The World Wide Web is 30 years old -- and its inventor has a warning for us
On March 11, 1989, Tim Berners-Lee, a British computer programmer working at CERN, the European Particle Physics Laboratory, sent in a proposal for an information management system. His boss responded with a note that read "vague but exciting."
That proposal was the first sketch of what would become the World Wide Web, creating the system that functions on the internet today.
But on the 30th anniversary of his breakthrough invention, Berners-Lee shared a warning about the "sources of dysfunction" the web faces and how "the fight for the web is one of the most important causes of our time."
In an open letter published Tuesday, he wrote about the consequences of the growing division that his invention has fueled.
"Of course with every new feature, every new website, the divide between those who are online and those who are not increases, making it all the more imperative to make the web available for everyone," he wrote in the letter.
The web inventor now runs the World Wide Web Consortium (W3C). which aims to help develop various standards and guidelines for the operation of the web. Through his foundation, he launched a campaign called "Contract for the Web" to "establish clear norms, laws and standards that underpin the web.
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https://www.nbcnews.com/tech/tech-news/world-wide-web-30-its-inventor-has-warning-us-n982156
