Communications of the ACM
Tim Berners-Lee Calls For Free Web
At a ceremony marking the 20th anniversary of the Web, its creator, Sir Tim Berners-Lee, said the Internet should not be controlled, censored, or intercepted by the government or companies. Berners-Lee said the Internet should be like a piece of white paper, which does not come with any restrictions on what the owner may write or draw.
However, he does not think that Web users should always be anonymous. While anonymity is important in some situations, such as when people are speaking out against a controlling government, much of what is said and done online does not require such protection.
People need to "realize that the whistle-blower syndrome is an emergency, it's an exception," Berners-Lee said. Web users also need to understand that everything they read online is not necessarily true. "Just because you can read everything out there, you shouldn't read everything out there," he said.
Berners-Lee also added that the future of newspapers may be on the Internet and he emphasized the need to move government and academic data online.
View a video of Tim Berners-Lee's keynote speech at 'Web at 20' event.
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