TWENTY-FIVE YEARS after submitting his proposal for the world wide web, Sir Tim Berners-Lee has called out for the web to remain free and not be influenced by governments or organisations.

In a guest post on Google’s official blog, Berners-Lee asked for web users everywhere to press for the development of a digital bill of rights, which he says “would advance a free and open web for everyone.”

While he says that today is a day of celebration, he warned that web users should be thinking about what happens next and act as “key decisions on the governance and future of the internet are looming.”

Berners-Lee’s wish is  part of Web at 25, a grassroots campaign designed to keep the web neutral for everyone. Both it and the Web We Want campaign are pushing for all countries to adapt a bill of rights which would protect the web from government and corporate interference.

Berners-Lee has been critical of surveillance by both US and UK spy agencies, a hot topic since details of PRISM emerged back in June, In an interview with The Guardian, he said how this should be a time for everyone to consider what the web really is and ensure it stays free and open for everyone.

These issues have crept up on us… Our rights are being infringed more and more on every side, and the danger is that we get used to it. So I want to use the 25th anniversary for us all to do that, to take the web back into our own hands and define the web we want for the next 25 years.

(Video: Web25/Vimeo)

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