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LAST-MODIFIED:20260219T063406Z
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TZID:Asia/Tokyo
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DTSTART:20241117T021500
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UID:679c6e5a-f288-4a9b-8887-9d9af4d8b8ad
DTSTAMP:20260219T063406Z
SUMMARY:Future of the Open Web
DTSTART;TZID=Asia/Tokyo:20251112T111500
DTEND;TZID=Asia/Tokyo:20251112T121500
DESCRIPTION:https://www.w3.org/events/meetings/679c6e5a-f288-4a9b-8887-9d9a
 f4d8b8ad/\n\nThe phrase “Open Web” has served as a rallying cry for th
 ose who champion the benefits of the Web as we know it to humanity. Howeve
 r\, there are subtle (and not-so-subtle) distinctions in what it means dep
 ending on who you talk to: some believe it to be a Web where all content i
 s available no matter the purpose\; others focus on “Open Web” in rela
 tion to the advertising market\; yet others distinguish between open to hu
 mans-using-browsers vs. other clients.\n\nAt the same time\, large parts o
 f the Web have always been behind logins and paywalls: the so-called “de
 ep Web”. Furthermore\, it’s important to acknowledge that the reason t
 hat many parts of the Web have been free to access because they are advert
 ising-supported – along with all of the concurrent privacy harms.\n\nWhi
 le there may not be strong agreement on what the Open Web is\, it’s wide
 ly held that it is under more threat than ever\, thanks to the emergence o
 f AI. Content authors\, publishers\, and hosters may have been accepting o
 f the bargain they got from search crawlers: let us access your content an
 d you will get traffic from search results. They are much more reticent ab
 out exposing their content when it has no such quid pro quo.\n\nAs a resul
 t\, blocking unknown or unwanted crawlers has become more common\, and the
  Web Bot Auth effort is in the process of being chartered to enable known 
 bots to cryptographically authenticate themselves – with the implication
  that those clients that don’t may be blocked. There are also proposals 
 emerging for payment protocols specifically targeted at not only crawlers\
 , but also bots and agents – and maybe even for browser micropayments.\n
 \nThere are also emerging concerns that AI will put gatekeeper platforms i
 n the position to drive further concentration: to pressure publishers to s
 ubmit content to them directly rather than taking on the cost of hosting c
 ontent themselves\, thereby further foreclosing what was previously open c
 ontent.  \n\nThese changes have led to questions about the future of the O
 pen Web – whether we’ll have one\, and what it will look like. A less 
 open Web is one where it is more difficult to introduce new non-browser ag
 ents or run services that don’t have immediate financial advantage for s
 ites. One where more data is locked up indiscriminately.\n\nThis session w
 ill explore questions in this area\, such as:\n\n* Is there a useful defin
 ition for the “Open Web”? Or is it better to have more specific goals?
 \n* Are there useful metrics for the Open Web that can be tracked?\n* What
  purposes do sites have for not being open?\n* Is there more than one econ
 omic model that promotes the Open Web?\n* How is privileged access for sea
 rch engine crawlers changing?\n* What impacts on the Open Web do we see fr
 om AI and “agentic” clients?\n* Are there best practices for sites and
  services that could help mitigate those impacts?\n* Are there standards a
 ctivities that could help mitigate those impacts?\n\nFor notes from both m
 eetings\, see:\n  https://docs.google.com/document/d/1WaXDfwPP6olY-UVQxDZK
 NkUyqvmHt-u4kREJW4ys6ms/edit?usp=sharing\n\n**Goal(s):**\nDiscussion and p
 lanning\n\nAgenda\n\n**Materials:**\n- [Session proposal on GitHub](https:
 //github.com/w3c/tpac2025-breakouts/issues/37)
STATUS:CONFIRMED
CREATED:20251028T073835Z
LAST-MODIFIED:20260219T063406Z
SEQUENCE:4
ORGANIZER;CN=W3C Calendar;PARTSTAT=ACCEPTED;ROLE=NON-PARTICIPANT:mailto:nor
 eply@w3.org
LOCATION:Floor 4 - 401
CATEGORIES:TPAC 2025,Breakout Sessions
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