[IP] My fears for the web's future: Berners-Lee
I am glad to see Tim joins Gore as the inventor of the Internet.
I am greatly concerned about a group of experts examining how the net
isw used or abused.
Dave
Begin forwarded message:
From: Bill Daul <bdaul@xxxxxxxxxxx>
Date: November 4, 2006 1:31:47 PM EST
To: Dave Farber <dave@xxxxxxxxxx>
Subject: My fears for the web's future: Berners-Lee
http://www.smh.com.au/news/web/my-fears-for-the-webs-future-
bernerslee/2006/11/03/1162340016840.html
November 3, 2006 - 8:25AM
The British scientist who developed the World Wide Web warns that if
left to develop unchecked, the internet could be consumed by
"misinformation and undemocratic forces".
Sir Tim Berners-Lee, the Massachusetts Institute of Technology
scientist who is credited with creating the internet, said in an
interview with the BBC today that the way the web is used should be
examined by a broad spectrum of experts.
Berners-Lee told the BBC that if the way the internet is being used
is left to develop unchecked, it could be consumed by "misinformation
and undemocratic forces".
"We really must have a science of understanding this. We must be able
to look at whether it's going to continue to serve us well, or
whether we'll end up with some things which suddenly appear overnight
and which in fact are very bad," Berners-Lee said.
"Maybe we'll find that some very undemocratic things start happening,
and that misinformation starts taking over the web."
Berners-Lee wants to convene scientists from various disciplines -
including biology, political science and sociology - to study the web
and the way it affects society.
"All kinds of disciplines are going to have to converge," he said.
"People with all kinds of skills and knowledge are going to need to
work together in order to understand the web and in order to build a
web which is going to be even better."
His comments came a day after an internet monitoring company
announced that the number of websites had surpassed the 100 million
mark.
He first proposed the web while developing ways to control computers
remotely at CERN, the Geneva-based European Organisation for Nuclear
Research, in 1989.
AP
--
Bill Daul
Chief Collaboration Officer
NextNow Collaboratory: a synergistic web of relationships focused on
transforming the present
http://www.human-landscaping.com
"Play with boundaries, not within."
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