Although web 3.0 is gaining a lot of attention and is expected to bring sweeping changes to the industry and society, few people know the reasons behind it. It’s important to look back at web 2.0 and Web 1.0 predecessors in order to understand what it means.
Web 1.0 was not named until it died, just like in the Middle Ages. The “World Wide Web”, as it was called, was a collection of static websites that provided information but no interactive content. Connecting was as simple as dialing through slow modems, and preventing anyone from using your phone. It was the internet of AOL chat rooms, MSN messenger, AltaVista, and Ask Jeeves. It was frustratingly slow. What about streaming videos and music? Forget it. It would take you at most a day to download a song.
Then came 2.0
The era of slow internet speeds and boring interfaces is long gone. Interactive content was possible thanks to faster internet speeds. The web is no longer about watching, but about being involved. Global information sharing spawned the age known as ‘Social Media. Youtube, Wikipedia, and Flickr were able to give voice to the voiceless and provided a way for like-minded communities and individuals to flourish.
This blog post is now published in a matter of 30 seconds. That’s a huge improvement over the time it took to edit a website. This is the ‘Read-Write-Publish’ era, where information spreads as easily as three words. It begs the question: Web 2.0 is awesome, but what went wrong?
Information about money
According to the UN, internet users grew from 738 million people to 3.2 billion between 2000 and 2015. This is a huge amount of data, and personal information, as the big digital corporations discovered, is a highly valuable asset. The mass stockpiling began in large numbers on centralized servers with Amazon, Facebook, and Twitter being the largest custodians. These services were convenient and people sacrificed security in exchange for convenience. Whether they realized it or not, their browsing habits, search history, and information about online shopping were sold to the highest bidder.
The 3.0 revolution
Web 2.0 enthusiasts were already planning a successor by this point. They imagined that the next web would be a nostalgic version of web 1.0, with more privacy and more human interaction. Instead of concentrating power and data in the hands of obscenely powerful behemoths with questionable motives, it would be returned to its rightful owners.
Although the vision of a more fair and transparent web was first realized in 2006, it wasn’t possible to realize its potential until then. Three years after its creation, Bitcoin brought with it the idea of a distributed ledger or blockchain for peer-to-peer digital storage. Blockchain was the way. Decentralization was the idea. We now have what we call the human-centered internet.
The anti-monopoly, pro-privacy web
Web 2.0 revolutionized many power structures and created new ones. New Opportunities The economic engine is heavily privatized and monopolized. Facebook, Uber, and Airbnb created private networks for the public infrastructure that they control. Web 3.0 is a contradiction to this. It’s all about multiple profit centers creating value through an open network.
It is easy to imagine a future in which crypto-based phones, VPNs, decentralized storage, and cryptocurrency wallets will be commonplace. Future without network and cellular providers who suspend or monitor our data. These tools are essential if we want to avoid falling asleep in a privacy dystopia like Black Mirror. Web 3.0 has many benefits:
No central control: Blockchains such as Ethereum remove middlemen from the equation. They provide a trustless platform that is unbreakable and fully encrypted. Alphabet or Apple will not have access to user data. Sites and services will not be destroyed by any government or other entity. Individuals cannot also control their identities.
Data ownership: End users will have complete control over data and the security of encryption. The information can then be shared in permission and case-by-case manner. Amazon and Facebook, two of the largest companies, have huge servers that store information about dietary preferences, income, and credit card details. The data is not just used to improve their services, but also by advertisers and marketers who pay billions of dollars each year.
Data breaches and hacks will decrease dramatically: Hackers would have to shut down the entire network as data is distributed and decentralized. State-sponsored tools like Vault7 that are used by three-letter agencies would also be obsolete. Internet companies currently have to give user data to the government or submit it to an exhaustive database review. Data intrusions don’t only concern major security threats like terrorism. In 2017, Coinbase sued the IRS for requesting access to the data of more than 15,000 customers.
Coinbase ultimately lost the case: This allowed government agencies to access the financial records of thousands of customers without any justification. These cases are not uncommon. In 2013, Lavabit, a secure email provider, chose to shut down instead of giving its SSL keys to the US government in order to spy on Edward Snowden.
Interoperability: Applications will be simple to customize and can run on any device, including smartphones, televisions, cars, microwaves, smart sensors, and TVs. Applications are currently OS-specific and limited to one operating system. Many Android cryptocurrency wallets are not available on iOs. This frustrates consumers who use multiple devices. Developers who have to issue multiple versions and updates of their software will incur additional costs.
Permissionless blockchains are available to anyone: Anyone can create an account and interact with the network. It is impossible to overestimate the power of permissionless chains. Geographical, income, gender, orientation, and a host of other sociological or demographic factors will not prevent users from accessing permissionless chains. Wealth and other digital assets are easily and quickly transferable across borders, from any part of the world.
Uninterrupted Service: The chances of account suspension or distributed denial are greatly reduced. Service disruptions will be minimal because there is no single point of failure. To ensure redundancy, data will be stored on multiple nodes. Multiple backups will also prevent server failure or seizure.
How will it work?
As with any emerging technology, it is still being developed. Access to the decentralized internet will be possible with a single seed. This single asset will allow interaction with dApps and other services. Individuals will still be able to access the internet using a web browser, but it will be Web 2.0 friendly.
The learning curve between 2.0 and 3.0 appears to be very gentle. However, behind the scenes, there is a vastly different framework that connects users to digital services. To prevent any platforms from stealing personal information, transactions are manually signed and verified. Web-users will opt in rather than try to opt out, which is often unsuccessful.
· We have alternatives to Google Drive and Dropbox. Services like Siacoin, Filecoin, or IPFS technology can be used to store and distribute files.
· We have Experty.io instead of Skype.
· Status is an alternative to Wechat and WhatsApp.
· Frameworks like Essentia. one or EOS are a gateway to the future web and replace operating systems like Android and iOS.
· Akasha and Steemit will assume the role of Facebook. The Brave browser will replace Chrome. Ethlance will take over from Upwork.
These are only a few examples. New platforms will emerge as the Web 3.0 revolution takes hold. They will offer a healthy amount of competition that is not hampered by monopolistic service providers. It is likely that the best dApps or decentralized services that we use in three years are only a glimmer of an eye for developers.
This is the basic idea: currently, Web 3.0’s decentralized apps, wallets, and platforms are scattered. These interfaces require separate logins and identities, as well as seeds, and logins. This is similar to Web 2.0. Web 3.0 will connect these disparate platforms via one seed. This will function as an encrypted key that can associate with its owner. Web 3.0 will provide proof that the individual is authentic, but not divulge more information than necessary.
Web 2.0 did not automatically kill Web 1.0, but it is still available in some places. The transition to 3.0 will require integration with existing online systems and time. The wheels are already in motion, and the train is leaving the station. Web 3.0 is a revolution in motion. We are at the end of our road.
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