Sir Tim Berners-Lee Unveils Foundation For Free, Open Web

Sir Timothy Berners-Lee has created a foundation to promote the Web as a tool to benefit consumers and enterprise alike.

Berners-Lee and the John S. and James L. Knight Foundation unveiled the World Wide Web Foundation on Sunday. The organization's written mission is to advance one Web, which is free and open; to expand the Web's capability and robustness; and to extend the Web's benefit to all people around the world.

Berners-Lee, who is credited with creating the World Wide Web, opposes new tier domain names. His new foundation will conduct research; develop technology; and seek ways to promote the Web as a tool so people in underserved communities can share knowledge, access services, do business, participate in government, and communicate creatively.

"The Web is a tremendous platform for innovation, but we face a number of challenges to making it more useful, in particular to people in underserved communities," Berners-Lee, director of the World Wide Web Consortium and co-director of the Web Science Research Initiative, said in an announcement. "Through this new initiative, we hope to develop an international ecosystem that will help shape the future Web. A more inclusive Web will benefit us all."

The foundation will receive a $5 million seed grant over five years from the John S. and James L. Knight Foundation, and its leaders said they are seeking additional funds.

"I would like to invite those who share this vision for the Web to become founding donors," Steve Bratt, CEO of the World Wide Web Foundation, said in an announcement. "With their support, we plan to launch the foundation in early 2009 with an announcement of the first concrete steps toward fulfilling its mission."