Like Democracy, the Web Needs To Be Defended

climenole tips a great article by Sir Tim Berners-Lee in Scientific American. Quoting: "The Web evolved into a powerful, ubiquitous tool because it was built on egalitarian principles and because thousands of individuals, universities and companies have worked, both independently and together as part of the World Wide Web Consortium, to expand its capabilities based on those principles. The Web as we know it, however, is being threatened in different ways. Some of its most successful inhabitants have begun to chip away at its principles. Large social-networking sites are walling off information posted by their users from the rest of the Web. Wireless Internet providers are being tempted to slow traffic to sites with which they have not made deals. Governments — totalitarian and democratic alike — are monitoring people's online habits, endangering important human rights. If we, the Web's users, allow these and other trends to proceed unchecked, the Web could be broken into fragmented islands. We could lose the freedom to connect with whichever Web sites we want."

Inspiration

[Anonymous Coward]

They may take our lives, but they'll never take OUR BROADBAND!!!

Re:Newsflash!

[elrous0]

Give any man a forum and he'll tell you how important he is. Give any woman a forum and she'll use to to complain about the other women she works with.

If the web is like democracy

[countertrolling]

Then it must be destroyed! Down with irrational, tyrannical majorities!

Re:Oh ye of little faith

[design1066]

tell that to the chinese