[Chapter-delegates] press release: World Wide Web's 20th Birthday Highlights Value Of Open Internet

[Gerard Ross]

Hello everyone

For your reference, here is a press release that we will be issuing  
shortly.

Regards
- Gerard

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Press release - for immediate distribution
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WORLD WIDE WEB'S 20TH BIRTHDAY HIGHLIGHTS VALUE OF OPEN INTERNET

Geneva, Switzerland - 12 March 2009 - As the inventor of the World  
Wide Web returns to Geneva for the twentieth birthday of his creation,  
the Internet Society celebrates both his achievement and the open,  
standardised Internet platform that made it possible.

Tim Berners-Lee, helped change the course of history by inventing the  
World Wide Web, while working at the CERN physics laboratory in  
Geneva, 20 years ago. What some may not realise is that the Internet  
itself had at that time already been running for more than 15 years.

"People often confuse the Internet and the Web," explains Lynn  
St.Amour, President and CEO of the Internet Society. "The Internet is  
a vast network of networks, interconnected in many different physical  
ways, yet all speaking a common language, specified by standardised  
protocols. The Web is one - albeit, the most influential and well  
known - of many different applications which run over the Internet."

Part of the genius of the Internet is that it allows anyone to create  
new applications and to deploy them without needing the permission of  
any central authority. It achieves this through a unique model of  
development, relying on inclusive processes and open, freely  
accessible standards. This has become known as the Internet Model, and  
it has always been crucial in bringing to fruition the vision of the  
Internet's founders for globally interconnected and accessible  
information.

"The great achievement of Tim Berners-Lee was to recognise the power  
and potential in the Internet," said Ms St.Amour. "In many ways, the  
extraordinary success of the Web illustrates the value of the  
Internet's robust, open model of development and use."

"The 'killer applications' like the Web, email, and instant messaging  
have certainly played a huge part in bringing the Internet into the  
popular consciousness and establishing it as vital to so many aspects  
of modern life and business. The Internet Model makes that possible,  
by allowing innovators like Berners-Lee to create, develop, and turn  
their visions into reality. The success of the Web and the many other  
Internet applications in turn enriches the Internet and increases its  
value for people everywhere," she said.


About the Internet Society
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The Internet Society is an international, non-profit organisation  
founded in 1992 to provide leadership in Internet related standards,  
education, and policy. With offices in Washington, DC, and Geneva,  
Switzerland, it is dedicated to ensuring the open development,  
evolution, and use of the Internet for the benefit of people  
throughout the world.


Further details
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Gerard Ross
Senior Communications Manager, Internet Society
E-mail: ross at isoc.org
Telephone: +41-228-071-444 x2261
4, rue des Falaises
CH-1205-Geneva
Switzerland


Greg Wood
Senior Communications Manager, Internet Society
E-mail: wood at isoc.org
Telephone: +1-703-439-2120 x2145
1775 Wiehle Avenue
Suite 201
Reston, VA
20190-5108 U.S.A.