Tim Berners-Lee and Tim Farron call for digital "Magna Carta" and "bill of rights"

Tim Berners-Lee, the inventor of the internet as we know it today has called for an online constitution. A shared document of principle that he has called a digital "Magna Carta". He is concerned about the web's neutrality, saying that it is under sustained attack from governments and corporations. An online "Magna Carta" would be a means to protect and enshrine the independence of the internet and the rights of its users. He said:

"Our rights are being infringed more and more on every side, and the danger is that we get used to it. So I want to use the 25th anniversary for us all to do that, to take the web back into our own hands and define the web we want for the next 25 years."

This call comes as part of the initiative 'the web we want.' This initiative calls on people to create a digital bill of rights in each country which should be supported by public institutions, government officials and corporations. Berners-Lee said:

"Unless we have an open, neutral internet we can rely on without worrying about what's happening at the back door, we can't have open government, good democracy, good healthcare, connected communities and diversity of culture. It's not naive to think we can have that, but it is naive to think we can just sit back and get it."

Tim Farron, the Liberal Democrat presiden, has called for a digital bill of rights in response to 'overreach by the state' after its imposition of 'blanket surveillance' of citizens. It would be a move for the people against the work of GCHQ by blocking the "bulk collection of data". A digital bill of rights would protect the public by guarding basic online freedoms from the "untrammelled power of the state". He said:

"The 1689 bill of rights codified the basic freedoms which we still enjoy today. As we live more of our lives online, we deserve to know that we also enjoy a similar level of freedom in what we do in cyberspace."

The site for 'the web we want' can be accessed here.

The psychology of internet trolls

Via Andrew Sullivan's The Dish here, research on Internet trolls has found that they are often Machiavellian sadists:

"The research, conducted by Erin Buckels of the University of Manitoba and two colleagues, sought to directly investigate whether people who engage in trolling are characterized by personality traits that fall in the so-called “Dark Tetrad”: Machiavellianism (willingness to manipulate and deceive others), narcissism (egotism and self-obsession), psychopathy (the lack of remorse and empathy), and sadism (pleasure in the suffering of others). 

It is hard to underplay the results: The study found correlations, sometimes quite significant, between these traits and trolling behavior. What’s more, it also found a relationship between all Dark Tetrad traits (except for narcissism) and the overall time that an individual spent, per day, commenting on the internet."

Today is Safer Internet Day 2014 - "Let’s create a better internet together"

Today is Safer Internet Day (@safeinternetday). Safer Internet Day is organised by Insafe in February of each year to promote the safe use of online technology and mobile phones, especially among children and young people across the world.

Check out the Safer Internet Day website to find out more here. Video above in full here.