TAIPEI (Taiwan News) — Japan’s Fujitsu Corporation and Keio University released on Thursday (Oct. 13), a white paper outlining a proposal for a more “Trustable Internet.”

They aim to facilitate a layered approach to internet access by ensuring the source, legitimacy, and security of information on the web. 

One of the heads of the project, Murai Jun (村井純), discussed his vision for a more accessible and trustworthy internet apparatus earlier this year on TaiwanPlus, in an interview with Taiwan’s Minister of Digital Affairs, Audrey Tang (唐鳳).

Professor Murai is known as the “Father of the Internet” in Japan for the work he did in the 1980s to create an inter-university web network. Throughout his career, he has been a consistent voice for the ethical use and development of the internet, in Japan and across the globe.

Professor Murai Jun in June, 2020. (Wikimedia Commons image)

This year, with his colleagues at Keio University, including Professor Nakamura Osamu, and Professor Shigeya Suzuku, and others, Murai helped to develop a prototype for a “layered” system of web access. The white paper released this week proposes an “endorsement layer,” which will help to verify the source and authenticity of data requested by an end user.

Keio University and Fujitsu announced that they will begin developing technologies that will incorporate a layered access approach to the internet. The research center, termed the Trusted Internet Architecture Laboratory, aims for “Endorsement Layer” capable apps and internet browser functions to be available to internet users by 2028.

From the press release:

Trustable Internet will enable users to confirm the credibility of various data on the Internet. (It will) enable users to judge the credibility of data from a variety of perspectives to ultimately prevent the use of unverified data and the spread, unintentional or otherwise, of false and unverified information.

Murai lays out his philosophy and thoughts on the future of the internet, wireless communication, and information security in his interview on "Innovative Minds," with Audrey Tang.

On the program, the two discuss different aspects of the internet and also speculate about where future developments may lead. The interview, filmed in July 2022, is available to view on the TaiwanPlus website.