The man we all have to thank for inventing the Internet, Sir Tim Berners-Lee, has declared that the World Wide Web is facing a “major” threat from people who are trying to control it on the sly.

According to Berners, that includes laws such as SOPA, the US anti-piracy act and the actions of Internet giants, the Telegraph reports.

“If you can control the Internet, if you can start tweaking what people say, or intercepting communications, it’s very, very powerful…it’s the sort of power that if you give it to a corrupt government, you give them the ability to stay in power forever,” he said.

His declarations come as news about the NSA PRISM project came to light regarding the collection of huge amounts of personal information by companies such as Google, Facebook, Microsoft, Apple and others.

Reports also show that some British organizations have been running a covert operation with America’s top spy agencies, meaning that they’ve been getting information through PRISM since at least June 2010.

“Unwarranted government surveillance is an intrusion on basic human rights that threatens the very foundations of a democratic society,” the World Wide Web inventor said.

He further urged Internet users to demand an increased legal protection and process safeguards for the privacy of their online communications. That includes, he said, their right to be informed when someone requests or stores their data.

A few days ago, it was revealed that the NSA, a U.S. organization, has been secretly collecting private data for years in the hopes of heading off terrorist attacks.

The NSA director confirmed the news, but blamed the media for uncovering the truth about the project, saying that it would make things difficult from now on to defend the country.

The U.S. president also defended the project. Under these circumstances, companies that have been linked to PRISM, such as Google, Facebook, Apple and Microsoft, have been denying any involvement.