World Wide Web Creator Launches Initiative to Fix the Internet

Tim Berners-Lee created the Web 30 years ago. Now he's trying to fix it.

Tim Berners-Lee wants to fix the raging dumpster fire that is the internet.
Tim Berners-Lee wants to fix the raging dumpster fire that is the internet.
Oliver Berg/picture alliance via Getty Images

Back in 1989, Tim Berners-Lee created the World Wide Web. Thirty years later, he’s trying to fix the ensuing disaster that is the current state of the internet.

Berners-Lee has officially launched an initiative to develop a new “contract for the web,” CNBC reported. The web creator is carrying out his mission under the non-profit campaign group, the World Wide Web Foundation, which has received backing from tech giants including Google, Facebook and Microsoft. The contract, which reportedly includes nine core principles and 76 clauses, emphasizes respect for consumers’ data privacy and increased internet access.

“Despite the progress we’ve seen in getting the world connected, half the world doesn’t have access,” Adrian Lovett, CEO of the World Wide Web Foundation, told CNBC.

Berners-Lee first detailed his internet rehab plan at last year’s Web Summit event, where he remarked that the internet was “at a tipping point.” The British computer scientist is expected to speak in Berlin on Monday, where he will detail the contract’s intended role as a blueprint for governments, companies and citizens to advance the internet’s power for good.

“Never before has the web’s power for good been more under threat,” said Lovett. “We’re launching the contract for the web for the world’s first-ever global action plan to protect the web as a force for good, bringing together companies, governments and citizens from around the world to say these are the things that need to be done to put things back on the right track.”

Subscribe here for our free daily newsletter.

The InsideHook Newsletter.

News, advice and insights for the most interesting person in the room.