The inventor of the Web, Tim Berners-Lee, wants to protect the Internet. here's how

Tim Berners-Lee invented the World Wide Web almost 30 years ago. Now he wants to fix it.

Berners-Lee revealed on Monday a new campaign called "Contract for the Web" at the technical conference Web Summit in Lisbon, Portugal. The campaign promotes the principles that drive governments, businesses and citizens to improve the Internet and combat hate speech, privacy breaches and political manipulation.

"Those of us online have their rights and freedoms at risk," he said in a statement announcing the project, organized by his non-profit organization, the World Wide Web Foundation. Berners-Lee added that the contract defined "clear and difficult responsibilities" for those who have the power to make the Internet a better place.

More than 50 companies and organizations, including Facebook (FB), Google (GOOGL) and the French government have signed the contract, which will be published in full in May 2019.

Until now, the contract includes nine principles. It calls on governments to ensure that all citizens can connect to the Internet, that businesses respect the privacy and personal data of consumers and that citizens create "rich and relevant content for all".

Everyone will be in control of their own data, said Berners-Lee, CNN Business Technical Correspondent Laurie Segall in Lisbon.

"A lot of companies find it so exciting to be able to try to exploit you, to try to get you to buy something you did not want to buy, to go back to the basic model of helping the business. user [and] generate value for the user, "he said.

Personal data is not as valuable to businesses as one would expect, he added. "Maybe it's a myth," said Berners-Lee, rejecting the idea that high-tech companies must collect data to be profitable.

And people are not just going to "accumulate" their data once they have dominance over that data, Berners-Lee said. People can always choose to share information with their employers or the companies they shop with.

"The idea of ​​controlling your own data does not just mean that I'm my own silo, blocking everything," he said. "It's really the joy of sharing it with anyone."

Correction: This article has been updated to reflect the fact that Tim Berners-Lee invented the World Wide Web, not the Internet.