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Slashdot: Tim Berners-Lee Skeptical of Web3, Touts Decentralized Internet Without Blockchain

Tim Berners-Lee Skeptical of Web3, Touts Decentralized Internet Without Blockchain
Published on June 26, 2022 at 09:04PM
Sir Tim Berners-Lee "is skeptical about a blockchain-based internet," reports the Next Web. Instead, they describe his new vision as "a decentralized architecture that gives users control of their data" — on a Platform called Solid: Berners-Lee shares Web3's purported mission of transferring data from Big Tech to the people. But he's taking a different route to the target. While Web3 is based on blockchain, Solid is built with standard web tools and open specifications. Private information is stored in decentralized data stores called "pods," which can be hosted wherever the user wants. They can then choose which apps can access their data. This approach aims to provide interoperability, speed, scalability, and privacy. "When you try to build that stuff on the blockchain, it just doesn't work," said Berners-Lee. Berners-Lee says Solid serves two separate purposes. One is preventing companies f rom misusing our data for unsolicited purposes, from manipulating voters to generating clickbait.The other is providing opportunities to benefit from our information. Healthcare data, for instance, could be shared across trusted services to improve our treatment and support medical research. Our photos, meanwhile, could be supplied to Facebook friends, LinkedIn colleagues, and Flickr followers without having to upload the pictures to each platform. This evokes Berners-Lee's original aim to make the web a collaborative tool. "I wanted to be able to solve problems when part of the solution is in my head and part of the solution is in your head, and you're on the other side of the planet — connected by the internet," he said. "That was the sort of thing I wanted the web for. It took off more as a publishing medium — but all is not lost."

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