"The most important thing that was new was the idea of URI-or URL, that any piece of information anywhere should have an identifier, which will allow you to get hold of it"
About this Quote
The intent is almost utopian in its plainness: give “any piece of information anywhere” a name, and you reduce friction between minds. Identifiers let strangers collaborate without negotiating bespoke directories, proprietary gateways, or institutional permissions. The subtext is a preference for openness over gatekeeping. If everything can be pointed to, nothing needs to be hoarded behind a single system’s internal map. The Web becomes less a product and more a shared grammar.
Context matters: late-1980s computing was a patchwork of incompatible networks, file paths, and databases. Finding something often meant knowing the right machine, the right protocol, the right person. Berners-Lee’s insight cuts through that parochialism with a single abstraction: an identifier that travels. It also foreshadows today’s fights. When URLs rot, platforms swallow links, or apps trap content behind opaque IDs, we’re not just losing convenience; we’re breaking the Web’s founding promise that information can be publicly referenced. In that sense, the quote reads like both origin story and warning label.
Quote Details
| Topic | Internet |
|---|---|
| Source | Help us find the source |
| Cite |
Citation Formats
APA Style (7th ed.)
Berners-Lee, Tim. (2026, January 18). The most important thing that was new was the idea of URI-or URL, that any piece of information anywhere should have an identifier, which will allow you to get hold of it. FixQuotes. https://fixquotes.com/quotes/the-most-important-thing-that-was-new-was-the-11499/
Chicago Style
Berners-Lee, Tim. "The most important thing that was new was the idea of URI-or URL, that any piece of information anywhere should have an identifier, which will allow you to get hold of it." FixQuotes. January 18, 2026. https://fixquotes.com/quotes/the-most-important-thing-that-was-new-was-the-11499/.
MLA Style (9th ed.)
"The most important thing that was new was the idea of URI-or URL, that any piece of information anywhere should have an identifier, which will allow you to get hold of it." FixQuotes, 18 Jan. 2026, https://fixquotes.com/quotes/the-most-important-thing-that-was-new-was-the-11499/. Accessed 16 Feb. 2026.
