VP9 engineer Ronald Bultje speaks at Google I/O 2013. (Credit: Stephen Shankland/CNET) SAN FRANCISCO — Google is nearly done with its VP9 video technology, and it wants the world to use it. At its Google I/O conference Wednesday, company employees made the case for the royalty-free, open-source technology as a higher-quality alternative to today’s dominant video codec, H.264.

Its chief executive claims it has more users than Twitter. It’s rumored to have just rebuffed a $1 billion buyout offer from Google. So what’s up with WhatsApp

The idea that anyone is controlling the Internet runs contrary to common knowledge. The Web has a tradition of hosting free content with relatively little government or regulatory interference, and is today backed by a fervent army of supporters ready to defend a free and open platform. And in celebration of 20 years of a free World Wide Web, research laboratory CERN recently restored the world’s first website: http://info.cern.ch/.