Former Senior Vice President of AOL and political activist Mark Walsh makes a convincing argument that the Internet is broken. He believes that as soon as people started making money on the Internet, things changed for the worse.

"We really thought that the Internet, or the 'interactive services business' as we called it back then, was going to change the world," Walsh said in a recent TED talk. "And we thought it was important that that sense of community, that sense of transparency, that sense of empowerment was really a set of core principles that all of us believed in...it really was a perfect time. But then the money showed up, and things changed...The internet is broken because of that money." Fortunately, not all of the powers from the dawn of the Internet think it's a lost cause.

Sir Tim Berners-Lee, widely regarded as the man who "invented the Internet," founded an international nonprofit group called the World Wide Web Foundation that officially launched global operations today. The Foundation's first projects focus on the very ideals Walsh believes were neglected when big money came into the Internet. Harnessing the Internet's power to create community, improve communication and empower individuals, the World Wide Web Foundation believes it can still be used as a force for positive change.

This week, the World Wide Web Foundation begins operations on two programs: The Web Alliance for Re-greening Africa (W4RA), and Empowering Youth in Inner Cities.

Read Full Article By Tim Conneally of Betanews