Father of the web scolds 'hypocritical' West over spying

The British inventor of the world wide web accused Western governments of hypocrisy in spying on the internet while lecturing repressive leaders across the world for doing exactly the same. Tim Berners-Lee, a London-born computer scientist who invented the web in 1989 as the Berlin Wall crumbled, said the West was involved in "insidious" online spying that could change the way normal people use their computers.

"In the Middle East, people have been given access to the internet but they have been snooped on and then they have been jailed," Berners-Lee, 58, told The Times newspaper in an interview. "It can be easy for people in the West to say 'oh, those nasty governments should not be allowed access to spy.' But it's clear that developed nations are seriously spying on the internet," he said.