reasonably be denied a platform).
We recognize that web technologies can be used
to manipulate and deceive people, complicate isolation, and encourage addictive behaviors.
We seek to mitigate against these potential abuses
and patterns
when creating new technologies and platforms,
and avoid introducing technologies that increase the chance of
people being harmed in this way.
As part of this, we favor a decentralized web architecture
that minimizes single points of failure and single points of control.
We will also build web technologies for individual developers
as well for developers at large companies and organizations.
The web should enable do-it-yourself developers.
The web was built on a "view source" principle,
currently realized through robust developer tools built into many browsers.
We will always make sure it is possible
to determine how a web application was built
and how the code works.
Furthermore, we will always make sure it is possible
to audit and inspect web applications and underlying software
for security, privacy or other considerations.
We will not create web technologies that encourage the creation of websites
that work only in one browser,
or only on particular hardware.
We expect that content provided by accessing a URL
should yield a thematically consistent experience
when someone is accessing it from different devices.
The existence of multiple interoperable implementations
enables competition, and thus a variety of choices
for web users.
People must be able to change web pages according to their needs.
For example, people should be able to install style sheets,
assistive browser extensions,
and blockers of unwanted content or scripts or auto-played videos.
We will build features and write specifications
that respect peoples' agency,
and will create user agents to represent those preferences on the web user's behalf.