We're #ForTheWeb

The World Wide Web is 30 years old today. It was born on Tim Berners-Lee‘s NeXT computer at CERN, and in a proposal published in March 1989.

To mark the birthday, Tim Berners-Lee and others at the World Wide Web Foundation have published a Contract for the Web, a set of principles designed to “protect the open web as a public good and a basic right for everyone.”

Sounds like a good idea to us.

A contract worth signing

Our definition of digital is:

“Applying the culture, processes, business models and technologies of the internet era to respond to people’s raised expectations.”

The web is the backbone for all of that. The web defines that culture; it created the processes and business models; it is the primary technology of the internet era. The web changed all of our lives, personally and professionally.

The web was born with a set of values that emerged alongside that culture. Those values have been eclipsed in recent years, with the growth of huge internet companies capable of influencing markets and politics. The Web Foundation’s contract is more than just writing down some of the unwritten rules; it’s a statement of intent, something that others can actively declare support for.

We’re supporting the Web Foundation’s work, and we’re signing the Contract for the Web because we fully support and stand by its 9 principles. We will encourage all our clients and partners to do the same. In summary, those principles are:

Governments will

• Ensure everyone can connect to the internet
• Keep all of the internet available, all of the time
• Respect people’s fundamental right to privacy

Companies will

• Make the internet affordable and accessible to everyone
• Respect consumers’ privacy and personal data
• Develop technologies that support the best in humanity and challenge the worst

Citizens will

• Be creators and collaborators on the web
• Build strong communities that respect civil discourse and human dignity
• Fight for the web

The tweet that Tim Berners-Lee sent out during the London 2012 Olympic opening ceremony inspired us, and inspired iterations of the government design principles that had only been first published weeks before by the team at GDS: “This is for everyone.”

We’re for the web, because the web is for all of us.