Timbl on Net Neutrality

Tim Berners-Lee (whose blog has a curiously inconspicuous URL) has weighed in on the net neutrality debate with an entry entitled “Net Neutrality: This is serious.” Tim Berners-Lee seems to be fairly cautious about taking public positions on political issues, so when he does, it’s worth listening. His opinions carry a fair amount of credibility — he is probably the only person who can legitimately start blog entries with phrases like, “When I invented the web…”

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 that is going end in the USA.

Yes, regulation to keep the Internet open is regulation. And mostly, the Internet thrives on lack of regulation. But some basic values have to be preserved. For example, 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, and, now, the society based on it.