DIGITALWORLD
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This vision has been embraced in theUSby
the Obama administration. In Britain, Bern- ers-Lee is a key figure behind
Data.gov.uk, a UKproject to open up almost all data required for official purposes for free re-use. As appealing as the vision is for generating
more openness, trust and entrepreneurship, there is a reticence among bureaucrats to share this data. “What we found in governments we also
find in enterprises; wherever you go, people will find a reason not to give you
data.There is a natural human desire to control everything. “Some people deliberately release data as
PDFs or PNGs because they have a deliberate policy you can’t use that data – look at it but don’t use it.” Another excuse that tends to be used is the
quality of the data isn't good enough, which Berners-Lee described as a get-out clause or delaying tactic. “That’s for the data user in the end to de-
cide. Just decide no data is perfect. Once that disclaimer is out there then there is no reason for blaming someone, but give themkudos for what they dowith it.” Berners-Lee argued that keeping data se-
cure ismore expensive thanmaking it public and officials need to realise what can happen if data is freely available online. “Open data can change theway government
works, for example. Instead of traipsing around department to department looking for information, just access it online. The goal is to have the data available in a way that ismore powerful, linkable and usable.” He said the move to linkable data sets is a fundamental foun-
dation stone on the road to the semantic web – the internet of things. He also described Jobs’ decision not to putFlash on the iPhone
as a key moment that, contrary to his reputation as pushing closed systems, spearheaded the explosion in HTML 5 and even more open standards. He saidwe are nowin aworldwhere it is possible to access and
viewdata on a variety of platforms – smartphone screens, 3DTVs andmore. “Think about the processing power of theweb behind all these screens – peoplewill soon be able to do the sort of thing thatwillmakeMinorityReport look like child's play. “WithHTML5, everyweb page is becoming a computing plat-
form.”
PRIVACY AND OPEN DATA After his keynote, Berners-Lee spoke with journalists from all overEurope. In person he looks a lot younger than he is and fields questionswith enthusiasm.Hewas strident in his views that gov- ernments and enterprises should look to releasing data sets for the public good and to enable better business opportunities. But hewas equally strident that privacy, anonymity and human
rights must also be respected by govern- ments as they patrol the internet to combat terrorismand other online crimes. He said public and private organisations
‘In general,we have tomake sure that governments are not spying on the internet except for serious issues, like terrorism’
can release open data sets without compro- mising individuals’ privacy or anonymity or revealing other sensitive information. For example, data sets in healthcare can be analysed without revealing personal infor- mation or “violating patient rights”.He said providing some of the pieces of the jigsaw should be enough to allowpeople to develop the full picture, for example, analysing heart disease or cancer cases in a district and link- ing such data sets with genomic data sets. He noted that data licences that safeguard
privacy are essential. “But if you start doing things to de-anonymise the data, that’s not good.” He has nothing against government mon-
itoring of internet data as long as privacy is respected, he said. “In general, we have to make sure that governments are not spying on the internet except for serious issues, like terrorism. “Inmy book, a child stealing a song is not
a serious organised crime; governments should be focusing on terrorism, serious fraud and other serious crimes. “Governments must remember that
where data is stored it is like dynamite, it can reveal intimate details about individu-
als, could be used to blackmail and lead to coercion.” He said we need to avoid situations like the Middle East and
China,where government snooping on the internet use leads to incarceration. In relation to pressure from the recording industry and Hol-
lywood in the US and UK to create laws that deprive users of their internet access and France where HADOPI legislation al- lows for three-strikes rules, Berners-Lee said he disapproves of over-zealous laws. “Disconnecting an entire family fromthe internet andmaking
them lose their internet service, I think, is more than censor- ship – that is actually depriving somebody of their ability to com- municate. “In fact, if you offer people a choice between going to prison
but having access to the internet and being at homewithout ac- cess to the internet, they will choose the prison option. “It's a serious loss of liberty if you take away someone's internet ac- cess. People should write to their MPs or politicians and sign petitions. “In theUS,with SOPAand PIPA, people sawthese laws as an
attack on their rights. There was such an uproar, lawmakers hadn't seen anything like it. “Get out there.With ACTA in Europe, which was done with-
out consulting a lot of people, people took to the streets and jumped up and down and protested,” Berners-Lee said.
Issue 4 Spring/Summer 2012 INNOVATION IRELAND REVIEW 53
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