Cidersomerset
12th March 2014, 09:41
Tim Berners-Lee's hopes, threats and opportunities for the web in 2050
o-5E51Bhlig
====================================================
http://static.bbci.co.uk/frameworks/barlesque/2.60.1/desktop/3.5/img/blq-blocks_grey_alpha.png
12 March 2014 Last updated at 05:52
Sir Tim Berners-Lee: World wide web needs bill of rights
vid on link.....
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-26540635
Sir Tim Berners-Lee wants more rights for users of the web
The inventor of the world wide web has marked the 25th anniversary of his creation by
calling for a 'Magna Carta' bill of rights to protect its users. Sir Tim Berners-Lee told
BBC Breakfast the issue could be compared to the importance of human rights.
He has been an outspoken critic of government surveillance following a series of leaks
from ex-US intelligence contractor Edward Snowden.Sir Tim called on people to take
action and protest against surveillance.
'Communal decision'
He told BBC Breakfast the online community has now reached a crossroads.
"It's time for us to make a big communal decision," he said. "In front of us are two
roads - which way are we going to go?
"Are we going to continue on the road and just allow the governments to do more and
more and more control - more and more surveillance?
"Or are we going to set up a bunch of values? Are we going to set up something like a
Magna Carta for the world wide web and say, actually, now it's so important, so much
part of our lives, that it becomes on a level with human rights?"
http://news.bbcimg.co.uk/media/images/73521000/jpg/_73521342_017871252-1.jpg
A 1992 copy of the world's first web page Looking at the world's first web page shows
how much has changed online
http://news.bbcimg.co.uk/media/images/73521000/jpg/_73521340_021491723-1.jpg
The NeXT cube, the original machine on which Sir Tim Berners-Lee designed the world
wide web
http://news.bbcimg.co.uk/media/images/73521000/jpg/_73521338_015421003-1.jpg
Sir Tim took part in the opening ceremony of the London 2012 Olympic Games Sir Tim
said the internet should be a "neutral" medium that can be used without feeling
"somebody's looking over our shoulder".
He called for vigilance against surveillance by its users, adding: "The people of the
world have to be constantly aware, constantly looking out for it - constantly making
sure through action, protest, that it doesn't happen."
Sir Tim has previously warned that surveillance could threaten the democratic nature of
the web. He has also spoken out in support of Mr Snowden, saying his actions were "in
the public interest".
The idea that the world wide web would end up playing such a huge role in people's
lives would have seemed "crazy" 25 years ago, said Sir Tim.
He admitted that the web represented "humanity connected", involving both
the "wonderful" and the "ghastly".
But he added: "I don't have a lot of sympathy with people who say: 'There's so much
rubbish on the web.'
"Well, if there's so much rubbish, if it's rubbish, don't read it. Go read something else."
The web we want campaign has been set up by Sir Tim's World Wide Web Foundation to
coincide with the 25th anniversary and aims to protect human rights online.
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-26540635
=======================================================
http://static.guim.co.uk/static/222aab2fe2eff15662a65cb0de6711f4a5e54e7d/common/images/logos/the-guardian/news.gif
An online Magna Carta: Berners-Lee calls for bill of rights for web
Exclusive: web's inventor warns neutrality under sustained attack from governments and corporations
Jemima Kiss
The Guardian, Wednesday 12 March 2014
Jump to comments (172)
World Wide Web Inventor Tim Berners-Lee
http://static.guim.co.uk/sys-images/Guardian/Pix/pictures/2014/3/11/1394579994246/World-Wide-Web-Inventor-T-011.jpg
Tim Berners-Lee has been an outspoken critic of spy agencies' surveillance of citizens. Photograph: Andrew Brusso/Corbis
The inventor of the world wide web believes an online "Magna Carta" is needed to
protect and enshrine the independence of the medium he created and the rights of its
users worldwide.Sir Tim Berners-Lee told the Guardian the web had come under
increasing attack from governments and corporate influence and that new rules were
needed to protect the "open, neutral" system.
Speaking exactly 25 years after he wrote the first draft of the first proposal for what
would become the world wide web, the computer scientist said: "We need a global
constitution – a bill of rights."
Berners-Lee's Magna Carta plan is to be taken up as part of an initiative called "the web
we want", which calls on people to generate a digital bill of rights in each country – a
statement of principles he hopes will be supported by public institutions, government
officials and corporations.
"Unless we have an open, neutral internet we can rely on without worrying about what's
happening at the back door, we can't have open government, good democracy, good
healthcare, connected communities and diversity of culture. It's not naive to think we
can have that, but it is naive to think we can just sit back and get it."
Berners-Lee has been an outspoken critic of the American and British spy agencies'
surveillance of citizens following the revelations by National Security Agency
whistleblower Edward Snowden. In the light of what has emerged, he said, people were
looking for an overhaul of how the security services were managed.
His views also echo across the technology industry, where there is particular anger
about the efforts by the NSA and Britain's GCHQ to undermine encryption and security
tools – something many cybersecurity experts say has been counterproductive and
undermined everyone's security.
Principles of privacy, free speech and responsible anonymity would be explored in the
Magna Carta scheme. "These issues have crept up on us," Berners-Lee said. "Our rights
are being infringed more and more on every side, and the danger is that we get used to
it. So I want to use the 25th anniversary for us all to do that, to take the web back into
our own hands and define the web we want for the next 25 years."
The web constitution proposal should also examine the impact of copyright laws and the
cultural-societal issues around the ethics of technology.
While regional regulation and cultural sensitivities would vary, Berners-Lee said he
believed a shared document of principle could provide an international standard for the
values of the open web.
He is optimistic that the "web we want" campaign can be mainstream, despite the
apparent lack of awareness of public interest in the Snowden story.
"I wouldn't say people in the UK are apathetic – I would say that they have greater
trust in their government than other countries. They have the attitude that we voted for
them, so let them get on and do it.
"But we need our lawyers and our politicians to understand programming, to
understand what can be done with a computer. We also need to revisit a lot of legal
structure, copyright law – the laws that put people in jail which have been largely set up
to protect the movie producers … None of this has been set up to preserve the day to
day discourse between individuals and the day to day democracy that we need to run
the country," he said.
Berners-Lee also spoke out strongly in favour of changing a key and controversial
element of internet governance that would remove a small but symbolic piece of US
control. The US has clung on to the Iana contract, which controls the dominant
database of all domain names, but has faced increased pressure post-Snowden.
He said: "The removal of the explicit link to the US department of commerce is long
overdue. The US can't have a global place in the running of something which is so non-
national. There is huge momentum towards that uncoupling but it is right that we keep
a multi-stakeholder approach, and one where governments and companies are both
kept at arm's length."
Berners-Lee also reiterated his concern that the web could be balkanised by countries or
organisations carving up the digital space to work under their own rules, whether for
censorship, regulation or commerce.We all have to play a role in that future, he said,
citing resistance to proposed copyright theft regulation.
He said: "The key thing is getting people to fight for the web and to see the harm that a
fractured web would bring. Like any human system, the web needs policing and of
course we need national laws, but we must not turn the network into a series of
national silos."
Berners-Lee also starred in the London 2012 Olympics, typing the words "this is for
everyone" on a computer in the centre of the arena. He has stuck firmly to the principle
of openness, inclusivity and democracy since he invented the web in 1989, choosing not
to commercialise his model. Rejecting the idea that government and commercial control
of such a powerful medium was inevitable, Berners-Lee said it would be
impossible: "Not until they prise the keyboards from our cold, dead fingers."
Creator of web free to use for everyone
As a boy growing up in south-west London, Tim Berners-Lee was a keen trainspotter,
which led to his interest in model railways and then electronics.But computers were
already familiar concept in the family home – both his parents worked on the creation of
the world's first commercially built computer, the Ferranti Mk1.
Berners-Lee got a first in physics at Oxford and then worked in a series of engineering
roles. But it was at Cern, the European Organisation for Nuclear Research, in Geneva
where he embarked on projects which would lead to the creation of the world wide web.
His aim was to allow researchers all over the world to share documents and his first
proposals were judged as "vague but interesting" by a manager at Cern.
He combined existing technology such as the internet and hypertext and combined
them to produce an immense interconnected document storage system. Berners-Lee
labelled it the world wide web, although his Francophone collaborators found it difficult
to pronounce.The web was first open to new users in 1991, and in 1992, the first
browser was created to scan and select the millions of documents which already existed.
Although the web has seen the creation and loss of countless fortunes, Berners-Lee and
his team ensured that it was free to use for everyone.
Berners-Lee now works through various organisations to ensure that the web is
accessible to all and that the concept of the neutrality of the net is observed by
governments and corporations. Conal Urquhart
http://www.theguardian.com/technology/2014/mar/12/online-magna-carta-berners-lee-web
======================================================
Web inventor: U.S. abused internet
m9OLs0bHsis
Published on 18 Feb 2014
World Wide Web inventor, Tim Berners-Lee weighs in on the tide of censorship and
surveillance on the internet.Tim Berners-Lee's invention has quite literally gone global.
The World Wide Web is heralded as changing the way business is done. But he is not
stopping there.
Brilliant.
A brief discussionon how the Internet and the World Wide Web are two seperate
entities. This is for CS1032 offered through Western University.This interview with Sir
Tim Berners-Lee on the Future of the web is part of the Futurium Talking Futures
interview series. More information is available here.How activists and even ordinary
users can create, disseminate, archive and engage with content on the web and
Internet using their pc's and mobiles. Also con.
o-5E51Bhlig
====================================================
http://static.bbci.co.uk/frameworks/barlesque/2.60.1/desktop/3.5/img/blq-blocks_grey_alpha.png
12 March 2014 Last updated at 05:52
Sir Tim Berners-Lee: World wide web needs bill of rights
vid on link.....
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-26540635
Sir Tim Berners-Lee wants more rights for users of the web
The inventor of the world wide web has marked the 25th anniversary of his creation by
calling for a 'Magna Carta' bill of rights to protect its users. Sir Tim Berners-Lee told
BBC Breakfast the issue could be compared to the importance of human rights.
He has been an outspoken critic of government surveillance following a series of leaks
from ex-US intelligence contractor Edward Snowden.Sir Tim called on people to take
action and protest against surveillance.
'Communal decision'
He told BBC Breakfast the online community has now reached a crossroads.
"It's time for us to make a big communal decision," he said. "In front of us are two
roads - which way are we going to go?
"Are we going to continue on the road and just allow the governments to do more and
more and more control - more and more surveillance?
"Or are we going to set up a bunch of values? Are we going to set up something like a
Magna Carta for the world wide web and say, actually, now it's so important, so much
part of our lives, that it becomes on a level with human rights?"
http://news.bbcimg.co.uk/media/images/73521000/jpg/_73521342_017871252-1.jpg
A 1992 copy of the world's first web page Looking at the world's first web page shows
how much has changed online
http://news.bbcimg.co.uk/media/images/73521000/jpg/_73521340_021491723-1.jpg
The NeXT cube, the original machine on which Sir Tim Berners-Lee designed the world
wide web
http://news.bbcimg.co.uk/media/images/73521000/jpg/_73521338_015421003-1.jpg
Sir Tim took part in the opening ceremony of the London 2012 Olympic Games Sir Tim
said the internet should be a "neutral" medium that can be used without feeling
"somebody's looking over our shoulder".
He called for vigilance against surveillance by its users, adding: "The people of the
world have to be constantly aware, constantly looking out for it - constantly making
sure through action, protest, that it doesn't happen."
Sir Tim has previously warned that surveillance could threaten the democratic nature of
the web. He has also spoken out in support of Mr Snowden, saying his actions were "in
the public interest".
The idea that the world wide web would end up playing such a huge role in people's
lives would have seemed "crazy" 25 years ago, said Sir Tim.
He admitted that the web represented "humanity connected", involving both
the "wonderful" and the "ghastly".
But he added: "I don't have a lot of sympathy with people who say: 'There's so much
rubbish on the web.'
"Well, if there's so much rubbish, if it's rubbish, don't read it. Go read something else."
The web we want campaign has been set up by Sir Tim's World Wide Web Foundation to
coincide with the 25th anniversary and aims to protect human rights online.
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-26540635
=======================================================
http://static.guim.co.uk/static/222aab2fe2eff15662a65cb0de6711f4a5e54e7d/common/images/logos/the-guardian/news.gif
An online Magna Carta: Berners-Lee calls for bill of rights for web
Exclusive: web's inventor warns neutrality under sustained attack from governments and corporations
Jemima Kiss
The Guardian, Wednesday 12 March 2014
Jump to comments (172)
World Wide Web Inventor Tim Berners-Lee
http://static.guim.co.uk/sys-images/Guardian/Pix/pictures/2014/3/11/1394579994246/World-Wide-Web-Inventor-T-011.jpg
Tim Berners-Lee has been an outspoken critic of spy agencies' surveillance of citizens. Photograph: Andrew Brusso/Corbis
The inventor of the world wide web believes an online "Magna Carta" is needed to
protect and enshrine the independence of the medium he created and the rights of its
users worldwide.Sir Tim Berners-Lee told the Guardian the web had come under
increasing attack from governments and corporate influence and that new rules were
needed to protect the "open, neutral" system.
Speaking exactly 25 years after he wrote the first draft of the first proposal for what
would become the world wide web, the computer scientist said: "We need a global
constitution – a bill of rights."
Berners-Lee's Magna Carta plan is to be taken up as part of an initiative called "the web
we want", which calls on people to generate a digital bill of rights in each country – a
statement of principles he hopes will be supported by public institutions, government
officials and corporations.
"Unless we have an open, neutral internet we can rely on without worrying about what's
happening at the back door, we can't have open government, good democracy, good
healthcare, connected communities and diversity of culture. It's not naive to think we
can have that, but it is naive to think we can just sit back and get it."
Berners-Lee has been an outspoken critic of the American and British spy agencies'
surveillance of citizens following the revelations by National Security Agency
whistleblower Edward Snowden. In the light of what has emerged, he said, people were
looking for an overhaul of how the security services were managed.
His views also echo across the technology industry, where there is particular anger
about the efforts by the NSA and Britain's GCHQ to undermine encryption and security
tools – something many cybersecurity experts say has been counterproductive and
undermined everyone's security.
Principles of privacy, free speech and responsible anonymity would be explored in the
Magna Carta scheme. "These issues have crept up on us," Berners-Lee said. "Our rights
are being infringed more and more on every side, and the danger is that we get used to
it. So I want to use the 25th anniversary for us all to do that, to take the web back into
our own hands and define the web we want for the next 25 years."
The web constitution proposal should also examine the impact of copyright laws and the
cultural-societal issues around the ethics of technology.
While regional regulation and cultural sensitivities would vary, Berners-Lee said he
believed a shared document of principle could provide an international standard for the
values of the open web.
He is optimistic that the "web we want" campaign can be mainstream, despite the
apparent lack of awareness of public interest in the Snowden story.
"I wouldn't say people in the UK are apathetic – I would say that they have greater
trust in their government than other countries. They have the attitude that we voted for
them, so let them get on and do it.
"But we need our lawyers and our politicians to understand programming, to
understand what can be done with a computer. We also need to revisit a lot of legal
structure, copyright law – the laws that put people in jail which have been largely set up
to protect the movie producers … None of this has been set up to preserve the day to
day discourse between individuals and the day to day democracy that we need to run
the country," he said.
Berners-Lee also spoke out strongly in favour of changing a key and controversial
element of internet governance that would remove a small but symbolic piece of US
control. The US has clung on to the Iana contract, which controls the dominant
database of all domain names, but has faced increased pressure post-Snowden.
He said: "The removal of the explicit link to the US department of commerce is long
overdue. The US can't have a global place in the running of something which is so non-
national. There is huge momentum towards that uncoupling but it is right that we keep
a multi-stakeholder approach, and one where governments and companies are both
kept at arm's length."
Berners-Lee also reiterated his concern that the web could be balkanised by countries or
organisations carving up the digital space to work under their own rules, whether for
censorship, regulation or commerce.We all have to play a role in that future, he said,
citing resistance to proposed copyright theft regulation.
He said: "The key thing is getting people to fight for the web and to see the harm that a
fractured web would bring. Like any human system, the web needs policing and of
course we need national laws, but we must not turn the network into a series of
national silos."
Berners-Lee also starred in the London 2012 Olympics, typing the words "this is for
everyone" on a computer in the centre of the arena. He has stuck firmly to the principle
of openness, inclusivity and democracy since he invented the web in 1989, choosing not
to commercialise his model. Rejecting the idea that government and commercial control
of such a powerful medium was inevitable, Berners-Lee said it would be
impossible: "Not until they prise the keyboards from our cold, dead fingers."
Creator of web free to use for everyone
As a boy growing up in south-west London, Tim Berners-Lee was a keen trainspotter,
which led to his interest in model railways and then electronics.But computers were
already familiar concept in the family home – both his parents worked on the creation of
the world's first commercially built computer, the Ferranti Mk1.
Berners-Lee got a first in physics at Oxford and then worked in a series of engineering
roles. But it was at Cern, the European Organisation for Nuclear Research, in Geneva
where he embarked on projects which would lead to the creation of the world wide web.
His aim was to allow researchers all over the world to share documents and his first
proposals were judged as "vague but interesting" by a manager at Cern.
He combined existing technology such as the internet and hypertext and combined
them to produce an immense interconnected document storage system. Berners-Lee
labelled it the world wide web, although his Francophone collaborators found it difficult
to pronounce.The web was first open to new users in 1991, and in 1992, the first
browser was created to scan and select the millions of documents which already existed.
Although the web has seen the creation and loss of countless fortunes, Berners-Lee and
his team ensured that it was free to use for everyone.
Berners-Lee now works through various organisations to ensure that the web is
accessible to all and that the concept of the neutrality of the net is observed by
governments and corporations. Conal Urquhart
http://www.theguardian.com/technology/2014/mar/12/online-magna-carta-berners-lee-web
======================================================
Web inventor: U.S. abused internet
m9OLs0bHsis
Published on 18 Feb 2014
World Wide Web inventor, Tim Berners-Lee weighs in on the tide of censorship and
surveillance on the internet.Tim Berners-Lee's invention has quite literally gone global.
The World Wide Web is heralded as changing the way business is done. But he is not
stopping there.
Brilliant.
A brief discussionon how the Internet and the World Wide Web are two seperate
entities. This is for CS1032 offered through Western University.This interview with Sir
Tim Berners-Lee on the Future of the web is part of the Futurium Talking Futures
interview series. More information is available here.How activists and even ordinary
users can create, disseminate, archive and engage with content on the web and
Internet using their pc's and mobiles. Also con.