Internet creator warns: Never stop fighting for net neutrality

Internet creator warns that world will lose out if net neutrality is not maintained; speaks out on privacy.

Companies, service providers and governments might be keen to circumvent net neutrality, but the world has a lot to lose if it does not fight against manipulating access to the Internet, according the inventor of the World Wide Web, Tim Berners-Lee.

“We can never rest from fighting for… the neutrality of the underlying network,” said Berners-Lee on Wednesday, speaking at Nokia World 2010.

“We assume… that you can get any page [on the Internet]… because that’s how it’s always been, and that’s why the Internet has flourished,” he said.

However, some companies would love to be able to limit access, he warned, giving the example of a company that sells films online that “would like to mysteriously slow down your access to other people’s movies,” thereby encouraging users back to its own site.

Similarly, a provider of telecoms services might seek to block or slow down VoIP services.

“It’s not just companies, it’s [also] countries,” he went on, noting that some governments would be keen to slow access to certain political sites, for example.

“The moment you let that net neutrality go, then think what you lose. You lose the Web as it is. You lose the fact that you can click on a link and go anywhere. You lose something essential,” he said.

Continues at: Never stop fighting for net neutrality – Tim Berners-Lee.