Berners-Lee slams US on net neutrality

Tim Berners-Lee is arguing that legislation-free use of the internet by millions in the US could come to an end

Tim Berners-Lee, inventor of the worldwide web, is concerned that a lack of net neutrality could threaten internet innovation.

In a post on his blog titled Net Neutrality: This is serious, Berners-Lee explained his worry that, without net neutrality, legislation-free use of the internet by millions in the US could come to an end. 

"When I invented the web, I didn't have to ask anyone's permission. Now, hundreds of millions of people are using it freely. I am worried that this is going end in the USA", Berners-Lee wrote.

Urging the US government to protect net neutrality, Berners-Lee commented: " Let's see whether the US is capable of acting according to its important values, or whether it is, as so many people are saying, run by the misguided short-term interest of large corporations."

Aiming to clarify some misinformation distributed by telecoms companies to prevent legislation being passed, he defined the issue of net neutrality as: " If I pay to connect to the net with a certain quality of service, and you pay to connect with that or a greater quality of service, then we can communicate at that level. That's all. It's up to the ISPs to make sure they interoperate so that that happens."

Net neutrality is not about a free internet or preventing someone from paying more for a higher quality of service, according to Berners-Lee.

While acknowledging that the internet generally thrives without regulation, Berners-Lee insisted that it is still important to maintain basic values.

"The market system depends on the rule that you can't photocopy money. Democracy depends on freedom of speech. Freedom of connection, with any application, to any party, is the fundamental social basis of the internet," he said.