The man who created the world wide web is worried that even after over 3 decades, many young people still don’t have access.
Sir Tim Berners-Lee says too many young people do not have internet access and the digital divide has widened during the pandemic. This is against what the 69 has advocated all his life since inventing the web in 1989.
“We can’t afford not to do it,” he wrote in his annual letter to mark the anniversary of the world wide web.
In an interview with the BBC, he said that as the web became more powerful, the digital divide between the haves and have-nots had grown wider.
“That’s always been the case,” he says. “Now working from home, and learning at home, have made it much more clear.”
He went on to say that government should be focusing on bringing fibre broadband and better mobile connections to rural areas.
“It should be a much higher priority of both businesses and government,” he said.
Sir Tim also expresses concern about misinformation and abuse on the web, particularly that aimed at young women. But he says the pandemic has offered the opportunity to think again about improving his creation for everyone.
“There’s a very positive energy about people fixing things, and building a better world,” he says.