Sir Tim Berners-Lee, developer of the Internet’s “World Wide Web,” is concerned about how his invention is being used. He told the BBC that he was concerned the technology could be used to spread misinformation and “undemocratic forces.”
Berners-Lee said he feared that if the Internet was left to develop unchecked, “bad things” could happen. He wants to set up a Web science research project to study the social implications of the Web’s development.
He said that he hoped to create a new science for studying the Web, which he believed would lead to newer and more exciting systems. “All kinds of disciplines are going to have to converge. People with all kinds of skills are going to have to work together to build a new Web, which is going to be even better,” he told the BBC.
He also said employers were now beginning to complain that there were not enough people who fully understood the Web. “There aren’t any courses at the moment and it hasn’t really been brought together. We’re hearing complaints from companies when they need people that really understand the medium from both the technological and social side.”
