Berners-Lee calls for net neutrality, questions DRM

Stephen Withers
Monday, 05 March 2007 11:41

Your IT - Home IT

He also called for openness in the way the Internet and the Web are managed. "Most importantly, we realise that this thing does not belong to anybody now."

"The Internet and the web... are now fundamental infrastructure for the global society" that should not "be controlled by any one company or for that matter by any one country.

Asked about digital rights management by Mary Bono - who was once married to Sonny Bono (the Sonny Bono Copyright Term Extension Act is sometimes known as the "Mickey Mouse" act) - Berners-Lee said "allowing people to do the right thing is important" and suggested software should let you know when you're doing the wrong thing.

"Is that the equivalent of having a speed limit but no enforcement of the speed limit?" asked Bono. "What is the enforcement for a speed limit?" Berners-Lee responded, "It's not that the car grinds to a halt."

"I'm inclined to make software that makes it easier to to the right thing first," he said.

He did concede that we haven't done this experiment, seen what the software would be like, the public's reaction to it, or what the record companies' profits would be. "I don't have a firm opinion myself of whether we'll be able to do it," he admitted.

Berners-Lee gave evidence as an individual, not as a representative of any organisation.