World wide web code that changed the world up for auction

THE original source code for the world wide web that was written by its inventor, Tim Berners-Lee, is up for sale at Sotheby’s as part of a non-fungible token, with bids starting at just $1 000 (R13 758).

Berners-Lee, a London-born computer scientist, invented the world wide web in 1989, revolutionising the sharing and creation of information in what is seen as one of the most significant inventions since the printing press appeared in Europe in 15th century Germany.

The digitally signed Ethereum blockchain non-fungible token (NFT), a one-of-a-kind digital asset which records ownership, includes the original source code, an animated visualisation, a letter written by Berners-Lee and a digital poster of the full code from the original files.

NFTs have exploded in popularity, including at auction. A digital-only artwork by artist Mike Winkelmann, known as Beeple, sold for nearly $70 million at Christie’s in March.

“Why an NFT? Well, it’s a natural thing to do when you’re a computer scientist and when you write code and have been for many years,” Berners-Lee said in a statement. “It feels right to digitally sign my autograph on a completely digital artefact.”

The files contain 9 555 lines of code including implementations of the three languages and protocols invented by Berners-Lee: HTML (Hypertext Markup Language), HTTP (Hypertext Transfer Protocol), and URIs (Uniform Resource Identifiers). | Reuters