The World Wide Web is on the cusp of making its next big leap to become an open environment for collaboration, and its inventor said he has not been so optimistic in years.

Still, Tim Berners-Lee, the Briton who invented and then gave away the World Wide Web, warns that Internet crime and anticompetitive behavior must be fought tooth and nail.

A lot of new technology is becoming available after many years to make the Web smarter and easier to use, he said.

"My personal view is that a lot of it is coming together now. That is very gratifying to see ... I'm very optimistic at this moment," Berners-Lee said in a telephone interview ahead of the annual World Wide Web conference, which opens in Edinburgh on Monday.

"The whole industrial environment is more exciting. We had the bubble and the burst, but now you see a lot of young companies again. There's renewed enthusiasm among VCs (venture capitalists) to invest in start-ups. I get a feeling of upsurge in activity."

Roughly twice as much money is being invested in European Internet start-ups than the figure two years ago, according to venture capitalist community Tornado-Insider.

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Net neutrality issues
Berners-Lee is no fan, however, of fenced-off Web areas specially designed for mobile devices such as the new .mobi suffix. He wants Web sites and devices to be smart enough to figure out what the best way is to present information to consumers.

He is also concerned that some Internet providers in the United States have started to filter data, giving priority to premium data for which the operator receives an additional fee. They can do this because they own the cables, the service, the portals and other key applications.

"The public will demand an open Internet," he said.

On his blog, Berners-Lee pays homage to the designers of the Internet who decided that all data packets were created equal. "I tried then to make the Web technology, in turn, a universal, neutral platform."

Another element of concern to Berners-Lee is "spam in general and particularly phishing," referring to criminals trying to fish for credit card details and other private data.

Web sites have to be much clearer in showing consumers that they are safe, he said.

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timbl's blog