Matthias Ott avatar Matthias Ott

Webspace Invaders

Screenshot of “Webspace Invaders”

We built the web on optimistic assumptions. We assumed good faith. We assumed people would respect robots.txt because we all understood we were building something great together. We created these protocols and conventions because we believed in mutual respect and shared purpose. The Web was supposed to be for everyone.

But when training data becomes worth billions of dollars, when AI capabilities determine who wins and loses in global economic competition, when scraping is a strategic commercial activity, then those assumptions break down.