London (CNN Business) Tim Berners-Lee, the inventor of the world wide web, has warned of a "digital dystopia" if the world fails to tackle threats such as disinformation and invasion of privacy.

Berners-Lee, a British computer scientist who submitted his first proposal for an "information management system" in 1989, has reiterated his call for a Contract for the Web , urging governments, companies and individuals to safeguard it by implementing nine key principles.

These proposals, made by Berners-Lee's World Wide Web Foundation, aim to stem the rise of online threats.

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Ahead of a conference in Berlin Monday, Berners-Lee tweeted a warning of the risks faced.

He wrote: "If we fail to defend the free and open web, we risk a digital dystopia of entrenched inequality and abuse of rights."