I was interested to read an article about one of the founders of the world wide web, Sir Tim Berners-Lee, where he raised concerns about todays Internet. "The fact that when information travels across the web it isn't interfered with, snooped or molested, is very important," said Berners-Lee at an event held to mark the 20th anniversary of the first proposal to create the web.

Berners-Lee was speaking about new products which can track a person's habits online and build up a profile from their activities. "That sort of snooping is really important to avoid," he said.

The British computer science professor, guru and founder of the Wolrd Wide Web Consortium (W3C), stated that information available online should be used transparently and for the specific purpose its owner intended or consented to, to avoid intrusive and unnecessary "snooping". He also mentioned, "Technologies are also coming that will be able to distinguish the appropriate use of data," underlining that the internet "is a cloud."

He refers to the current trend from internet firms which encourage users to rely on applications offered online as services "in the cloud" instead of buying software, installing and maintaining it independently and locally on their own machines.

I agree with his concerns about this trend toward cloud services and the worry about the privacy of data kept online. In a perfect world it would be nice to just rely on cloud services and not worry about whether it is wise to trust them or not. But, the internet is an imperfect place and laws and legislation don't appear to be able to keep up with what is happening online.

Berners-Lee also said personal users could look at ways to protect their privacy online like encrypted surfing but this has been notoriously slow and cumbersome and isn't cheap.

He said there were considerable risks of abuse of such histories of personal internet use, including the selling of personal profiles, using it to determine job applications and insurance premiums, and the danger of criminal predators choosing, stalking and targeting victims.

"The power of this information is so great that the commercial incentive for companies or individuals to misuse it will be huge," he said. "It is absolutely essential to have absolute clarity that it is illegal."

Perhaps it's time for a new Consortium, the W3CPC (World Wide Web Consumer Privacy Consortium).