Mobile Internet World 2007

World Wide Web Consortium (W3C) director Tim Berners-Lee, speaking on the opening day of Mobile Internet World, said the mobile Internet needs to be a full and complete version of the Internet with open standards and free of central control. "It's very important to keep the Web universal as we merge the Internet with mobile," Berners-Lee said during his speech titled "Escaping the Walled Garden: Growing the Mobile Web With Open Standards." The "walled garden" refers to today's cable TV and cellular data networks that require consumers to use devices authorized by the carrier and restrict access to approved content and services. Internet subscribers using an ISP can access independent movies on any site, Berners-Lee said, but consumers using a cable TV company acting as an ISP may find such sites blocked because the cable company wants subscribers to choose pay-per-view movies. The W3C launched the Mobile Web Initiative two years ago to create standards that facilitate access to the Web through handheld devices over wireless connections. "An open platform means using standards," Berners-Lee said. "The mobile Internet must use the same standards as the Internet. When you erect a wall around a garden, we know now all the flowers bloom outside the wall, not inside."