The internet needs to be free of central control in order to allow it to grow, according to Tim Berners-Lee, who played a major role in the development of the internet and is currently director of the World Wide Web Consortium.Mobile internet technology must use the same standards as the internet, the technology expert suggested.
His comments came while addressing a crowd at the opening day of the Mobile Internet World conference, which took place in Boston this week. His speech, titled 'Escaping the Walled Garden: Growing the Mobile Web with Open Standards', was heard by a packed audience at the Hynes Convention Centre.
"The web is an open platform on which you build other things. That's how you get this innovation," he remarked.
"The web is universal: you can run it on any hardware, on any operating system, it can be used by people of different languages [...] It's a sandbox where people can [play and] exercise their creativity."
Mr Berners-Lee also highlighted the importance of keeping the web universal as the internet begins to merge with mobile technology.
Later on in his speech, he alluded to the rise of social networking sites such as Facebook and MySpace, saying the opportunity to be able to list friends is more important to internet users than the web pages and documents themselves.
Other delegates speaking at the event include Greg Clayman, executive vice president of digital distribution and business development at MTV Networks, Jack Dziak, senior vice president of corporate strategy at Sprint Nextel, and Larry Weber, chairman and founder of W2 Group.
