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 <[email protected]>
Date: November 4, 2006 1:31:47 PM EST
To: Dave Farber <[email protected]>
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."