W3C focus on privacy, not security By Reuters Special to CNET NEWS.COM April 15, 1998, 8:25 a.m. PT BRISBANE, Australia--Concerns about the security of messages transmitted on the Internet are no longer valid, the founder of the World Wide Web Tim Berners-Lee said today. However, Berners-Lee told the Seventh International World Wide Web Conference that privacy of information about users was still a top priority for the international World Wide Web Consortium (W3C), an organization that oversees the use of the Internet. "I am very concerned about privacy aspects of the use of the Web at the moment," he said. The W3C is working on a Platform for Privacy Preference (P3P), which will allow Web users to dictate how much information is collected by Internet providers about what sites they visit, what purchases they make, and other Web habits, Berners-Lee added. Berners-Lee, who is a W3C director, told the conference in Brisbane that security on the Internet is now more of a problem for governments because individuals can communicate in secret. Cryptography is very, very strong so there are many ways of sending information across the Internet, according to Berners-Lee, as reported on Australian Broadcasting's Web site. "So really it's impossible for somebody else to find out what you're saying," he said. "In fact, the biggest problem with applying security isn't that the technology isn't strong enough, it's that governments are so frightened of it." "They're very frightened of consumers or terrorists being able to communicate equally well in a secret way," Berners-Lee noted. The Web inventor said he is against organizations or governments who seek to regulate or censor the Internet, saying Web technology tries not to force a particular policy or view on its users. I believe if somebody is going to decide what a child should see, then it's a good idea for that person to be a parent," he said, pointing to technology that allows children to be locked out of certain sites. -o- Subscribe: mail majordomot_private with "subscribe isn". Today's ISN Sponsor: Dimensional Communications (www.dim.com)
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