Save over 40% when you secure your tickets today to TNW Conference 💥 Prices will increase on November 22 →

This article was published on May 7, 2015

Watch now: A new approach to building a knowledge economy


The dream of the internet is making universal access to all knowledge. How can that be achieved?

Brewster Kahle, the founder of the Internet Archive, wants to enable universal access to knowledge by collecting physical books. While libraries are throwing away their books in large quantities, the Internet Archive collects them and digitalize 1,500 books a day. It’s also collecting CDs of music available online and even television content, by recording American TV news.

We’ve just added Brewster Kahle’s talk from the TNW Europe Conference 2014 to our TNW Video site and you can watch it right now for free.

Brewster Kahle believes in the hidden power of non-profits.  The law often does not help the mass population because it focuses more on the interests of the elite. On the other hand, nonprofits are not driven by money, but by mission. “Mission drive” is an important factor in making something last a long time. An added benefit of this, Kahle says, is that people trust nonprofits more. One of the most successful websites, Wikipedia, is also a nonprofit organization.

The movement towards non-profit can also be seen in software development. Companies are increasingly open-sourcing code and moving towards open software.

Why does Kahle want non-profits to run apartment buildings and banks? And what is the solution to copyright issues inherited from the 20th century? Watch the video to find out.

Get the TNW newsletter

Get the most important tech news in your inbox each week.