On the 25th anniversary of the web: we need a Magna Carta
“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.”
A quarter of a century after having set up the first web server, Sir Tim Berners-Lee, the man credited with having invented the web as we know it, says that there is a huge elephant in the room: we need a Magna Carta to guarantee that the internet can develop all its potential free from the interference of governments and big business.
(From Wikipedia) Magna Carta
“The charter is widely known throughout the English-speaking world as an important part of the protracted historical process that led to the rule of constitutional law in England and beyond. Lord Denning described it as “the greatest constitutional document of all times — the foundation of the freedom of the individual against the arbitrary authority of the despot”.
The internet is global by definition. Governments are not. Working with both to preserve the web’s potential as a vehicle for change is an enormously difficult challenge. But it is, without doubt, a NECESSARY AND FUNDAMENTAL task we must undertake in the coming years. And it is a task that requires everybody’s collaboration.
(En español, aquí)
