guardian.co.uk,
Charles Arthur and agencies, Wednesday 5 September 2012
 |
| Sir Tim Berners-Lee at the launch of the World Wide Web Foundation in London, where he said the internet 'has no one off switch'. Photograph: Steve Parsons/PA |
There is no
"off switch" for the internet, says the British inventor of the world
wide web – and that is a good thing, because it could only be undone by
governments around the world coordinating to turn it into a centralised system.
Sir TimBerners-Lee, who launched the first web page on Christmas Day 1990, was
speaking at the launch of a global league table showing which countries put the
web to work best.
His
"off switch" comments came after concerns were expressed last year
that the former Egyptian regime led by Hosni Mubarak had suppressed the use of
the web to try to damp down the revolution that eventually overthrew it.
Berners-Lee,
57, said: "The way the internet is designed is very much as a decentralised
system. At the moment, because countries connect to each other in lots of
different ways, there is no one off switch, there is no central place where you
can turn it off.
"In
order to be able to turn the whole thing off or really block, suppress one
particular idea then the countries and governments would have to get together
and agree and co-ordinate and turn it from a decentralised system to being a
centralised system.
"And
if that does happen it is really important that everybody fights against that
sort of direction."
His
comments came on the same day that Jimmy Wales, the co-founder of the
collaborative online encyclopaedia Wikipedia, gave evidence to MPs about proposals
to monitor and store details about emails and other internet communications.
Wales has frequently expressed strong opposition to the suggestion of extending
government control of the internet; earlier this year he called for a blackout
of Wikipedia to protest at a proposed US law which would have been able to shut
down non-US sites alleged to infringe copyright.
Berners-Lee told the Guardian earlier this year that the government should abandon the proposals, calling them "a destruction of human rights" and warning
that "the amount of control you have over somebody if you can monitor
internet activity is amazing."
The global
league table, launched on Wednesday by the World Wide Web Foundation, showed
Sweden as the top country for its use of the web, with the US second and the UK
in third place. Nepal, Cameroon and Mali were the bottom three of 61 countries
measured using indicators such as the political, economic and social impact of
the web, connectivity and use.
The league
table, which will be updated annually and will also try to measure absolute as
well as relative improvements, uses data from the past five years, and compares
elements such as the extent to which relevant and useful content is available
to citizens; the political, economic and social impact of the web; the speed of
connections; and levels of censorship. The UK's scores were lowest for web
usage and social impact. China, despite having the world's largest internet
population, ranked 29th, and was 42nd in terms of political impact out of the
61 countries examined.
The Internet - The first Worldwide Tool of Unification ("The End of History")
" ... Now I give you something that few think about: What do you think the Internet is all about, historically? Citizens of all the countries on Earth can talk to one another without electronic borders. The young people of those nations can all see each other, talk to each other, and express opinions. No matter what the country does to suppress it, they're doing it anyway. They are putting together a network of consciousness, of oneness, a multicultural consciousness. It's here to stay. It's part of the new energy. The young people know it and are leading the way.... "
" ... I gave you a prophecy more than 10 years ago. I told you there would come a day when everyone could talk to everyone and, therefore, there could be no conspiracy. For conspiracy depends on separation and secrecy - something hiding in the dark that only a few know about. Seen the news lately? What is happening? Could it be that there is a new paradigm happening that seems to go against history?... " Read More …. "The End of History"- Nov 20, 2010 (Kryon channelled by Lee Carroll)
"The New Paradigm of Reality" Part I/II – Feb 12, 2011 (Kryon channelled by Lee Carroll) (Subjects: Egypt Uprising, Iran/Persia Uprising, Peace in Middle East without Israel actively involved, Muhammad, "Conceptual" Youth Revolution, "Conceptual" (without a manager hierarchy) managed Businesses, Internet, Social Media, News Media, Google, Bankers, Global Unity,..... etc.)
"The New Paradigm of Reality" Part I/II – Feb 12, 2011 (Kryon channelled by Lee Carroll) (Subjects: Egypt Uprising, Iran/Persia Uprising, Peace in Middle East without Israel actively involved, Muhammad, "Conceptual" Youth Revolution, "Conceptual" (without a manager hierarchy) managed Businesses, Internet, Social Media, News Media, Google, Bankers, Global Unity,..... etc.)
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