Web 3.0- the next breakthrough for the Internet
The internet that we are using today has been through a series of revolutions making it the interactive medium it is today. Mankind began with the world wide web back in 1989, when Tim Burners-Lee introduced the Web, with three basic innovations associated with it: “the Web of documents (Web 1.0), the Web of people (Web 2.0), and the Web of data (the still-to-be-realized Web 3.0)” [1]. The British Computer Scientist, the former CERN employee, initially proposed the World Wide Web to have better communication within CERN but quickly realized that it could be used for the entire world. This led to the birth of Web 1.0.
According to Berners-Lee, it was a “read-only” web with very little interaction with the consumer- it was very passive. It consisted of static pages and was used for content delivery only. Web 1.0 lasted till 2005 and this was then followed by the next generation of the web- Web 2.0. It was defined by Dale Doughtery in 2004 as the read-write web. The main difference between this and Web 1.0. was the platform for interaction and participation it provided. Previously users could just read, however, this time they could be the creators. A person could vlog about his day in Pakistan and a person in Canada can view it with ease- it harbored a more interpersonal connection between communities across the globe.
However, was this enough, was this safe? Putting yourself and your information out there globally is really under your control or is it in the hands of a few huge tech magnates currently running the internet, and through that, our lives. Well, it is hard to imagine a world where we don’t have Google, Amazon, Facebook, and many more platforms similar to this. This is where Web 3.0. comes in.
It is termed as the ‘Semantic Web’ or a ‘Web of Data’. The idea behind it is that it understands, combines, and interprets data on its own to provide a much more advanced and enhanced experience. However, its main attraction lies elsewhere. Web 3.0. allows for a switch in ownership- from giant, centralized repositories to the individual itself. It aims to carry it out through something known as the “Peer to Peer technology” using Blockchain technology.
Currently, when we access the web, we use the HTTP protocol to access information that is stored at a fixed location, a single server. In contrast, this system plans on getting information based on content, which in turn could be stored at various locations, and not at one particular location. The idea is to store content on blockchain, rather than servers. Hence, all computers can provide services and can also access them- this is the ‘peer to peer connectivity’.
The web of today makes money mainly in two ways, either through subscriptions or through advertisements. These involve middle parties and micropayments, however, with Blockchain users can do direct payments through tokens. This already allows for more freedom relative to Web 2.0. A major issue in Web 3.0., however, stems from the concept of censorship. If there is no central authority to manage content, how will we have a safer internet, one without illegal content? This is one of the main hurdles as of now.
Nevertheless, this internet would allow us to break the monopoly of Internet companies and allow for a fairer internet for all. It will allow people to be in control of their data, and their information would not be in the hands of private organizations or the government, as it will be stored in a way that is not easy to access by third parties. Although, there is no denying the fact that Web 3.0. carries its own sets of issues, however, the current dire situation calls out for a safer internet where at the end of the day we can trust that our privacy is not being breached- a very fundamental human right!
[1]https://ijcsit.com/docs/Volume%205/vol5issue06/ijcsit20140506265.pdf
[3]https://www.forbes.com/sites/forbestechcouncil/2020/01/06/what-is-web-3-0/?sh=d6041d358dfb
[4] https://ijcsit.com/docs/Volume%205/vol5issue06/ijcsit20140506265.pdf
