World Wide Web Creator Tim Berners-Lee to Auction Web Source Code as NFT

Tim Berners-Lee, the creator of the Internet, is selling the source code of the original World Wide Web browser as a non-fungible token (NFT) in a historic one-off sale at Sotheby’s, the auction house has announced. The auction will include not just the original code written by the British computer scientist but also three other elements: a letter from him reflecting his thoughts on the Internet today, a digital poster (vector file), and a 30-minute black-and-white animated video depicting the code being written. The money received from the auction will go to the causes supported by Berners-Lee and his wife.

An NFT is a form of digital certificate of authenticity for the owner of an item. It does not necessarily include copyright control and has been widely criticised to be bad for the environment. But many people also support it as a great innovation that allowed digital art and other collectibles to be monetised.

In 1989, British computer scientist @timberners_lee invented the World Wide Web in a moment that changed the world forever. Now, Sir Tim will offer the source code for the Web as an NFT in a historic one-off sale. Thread below (1/4)#ThisChangedEverything pic.twitter.com/nYvBFrz0Zr

— Sotheby’s (@Sothebys) June 15, 2021

The unique NFT is composed of 4 elements: the original, time-stamped code files written by Sir Tim; an animated visualization of the code; a digital “poster” of the full code created by Sir Tim; and a letter written by Sir Tim reflecting on the code today. (2/4)

— Sotheby’s (@Sothebys) June 15, 2021

The files referenced by the NFT contain approximately 9,500 lines of code, including implementations of the 3 languages and protocols invented by Sir Tim that remain fundamental to the Web today: HTML, HTTP and URIs. (3/4)

— Sotheby’s (@Sothebys) June 15, 2021

Learn more before the auction, being led by our Head of Science & Popular Culture Cassandra Hatton (@the_lynx_eyed), before it opens for bidding on 23 June: https://t.co/znBA9ut1WU (4/4)

— Sotheby’s (@Sothebys) June 15, 2021

In a statement, Sotheby’s said that the auction is to be held from June 23 to June 30, with an opening bid of $1,000 (roughly Rs. 73,300).

“For me, the best bit about the Web has been the spirit of collaboration. While I do not make predictions about the future, I sincerely hope its use, knowledge, and potential will remain open and available to us all to continue to innovate, create and initiate the next technological transformation, that we cannot yet imagine,” Berners-Lee said.

When Berners-Lee invented the World Wide Web (WWW) while working at CERN, the European Particle Physics Laboratory, it was originally conceived and developed for automated information-sharing between scientists at universities and research organisations around the world. Later, CERN relinquished its rights over the technology in 1993. Since then, the Web has remained an open standard.