“Every young person who cannot connect represents a missed opportunity for new ideas and innovations that could serve humanity,” lamented Tim Berners-Lee, creator of the World Wide Web (WWW), and Rosemary Leith, co-founder of the Web Foundation in a manifesto with which they want to highlight the importance of Internet access to build a better future for all.

On the occasion of the 32nd anniversary of the Web, which took place on March 12, Berners-Lee and Leith reflected on what the Web means to young people today, and its power as a “catalyst for change” to “create a better and fairer future.”

Only 33 % of children and those under 25 years of age in the world can access the Internet from their home, according to Unicef ​​data, which leaves more than 2.2 billion people in that age group without the possibility of connecting.

In order to bring the Internet to the whole world, they have calculated, through the Alliance for Affordable Internet, that it would take 428,000 million dollars in more than ten years (about 116 dollars per person) to provide quality broadband connection to the 3.7 billion people who are currently offline.

“The consequences of this exclusion affect everyone,” they warn, and assure in their manifesto that “as we did with electricity last century, we must recognize Internet access as a basic right and we must work to ensure that all young people can connect to a network that empowers them to shape their world.”

Source: dpa

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