Tim Berners-Lee wrote a proposal to CERN in 1989 for what he initially called Mesh, a global hypertext system meant to connect users around the world. The following year, he re-named the system the World Wide Web, which is now 25 years old--happy birthday, Internet. Berners-Lee compares it to a young adult, meaning there are needs about freedom and independence that must be addressed.
The Web has certainly had growing pains, but has arrived at a place Berners-Lee is proud of, even if there are serious questions and problems ahead we need to face collectively.
"I feel a certain amount of inventor's pride," he tells CNN. "My greatest pride has been the spirit of collaboration we've had for the last 25 years. At 25, it's more like a young adult. Suddenly it needs its independence; young adults are at the stage when they're looking for freedom, and in terms of what they do they're asserting their rights."
This comes at a time when there has been public outrage over government surveillance on average citizens, with data and information being collected without knowledge or consent. It also follows the recent attempts in 2012 of the SOPA and PIPA bills to effectively restrict internet freedoms. These have combined to spark a debate and create awareness of what the Internet needs to be moving forward.
"Now, 25 years on, Web users are realizing they need human rights on the Web...We need independence of the Web for democracy, we need independence of the Web to be able to support the press, we need independence of the Web in general. It's becoming very important to sort out all that."
Debates about net neutrality, and the roles of telecom companies and the government providing or restricting data and access, will likely continue. Berners-Lee believes whistle blowers like Snowden helped reveal a broken system, and that the public's ability to speak and associate freely is being threatened.
The Internet has these and other questions to answer, and though it has come a long way, there is a lot of potential still for the next 25 years.
"People are worrying about what other people are doing with their data," Berners-Lee says, "but they haven't realized what they can do with their own data."
Source: CNN
