Berners-Lee calls for web 'Magna Carta'

Worldwide web founder hits out at snooping governments

The creator of the worldwide web, Tim Berners-Lee, has marked the 25th anniversary of his first proposal by calling for an end to online snooping in the form of a user "Magna Carta".

Berners-Lee (pictured) first submitted his proposal for a universal linked-information system back in 1989 and in recent years has not been shy in speaking out against government surveillance, especially since the recent NSA scandal in which the US security agency was accused of spying by former analyst Edward Snowden.

Today he told the BBC that web users should feel free to use the web with confidence that their communications are private.

"The web itself can be something you and I can use to communicate and just feel that just you and I are communicating without either somebody blocking us or the feeling we know someone is looking over our shoulder," he said.

"So people of the world have to be constantly aware, constantly looking out for it and constantly making sure – through action, protests – that this does not happen."

The Web We Want campaign has urged people to come together and create a "bill of rights" for internet users in order to stand for what it claims are their human rights to a free and open internet.

Berners-Lee agreed that more formal action ought to be taken.

"We're at a crossroads because it's time for us to make a big common decision in front of us [about] which way we are going to go," he said.

"Are we going to continue on the road and just allow the governments to do more and more... surveillance, or are we going to set up a bunch of values – something like a Magna Carta – for the worldwide web to say ‘actually now it's such an important part of our lives that it comes on a level with human rights'."

The first 25 years of the web have changed the way businesses operate and people communicate, and tech firms have claimed the coming years will be defined by the Internet of Things – an idea where everyday objects will be connected to the internet.

TechMarketView director Richard Holway predicted: "In 25 years' time, fast access will be possible from every spot on the planet and possibly beyond. Every living thing of value – like chickens, cats and children – will be internet-connected, as will everything from cars to curtain tracks.

"The biggest challenges are around privacy and cybercrime. I fear that we do not take the threats seriously enough. In the hands of a corrupt regime, or company, our freely given data could be used against us."