---
title: "Why I gave the world wide web away for free"
url: https://daily.dev/posts/why-i-gave-the-world-wide-web-away-for-free-rqfapqdul
source_url: https://www.theguardian.com/technology/2025/sep/28/why-i-gave-the-world-wide-web-away-for-free
type: article
source: "Hacker News"
published: 2025-09-28T12:59:06.728Z
updated: 2025-09-28T12:59:29.856Z
tags: ["ai", "webdev", "privacy"]
reading_time: 6
upvotes: 19
comments: 1
language: en
---

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# Why I gave the world wide web away for free

**[Hacker News](https://daily.dev/sources/hn)** · 6 min read · 19 upvotes · 1 comments

## Summary

Tim Berners-Lee reflects on creating the World Wide Web and releasing it for free in 1993 to ensure universal access. He critiques how large platforms now harvest user data and calls for returning data ownership to individuals through technologies like Solid. Berners-Lee warns against repeating the same mistakes with AI governance and advocates for international collaboration similar to CERN to ensure AI serves individuals rather than monopolies.

## Full article

daily.dev links to this article rather than hosting it. Read it at the original source: <https://www.theguardian.com/technology/2025/sep/28/why-i-gave-the-world-wide-web-away-for-free>

## Community discussion

Top comments from developers on daily.dev.

**@byteoutlaw** · 1 upvotes

> We love you, Tim! We’ll do our best to show what the internet is truly capable of. Right now, we’re still in its infancy — it will get better, and yes, it will also get worse before it gets better again.

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---

Tags: [#ai](https://daily.dev/tags/ai), [#webdev](https://daily.dev/tags/webdev), [#privacy](https://daily.dev/tags/privacy)

[View this post on daily.dev](https://daily.dev/posts/why-i-gave-the-world-wide-web-away-for-free-rqfapqdul)