I am reviewing (inventor of the World Wide Web) Tim Berners-Lee's comments and will quote some that I think are particularly interesting to us. Click the links to read more of the comments that followed.
http://www.reddit.com/r/IAmA/comments/2091d4/i_am_tim_bernerslee_i_invented_the_www_25_years/cg0ywqf?context=3How do you feel about the supposed dark side of the internet, such as the black markets? (Silk Road etc.)
Complicated question. I am not a great expert on them. Simple answers include of course that illegal things are crimes on or off the web. But anonymity is tricky. We have a right to be anonymous as a whistle-blower or under an oppressive regime but not when we are bullying someone? How can we build technical/social/judicial systems for determining which right is more important in any given case? Relates to tor...What are your thoughts on the increased surveillance on internet based mediums like GCHQ's monitoring of all the Yahoo video chats. Do you personally think it should be controlled, non existent or fine the way it is now?
I think that some monitoring of the net by government agencies is going to be needed to fight crime. We need to invent a new system of checks and balances with unprecedented power to be able to investigate and hold the agencies which do it accountable to the public.Edward Snowden- Hero or Villain?
Because he- had no other alternative
- engaged as a journalist / with a journalist to be careful of how what was released
- provided an important net overall benefit to the world
I think he should be protected, and we should have ways of protecting people like him. Because we can try to design perfect systems of government, and they will never be perfect, and when they fail, then the whistleblower may be all that saves society.Thank you very much for doing an AMA.
I can not thank you enough for what you have done in inventing the web and bettering it and making content and information accessible and usable for all!
I just wanted to say thank you. I devote my time to designing and developing interactions and experiences that a simple, intuitive, and delightful.
I don't know what I'd be doing if it wasn't for your work. I don't know where the world would be without your work.
Many, many thanks!
You are very welcome! Use it any time you like ... :-)Okay kiddies, I see he started in 1976 and I started with a TRS-80 around 1978 when I read
this book when I was 13, and I immediately understood how a microprocessor worked. My serious programming started when I got a hold of my friend's Apple II over the summer of 1983, then I bought a Commodore 64, then an Atari ST, etc..
http://www.reddit.com/r/IAmA/comments/2091d4/i_am_tim_bernerslee_i_invented_the_www_25_years/cg0xpno?context=3what was your first computer?
I got a M6800 evaluation kit in 1976, and built a bunch of 3U high cards, put them in a rack with a car battery in the bottom of the crate as UPS. All hand-soldered on veroboard, and programmed in hex. 7E XX XX was a long jump, and 20 XX a relative jump IIRC. The display was an old TV and some logic and a bunch of discarded calculator buttons lovingly relabeled with transfer letters. Those were the days.... Do you think in the (not too distant) future we'll look back and think ourselves lucky to have witnessed a neutral, free, and uncensored world wide web?
I think it is up to us. I'm not guessing, I'm hoping. Yes, I can imagine that all to easily. If ordinary web users are not sufficiently aware of threats and get involved and if necessary take to the streets like for SOPA and PIPA and ACTA. On balance? I am optimistic.How can all of us non-US people help with this? Just by mentioning "Your senseless laws will create dangerous precedents and will "inspire" other law-makers around the world!"?
Well, what country is free from laws or proposed laws which threaten internet freedom? Check your own country for things like CFAA, laws to allow spying or censorship, not to mention bilateral agreements agreements with the US which commit a government to enact such laws in the future!Oh wow, Tim Berners-Lee just posted on reddit.
Gonna go on an off topic rant here that you will probably never read but!
You are an idol to a young computer scientist. Thank you for your contributions.
