Sir Tim Berners-Lee, the founder of the World Wide Web that determines how we all use the internet, is auctioning off the original source code for the web as an NFT.
An NFT, or non-fungible token, is made up of data stored on a blockchain digital ledger.
NFTs have proved controversial as the ‘ownership’ provided by them is separate from copyright, with some claiming that they only provide an illusion of ownership.
There has also been criticism of the environmental impact tied to the energy use required for blockchain transactions.
Sir Tim, though, said that it “feels right” for a computer scientist to use this medium and to digitally sign a “completely digital artefact”.
In a press release from Sotheby’s, the auction house handling the sale, he called NFTs the “latest playful creations” of the digital realm and called them “the most appropriate means of ownership” for something like his source code that underpinned the original World Wide Web.
Sir Tim invented the browser and hyperlink system
Sir Tim invented a new way of linking data contained on the early internet using hyperlinks.
He also made the first web browser and server, essentially inventing the main way that billions of people now access and use the internet in the process.
He first proposed his information management system in March 1989 and implemented a successful communication between a Hypertext Transfer Protocol (HTTP) client and server via the internet later that year.
By 1993, it was put in the open domain.
The digital assets being auctioned represent almost 10,000 lines of code and comprise four distinct items combined into a single NFT.
These items include the original files of source code, which are all time-stamped, an ‘animated visualisation’ and a ‘digital poster’ of the code, as well as a letter from Sir Tim himself.
Sotheby’s announced that the auction would take place over the course of a week later this month.
Sir Tim famously refused to monetise his creation, and the very first webpage declared that it was “aiming to give universal access to a large universe of documents”.
This will be the first time that he will make money directly from the invention of the World Wide Web, with the proceeds going to causes supported by Sir Tim and his wife Rosemary.
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