Just say no to Facebook's Free Internet Service "Internet.org", says inventor of "World Wide Web"

‘Just Say No’ To Internet.org, says Tim Berners-Lee, founder of World Wide Web

Attacking Facebook’s initiative known as Free Basics (formerly Internet.org), the English scientist, Tim Berners-Lee also widely known as the inventor of the World Wide Web said that consumers should say no to such initiatives. The initiative by Facebook aims at offering a limited set of websites and apps free of charge to users in developing countries. Berners-Lee added that if something is being offered in the name of the Internet that is not full Internet, then it’s not really free and public.

In an interview with The Guardian, Berners-Lee said people in prominent markets should “just say no” to the project. Speaking about the importance of privacy and the dangers of government snooping, he added that the initiative was not internet and that there were other ways of reducing the price of access.

“When it comes to compromising on net neutrality, I tend to say ‘just say no’,” he said.

According to the reports by The Guardian, Berners-Lee and the Web We Want festival came together to produce a Magna Carta for the 21st century on the 800th anniversary of the signing of Magna Carta. The Web We Want campaign is promoting five key principles for the future of the Web: freedom of expression online and offline, protection of user data and privacy, affordable access to the net, net neutrality, and a decentralised and open infrastructure.

“In the particular case of somebody who’s offering … something which is branded internet, it’s not internet, then you just say no. No it isn’t free, no it isn’t in the public domain, there are other ways of reducing the price of internet connectivity and giving something … (only) giving people data connectivity to part of the network deliberately, I think is a step backwards.”