World Wide Web Foundation says web becoming less free, more unequal

A new report has said that the web is increasingly becoming less free and more unequal.

Indicating a rise in online censorship, a report prepared by the World Wide Web Foundation said that web users faced an increased risk of government surveillance with laws preventing mass snooping being weak or almost non-existent in over 84 percent countries, reported the BBC.

The World Wide Web Foundation, led by Sir Tim Berners-Lee, measured the web's contribution to the social, economic and political progress of 86 countries.

Almost 62 percent of the countries reported that the web played a significant role in sparking social or political action.

The report showed that nearly 74 percent countries lacked clear and effective net neutrality rules and showed evidence of traffic discrimination.

Anne Jellema, chief executive of the World Wide Web Foundation, and the lead author of the report, said that the wide chasm between the rich and the poor has been the defining challenge of the age and added that technology should be used to fight it, not increase it.

This was the first time that the report looked at net neutrality.

The report prompted Lee to call for net access to be recognized as a basic human right.