"Contract for the Web" First Draft Published

In November 2018, Sir Tim Berners-Lee announced a project to build a new Contract for the Web that would bring governments, companies and citizens together around a shared set of commitments to build a better web.

A group of organisations set out to build this contract with the conviction that the web will only live up to its potential if a diverse set of actors, each with different roles and interests, work together to make it happen.

Today the first draft text for the Contract for the Web has been published. This document is the first iteration of what will become the final contract, due to launch at the end of 2019. It will evolve in the coming weeks and months as those drafting the contract continue to negotiate the final text.

your feedback  is needed to help inform this process. Just as the contract includes responsibilities for governments and companies, it asks citizens too to make commitments. We’ve had over 8,000 individuals pledge their support for the contract principles — now we need to hear from you on the first draft of the full contract.

This survey is your opportunity to share your views on the first draft Contract for the Web.

While many agreements and declarations stop at high-level principles, the detail included in this draft makes clear that the Contract for the Web will go further. More than delivering a statement of ideals, it will offer a roadmap of responsibilities and provide clear policy guidelines for companies and governments as well as actions for citizens to participate actively and positively on the web.

To arrive at this point, five working groups have spent months building out the contract’s nine founding principles into clauses that will drive progress across several focus areas. A core group, responsible for stewarding the contract, consolidated their work to produce this first draft.