Father of the web gets IT honour

The father of the web, Sir Tim Berners-Lee, is certainly not short of plaudits - but last night he had yet another reason to feel proud.

The famed techie, who founded and directs MIT's World Wide Web Consortium (W3C), was awarded the 'Freedom of the Information Technologists' by the City of London's 100th livery company, the Information Technologists' Company.

In addition to promoting the IT profession, the Information Technologists' Company engages in charitable and educational activities around tech. The master of the company, John Leighfield, praised Berners-Lee's work on the development of the W3C web standards - singling out his awareness of "social responsibility" for particular praise.

Speaking at the presentation dinner in London, Berners-Lee said he was "honoured" to receive an award from an organisation that does "so much to bring the benefits of technology into the lives of the disadvantaged".

He added: "In my view, the power of the web is in its universality. Access by everyone, regardless of disability, is an essential aspect of this... I firmly believe it is the task of scientists and technologists to be aware of, and be responsible for, the social implications of their work."

silicon.com has also recognised the achievements of Sir Tim - he has made it onto all but one of our Agenda Setters lists of the 50 most influential individuals in tech since it started in 2000. Next week we unveil 2006's list - watch this space to see if Berners-Lee has made the grade again this year.