On Monday 20 September in New York City, Web Foundation representatives (including former UK Prime Minister and Web Foundation Director Gordon Brown and Web inventor Tim Berners-Lee), met with members of the Broadband Commission (including Rwanda’s President Kagame and ITU’s Secretary General Touré) and other knowledgeable people (see participants list below) to exchange principles and plans on how to accelerate the benefits of the Internet and Web for those who need it most.
The occasion was prompted by the presentation of the Broadband Commission’s report “The Future Built on Broadband” to the United Nations Secretary General. The report asserts the contribution that universal access to rapid Internet communications could make to addressing the UN’s Millennium Development Goals (MDG) and other social and economic imperatives, and outlines actions needed to achieve universal broadband access. Among other things, the Web Foundation sought to connect with the Commission, and explore what could be done in the near term to leverage existing infrastructure for public good, while building for a broadband future.
Web inventor and Web Foundation founder Tim Berners-Lee spoke last week at the Nokia World conference in London (see 