Web founder Tim Berners-Lee calls for ‘digital constitution’

There must be a ‘digital constitution’ in which the rights of internet users are guaranteed. This is what the founder of the worldwide web, Tim Berners-Lee, argues about 25 years after he drafted the first www.

“Unless we have an open, neutral internet that we can rely on without fear of what’s happening at the back door, we won’t have open government, good democracy, good health, a connected society and a diverse culture,” he said. Berners-Lee to The Guardian. He makes his statements exactly 25 years after he wrote the first concept for the development of the web.

Berners-Lee is an outspoken critic of British and American intelligence espionage; previously he called the espionage “stupid.” He told The Guardian: “Our rights are being violated more and more from all sides, and the danger is that we are getting used to it.”

Berners-Lee’s call is accompanied by the Web We Want website, where internet users can come together to draw up a digital constitution for their country. Ultimately, this should lead to national or even international legislation protecting internet users.

Berners-Lee argues that a lot of legislation will have to be revised for the benefit of the free internet, including copyright. “The laws that put people in jail are largely designed to protect film producers,” Berners-Lee said.

In addition, he is critical of the great influence that the American government has on the internet; IP addresses and domain names are managed by a foundation that falls under the US Department of Commerce. According to the web founder, that is no longer logical, now that the internet is so international. At the same time, he is critical that the web is breaking down into several parts, the so-called ‘Balkanization’ of the internet. Iran, among others, is working on its own internet.