Web inventor says governments stifling net freedom

DAVOS, Switzerland (AFP) - The inventor of the World Wide Web warned on Friday that government control is limiting the possibilities of the Internet, as dozens of countries and businesses signed a cybersecurity deal at the Davos forum.

The comments by Mr Tim Berners-Lee at the World Economic Forum plugged into a wider debate among the delegates on the future of the Internet, particularly how to balance openness with privacy and security.

While Yahoo!'s chief Marissa Mayer told the forum there was a "trade off" between privacy and the benefits of increasingly personalised services offered by Internet giants, the network's founding father took up the ethical issues at stake.

"The dream is of a more open web," Mr Berners-Lee told the gathering in the Swiss ski resort, citing social media as a way of breaking down barriers.