At 30, World Wide Web ‘not the web we wanted,’ its inventor says

Cambridge-based World Wide Web inventor Tim Berners-Lee took part in an event marking 30 years of the World Wide Web near Geneva. Fabrice COFFRINI/POOL/AFP/Getty Images/AFP/Getty Images

GENEVA (AP) — At its ripe old age of 30 and with half the globe using it, the World Wide Web is facing growing pains with issues like hate speech, privacy concerns and state-sponsored hacking, its creator says.

Cambridge-based Tim Berners-Lee joined a celebration Tuesday of the Web and reminisced about where he invented it — at CERN, the European Organization for Nuclear Research — beginning with a proposal published on March 12, 1989.

The 63-year-old Englishman is calling on governments, companies and citizens to work together, and wants the web to become more accessible to those who aren’t online.

Speaking at a ‘‘Web@30’’ conference, Berners-Lee acknowledged that for those who are online, ‘‘the web is not the web we wanted in every respect.’’