大象传媒

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Last updated at 15:53 GMT, Thursday, 07 November 2013

Monitoring the internet

Summary

20 April 2012

World Wide Web founder Sir Tim Berners-Lee has said people should protest in the streets against current plans to increase internet monitoring.

"People should get out there in the streets waving banners," he told the 大象传媒. Sir Berners-Lee was in Lyon for the World Wide Web 2012 international conference.

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Sir Tim Berners-Lee

Sir Berners-Lee at the World Wide Web 2012 international conference in Lyon.

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"The worry is that this information is very powerful information because it's such intimate information. People actually tell to the web, in a way, sometimes more intimate than they tell to the people in their own family. So the worry is that this powerful information will be recorded and will be sitting there and there won't be much control on how it is used. Whereas in the past if the government had wanted to go and search somebody's house then they would have to go and get a court order to go and do that."

"This is critical infrastructure. This is something we have to keep open; we have to keep it neutral. It's like, interfering with Her Majesty's mails. It's a no-no. For the country to work the mail has got to work, you've got to send a letter from A to B. Similarly if I connect to the internet at A and you connect at B we've got to be able to talk without either large companies or governments intervening and that's going to be a battle and I think it's going to be a battle until we establish some very strong rules of behaviour from governments and agreements about how the internet will be used."

"Talk to your friends; make sure they are aware of this concern. And if necessary get out there in the streets waving banners. Unless it is significantly altered to preserve the rights of the citizen then I think it will be necessary to protest."

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Vocabulary

intimate

private and personal

powerful

controlling and influential

a court order

a decision made in a court of law about what must happen in a particular situation

critical

extremely important

infrastructure

system or technology necessary for something to operate

neutral

not supporting either side

a no-no

definitely not an option

intervening

getting involved

banners

long pieces of fabric with messages on that are carried between two poles

citizen

person who has the legal right to belong to a particular country

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