Why I gave the world wide web away for free; The Guardian, September 28, 2025

 Tim Berners-Lee, The Guardian ; Why I gave the world wide web away for free

"Sharing your information in a smart way can also liberate it. Why is your smartwatch writing your biological data to one silo in one format? Why is your credit card writing your financial data to a second silo in a different format? Why are your YouTube comments, Reddit posts, Facebook updates and tweets all stored in different places? Why is the default expectation that you aren’t supposed to be able to look at any of this stuff? You generate all this data – your actions, your choices, your body, your preferences, your decisions. You should own it. You should be empowered by it.

Somewhere between my original vision for web 1.0 and the rise of social media as part of web 2.0, we took the wrong path. We’re now at a new crossroads, one where we must decide if AI will be used for the betterment or to the detriment of society. How can we learn from the mistakes of the past? First of all, we must ensure policymakers do not end up playing the same decade-long game of catchup they have done over social media. The time to decide the governance model for AI was yesterday, so we must act with urgency.

In 2017, I wrote a thought experiment about an AI that works for you. I called it Charlie. Charlie works for you like your doctor or your lawyer, bound by law, regulation and codes of conduct. Why can’t the same frameworks be adopted for AI? We have learned from social media that power rests with the monopolies who control and harvest personal data. We can’t let the same thing happen with AI.

So how do we move forward? Part of the frustration with democracy in the 21st century is that governments have been too slow to meet the demands of digital citizens. The AI industry landscape is fiercely competitive, and development and governance are dictated by companies. The lesson from social media is that this will not create value for the individual.

I coded the world wide web on a single computer in a small room. But that small room didn’t belong to me, it was at Cern. Cern was created in the aftermath of the second world war by the UN and European governments who identified a historic, scientific turning point that required international collaboration. It is hard to imagine a big tech company agreeing to share the world wide web for no commercial reward like Cern allowed me to. That’s why we need a Cern-like not-for-profit body driving forward international AI research.

I gave the world wide web away for free because I thought that it would only work if it worked for everyone. Today, I believe that to be truer than ever. Regulation and global governance are technically feasible, but reliant on political willpower. If we are able to muster it, we have the chance to restore the web as a tool for collaboration, creativity and compassion across cultural borders. We can re-empower individuals, and take the web back. It’s not too late."

The EU's dodgy Article 13 copyright directive has been rejected; Wired, July 5, 2015

James Temperton, Wired; The EU's dodgy Article 13 copyright directive has been rejected

"The European Parliament has voted against a controversial proposed new copyright law that critics warned could imperil a free and open internet.

The Copyright Directive, which contained the particularly concerning Article 13, was rejected by 318 votes to 278, with 31 abstentions. The EU’s proposed copyright reforms will now be debated again in September, giving policymakers more time to discuss and refine the crucial dossier...

The rejected proposals would have placed far greater responsibility on individual websites to check for copyright infringements. It gained the support of former Beatle Sir Paul McCartney, while Sir Tim Berners-Lee, the inventor of the web, warned it threatened internet freedom."

Tim Berners-Lee warns of danger of chaos in unprotected public data; Guardian, 11/1/16

Alice Ross, Guardian; Tim Berners-Lee warns of danger of chaos in unprotected public data:

"Asked about whether open data could have security vulnerabilities, Berners-Lee said criminals could manipulate open data for profit, for example by placing bets on the bank rate or consumer price index and then hacking into the sites where the data is published and switching the figures.

“If you falsify government data then there are all kinds of ways that you could get financial gain, so yes,” he said, “it’s important that even though people think about open data as not a big security problem, it is from the point of view of being accurate.”...

Berners-Lee said during a presentation that a key challenge, particularly in the era of Brexit and Donald Trump, was making reliable data available to people who felt disenfranchised: “How can we help everyone in the country feel that they have access to good quality information … whether they get it on the web or not – maybe they get it through TV and radio? How can we restore a culture and civilisation based on knowledge … and a democratic system based on knowledge, based on facts and truth?”"

Berners-Lee raises spectre of weaponized open data; Naked Security, 11/4/16

Bill Camarda, Naked Security; Berners-Lee raises spectre of weaponized open data:

"Whether data is coming from governments or corporations – and whether it’s formally “open” or simply “widely available” like AP’s Twitter feed – it’s increasingly vulnerable to deliberate falsification.

But, for governments and others who believe in the open data movement, it’s no longer enough to protect privacy when they release data, or even to ensure its quality and consistency – already significant challenges.

From now on, they’ll need to protect it against deliberate sabotage, too."

Open Data Awards Celebrate Smart Uses Of Public Data; Forbes, 7/10/15

Paul Miller, Forbes; Open Data Awards Celebrate Smart Uses Of Public Data:

"Open Data’s rockstars gathered at Bloomberg’s London offices last night, for the second Open Data Awards. Organized by the Open Data Institute (ODI), the Awards celebrate “a generation of network thinkers who are changing the world with open data.” More importantly, they demonstrate some of the ways in which services and applications powered by Open Data are transforming lives and creating business opportunities around the world. ODI co-founders, Web inventor Sir Tim Berners-Lee and University of Southampton Professor Sir Nigel Shadbolt, presented the Awards and shared their perspectives on the work that is still to be done.

Awards covered five categories, comprising a Business award, an Innovation award, a Social Impact award, an Individual Champion award, and a Data Publisher award."

Web inventor's open data organisation announces new global network; Guardian, 10/29/13

Peter Kimpton, Guardian; Web inventor's open data organisation announces new global network: "Just one year after its foundation in London, an organisation created by Sir Tim Berners-Lee and Sir Nigel Shadbolt to stimulate economic, environmental and social innovation through a system of open data sharing and analysis, has announced rapid global expansion of its ambitions. The Open Data Institute has announced the launch of 13 international centres, known as "nodes", each of which will bring together companies, universities, and NGOs that support open data projects and communities. The nodes will be based in the US, Canada, France, Dubai, Italy, Russia, Sweden and Argentina, with two extra US nodes Chicago and North Carolina. Three further UK nodes are to open in Manchester, Leeds and Brighton. The new ODI nodes will variously operate at local and national levels. Each one has agreed to adopt the ODI Charter, which is a open source codification of the ODI itself, and embodies principles of open data business, publishing, communication, and collaboration."