World Wide Web creator claims the Internet needs a constitution

Tim Berners-Lee, who created the Internet, is pushing for a kind of constitution to protect open Web from constant threats coming from corporations and governments, WIRED said. Since the time his employer, CERN, announced in 1993 that the Internet is open for use and to be built upon royalty-free forever, the threat coming from entities who wish to control the Web warrants the need for a bill of rights.

In his blog post for Google dated today, Berners-Lee said, "How can we ensure that the other 60 percent around the world who are not connected get online fast? How can we make sure that the web supports all languages and cultures, not just the dominant ones? How do we build consensus around open standards to link the coming Internet of Things? Will we allow others to package and restrict our online experience, or will we protect the magic of the open web and the power it gives us to say, discover, and create anything? How can we build systems of checks and balances to hold the groups that can spy on the net accountable to the public? These are some of my questions-what are yours?"

Berners-Lee's proposal, said WIRED, is part of a campaign called Web at 25. According to the website, the campaign's goal is to ensure that the core principles of the creation of the Web, which is to remain free and open, are upheld via a digital bill of rights recognizable by one and all. WIRED said that the bill of rights will help address issues regarding net neutrality, Internet surveillance and the inability of two-thirds of the world's population to have Web access.

According to WIRED, the move to take the control of the Internet from corporations like Google and Facebook back to the public has already started by indie developers who have created tools that would allow people to have control over their personal date, for one. Others are repurposing software to create Internet services that are decentralized in nature, such as messaging system BitMessage, and Twitter clone Twister.

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Tim Berners-Lee, World Wide Web birthday, Web at 25

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