Snowden leaks showed government 'dysfunction' - Tim Berners-Lee

LONDON: -- Sir Tim Berners-Lee is a computer scientist, well known for creating the world wide web, gave his comments regarding the encryption crack with the surveillance scandal. He said that the NSA weakened the security system by encrypting the files online of the general users. He particularly named such actions “foolish”, as it goes against the UK and US government policy on fighting cybercrimes. Berners-Lee agrees with the majority thinking that Edward Snowden leaks helped to defend public interests.

According to him, "whistleblowers, and responsible media outlets that work with them, play an important role in society. We need powerful agencies to combat criminal activity online – but any powerful agency needs checks and balances and, based on recent revelations, it seems the current system of checks and balances has failed."

He is the director of World Wide Web Consortium (W3C) with the main aim to raise the global standards for the web, he is the main figure on the questions of various vulnerabilities of the internet.

Berners-Lee will celebrate a 25th creation of the web anniversary next year. He is currently a professor at MIT (the Massachusetts Institute of Technology) and his biggest concern is that such surveillance could shake general users who will not consider internet as a free place to share their ideas and communicate. Next year he will devote to the campaign of raising the public awareness. On November 22 his book will come out, with web index statistics, showing web growth, internet impact all around the world, as well as certain information on the surveillance and censorship.

According to Berners-Lee, spying on people is not just wrong in terms of the internet space, it goes against all moral principles: "Any democratic country has to take the high road; it has to live by its principles. I'm very sympathetic to attempts to increase security against organized crime, but you have to distinguish yourself from the criminal.

Full story: http://voiceofrussia.com/news/2013_11_08/Snowden-leaks-showed-government-dysfunction-Tim-Berners-Lee-2008/

-- THE VOICE OF RUSSIA 2013-11-08

Hooray! Finally, the Father himself has stood-up and spoken