Mr Tim Berners-Lee, the inventor of the World Wide Web, says it is important to fight censorship of Web sites.
“The list of countries that are blocking Web sites is growing. Some countries have legislations that quietly allow them to block Web sites,” Mr Tim Berners-Lee told Business Line.
In an interview on the sidelines of the 20th World Wide Web conference here on Thursday, he said democratic countries blocked Web sites in controlled conditions. But in such cases there is accountability with independent judicial review. He, however, said that there were questions about what happened if a relevant site was blocked during elections.
Be open
Mr Berners-Lee asked businesses to be open about information on products. “If your data is there, you are in. If your data is not there, you are out,” he said.
“When customers go out to compare and study product profiles, they should have complete information. If you (businesses) are worried that it might give out competitive information, it is not correct. Because your competition could anyway get information on the products available in the market.”
Mr Berners-Lee, who invented the Web 20 years ago, called for keeping the Web space open. “We should make information available to people no matter where they are, what language they speak and what device they use,” he said.
Replying to a question on moves by some monopolies to splinter the Web space, he said, “If you come (to the Web) on a mobile web browser, you can visit all Web sites. This is very important. If your phone doesn't stop you from accessing a particular Web site, that is enough. But if information is provided as an application, then that's a concern,” he said.
Because it could not be linked to, it could not be bookmarked, it could not be blogged. “I think it is one of the concerns,” he said.
Earlier, interacting with reporters, he said media had to play an important role in the campaign for an open Net. “Media can be a huge agent of change. I'm ready to help. We need to find local champions (to take this up),” he said.