Voting is Your POWERSep 28, 2025
petersuber

Tim Berners-Lee (@timbl) explains why he gave away the #WWW for free.
https://www.theguardian.com/technology/2025/sep/28/why-i-gave-the-world-wide-web-away-for-free

"For the web to have everything on it, everyone had to be able to use it, and want to do so. This was already asking a lot. I couldn’t also ask that they pay for each search or upload they made. In order to succeed, therefore, it would have to be free. That’s why, in 1993, I convinced my #CERN managers to donate the intellectual property of the world wide web, putting it into the public domain. We gave the web away to everyone."

But he adds:

"Today, I look at my invention and I am forced to ask: is the web still free today? No, not all of it. We see a handful of large platforms harvesting users’ private data to share with commercial brokers or even repressive governments…Trading personal data for use certainly does not fit with my vision for a free web."

#PublicDomain #OpenInfrastructure #Solid #Web

Why I gave the world wide web away for free

My vision was based on sharing, not exploitation – and here’s why it’s still worth fighting for

The Guardian
Sep 28, 2025 at 2:31pmWeb
Show threadHansSep 28, 2025

@petersuber @timbl

Weil der Text so wichtig ist, auch auf deutsch:

Tim Berners-Lee erklärt, warum er die "WWW" kostenlos verschenkte.

https://www.theguardian.com/technology/2025/sep/28/why-i-gave-the-world-wide-web-away-for-free

>>

Why I gave the world wide web away for free

My vision was based on sharing, not exploitation – and here’s why it’s still worth fighting for

The Guardian
Show threadHansSep 28, 2025

@petersuber @timbl

"Damit das Internet alles drauf hatte, musste jeder in der Lage sein, es zu benutzen, und das will er tun. Das hat schon viel verlangt. Ich konnte auch nicht darum bitten, dass sie für jede Suche oder Upload, die sie gemacht haben, bezahlen. Um erfolgreich zu sein, müsste es also frei sein. Deshalb habe ich 1993 meine CERN-Manager überzeugt, das geistige Eigentum des World Wide Web zu spenden und es öffentlich zugänglich zu machen. Wir haben das Netz an alle verschenkt."

>>

Show threadHansSep 28, 2025

@petersuber @timbl

Aber er fügt hinzu:

"Heute schaue ich mir meine Erfindung an und bin gezwungen zu fragen: Ist das Internet heute noch frei? Nein, nicht alles. Wir sehen eine Handvoll großer Plattformen, die private Daten der Nutzer sammeln, um sie mit kommerziellen Maklern oder sogar repressiven Regierungen zu teilen... Persönliche Daten für den Gebrauch zu erhalten, passt sicherlich nicht zu meiner Vision für ein freies Web."

Show threadaspraggSep 28, 2025

@petersuber @timbl

… but does not reflect on whether supporting Encrypted Media Extensions was actually the right decision, and in keeping with those principles, in hindsight

https://www.theregister.com/2017/03/06/berners_lee_web_drm_w3c/

smh

Sir Tim Berners-Lee refuses to be King Canute, approves DRM as Web standard

Will decision bring back need to use specific browsers?

The Register
Show threadNexusSfanSep 28, 2025
@petersuber How can a network of computers be copyrighted?
Show threadBlukunfandoSep 28, 2025
@petersuber @timbl A web’s job is to catch flies. It seems to be doing it just fine.
Show threadmirabilosSep 28, 2025
@petersuber @timbl (not sure they even could legally relinquish it into the PD, being European…)
Show threadBarney DefanfalerSep 28, 2025
@petersuber @timbl
Yeah, WWW gone primarily business mode from initial military, educational, scientific info sharing . . .
Show threadPointlessSpikeSep 30, 2025
@petersuber @timbl This was inevitable. As long as we allow capitalism to exist in our society, it will take over everything.