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Founder of the World Wide Web, Sir Tim Berners-Lee, has shared his vision of the future and hopes it can be even better than the current Web3 speculation.
Originally created as a platform for online collaboration, communication, and data exchange for scientists, the first website was created for CERN researchers and established the standards that are still used today, such as URLs, HTTP, and HTML.
The internet hit the public as it entered the Web2 phase, which paved the way for apps and mobile platforms. It also saw the introduction of the cloud that underpins much of today’s computing.
Web3 and solid
Berners-Lee is now working on a new data sharing standard called Solid that will support identity management tools such as global single sign-on (SSO), global access control, and human-centric universal APIs.
Firm (opens in new tab) was set up to challenge the idea that revenue for the web should come primarily from advertising, rather than emphasizing privacy. The idea is that users can share their data in interoperable, decentralized data repositories called “Pods.”
To commercialize the project, Berners-Lee is working on a company called Inrupt, which is made up of investors, entrepreneurs, developers and academics. The company says (opens in new tab) that it is aimed at”[put] individuals who have control over their data, [give] organizations new opportunities to create value for customers, and [allow] developers to thrive in an open marketplace of innovation.”
According to Venture Beat (opens in new tab), Berners-Lee already uses Solid to store its own data, including bank statements, documents, photos, music, IoT data, and training data. In this case, he would access his data through a Mac Mini.
He believes the significance of this new era could be greater than the first iteration, with huge security benefits for personal customers as well as government and healthcare institutions.