Earlier this year, Russian President Vladimir Putin had fanned the proverbial flames of Internet censorship when he claimed that the Internet’s genesis came as part of a CIA project – not so, says the man who invented the World Wide Web.
At a London press conference, computer scientist Tim Berners-Lee, who officially invented the Internet in 1989, said that the Net is “not a CIA creation,” but rather the creation of academics, one that was backed by American government funding. “It was the academic community who wired up their universities so it was put together by smart, well-meaning people who thought it was a good idea,” he said earlier today.
Berners-Lee has been quite critical of both the United States and the United Kingdom for trying to police the Internet, and had also scored China, asking the nation to “tear down the great firewall” that curtails its citizen’s online freedom. “It’s time to recognise the Internet as a basic human right,” said Berners-Lee, reinforcing these previous statements. “That means guaranteeing affordable access for all, ensuring internet packets are delivered without commercial or political discrimination, and protecting the privacy and freedom of Web users regardless of where they live.”
Berners-Lee’s above comments were made in the light of the World Wide Web Foundation’s rankings of how its 86 member countries value Internet freedom and make use of it to the fullest. Denmark and Finland finished 1-2 in the list, while Great Britain finished fourth place and the United States sixth. Russia was a rather distant 35th, and so was China, which finished in the middle of the pack at 44th. At the bottom of the rankings were Ethiopia and Myanmar, finishing 85th and 86th respectively.
In addition, Berners-Lee was quoted today as saying that the Internet can be a mirror of mankind’s current state, given that militant groups tend to use the Web to show gruesome footage of Western journalists being beheaded. “Like all powerful tools, it can be used for good and evil, it can be used by good people and bad people,” he commented, before adding that people cannot “design an Internet that will suddenly turn everybody into saints,” but rather design one that is open to everyone.