He called for measures to make ads easily distinguishable from the content of a web page. I find the practice of publishing ads that are indistinguishable from content unacceptable. It not only clouds the true message of the page, but also erodes consumer confidence in the website. The physicist, who built the first web server and browser in 1990 while working at European Particle Physics Laboratory in Geneva, runs a non-profit group, the World Wide Web Consortium, which aims to set technical standards on the web. He wants clear signs demarcating ads on a web page.
Newspapers insert a line saying an ad is an advertisement when it looks confusing.
I want to see something similar on a web page. Perhaps the mouse should change shape when it passes over an ad to alert you to the fact. In a swipe at Microsoft, Mr Berners-Lee singled out the Seattle company for attaching ads to emails sent by users of the successful Hotmail service. Internet advertising agencies were unmoved by the accusations. It is an irrelevant distinction, the ultimate judge of what is acceptable and what is not, is the end user.