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The World Wide Web turned 25 last week. After the invention of the
printing press, this is the most defining development in the world
of communication. Its impact is still growing and its full potential
yet to be realised despite the many changes it has brought in its
wake....<br>
<br>
....Tim Berners-Lee maintains that there are a few principles which
allowed the web, as a platform, to support such growth. “By design,
the Web is universal, royalty-free, open and decentralised.
Thousands of people worked together to build the early Web in an
amazing, non-national spirit of collaboration; tens of thousands
more invented the applications and services that make it so useful
to us today, and there is still room for each one of us to create
new things on and through the Web,” he declared.... in March 1989, a
British scientist, Tim Berners-Lee, working at CERN, the European
Organization for Nuclear Research, submitted a rather simple
sounding paper titled “Information Management: A Proposal” that gave
birth to the World Wide Web. And how does he view his creation? Why
did he not opt for a proprietary system where he would have minted
billions? Why did he advocate an online “Magna Carta” to protect and
enshrine the independence of the medium he created and the rights of
its users worldwide? His answers capture his concerns. In an
interview to the BBC he said: “As to making lots of money? If I’d
made it something which was a proprietary system then it would not
have taken off. The only reason it took off is because people were
prepared to invest in it because it’s open and free…<br>
<br>
....The forthcoming “Global Multistakeholder Meeting on the Future
of Internet Governance,” to be held in São Paulo, Brazil, in April
is a crucial development. In India, last month, a new coalition —
Just Net Coalition (JNC) — was formed to provide inputs for this
meeting. Its main arguments are: “a set of principles that should
underpin the emergence of an Internet that advances human rights and
social justice globally, and the reconfiguration of Internet
governance into a truly democratic space. <b>These principles are
based on a recognition that the Internet has become a vitally
important social infrastructure that profoundly impacts our
societies; and on the observation that opportunities for the many
to participate in the very real benefits of the Internet, and to
fully realise its enormous potential, are being thwarted by
growing control of the Internet by politically, economically and
socially dominant actors. Existing governance arrangements for the
global Internet suffer from a lack of democracy; an absence of
legitimacy, accountability and transparency; excessive corporate
influence and regulatory capture; and too few opportunities for
effective participation by people, especially from developing
countries.”</b><b><br>
</b><br>
read the full article at
<a class="moz-txt-link-freetext" href="http://www.thehindu.com/opinion/Readers-Editor/the-web-we-want/article5792955.ece">http://www.thehindu.com/opinion/Readers-Editor/the-web-we-want/article5792955.ece</a><br>
read the JNC principles document at
<a class="moz-txt-link-freetext" href="http://content.netmundial.br/contribution/towards-a-just-and-equitable-internet-for-all/110">http://content.netmundial.br/contribution/towards-a-just-and-equitable-internet-for-all/110</a><br>
<br>
regards<br>
Guru<br>
<br>
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