How adoption of a decentralized internet can improve digital ownership

Known as Web2, the current iteration of the internet emphasizes creating and distributing user-generated content. Websites like YouTube, social media apps like Instagram and Twitter, news sites, personal blogs and more make up a large part of the internet.

Web2 is a step up from Web1, which was mainly a read-only web version filled with simple static websites. Web3 aims to bring decentralization and token-based economies to the internet.

Web2 versus Web3

The development of several different web protocols at the beginning of the twenty-first century made it possible for programs and content to be linked via read-and-write interactions. Web2, in its present form, enables users to consume material created by other users and create their own content. Readers are probably best acquainted Web2. As a result of Web2’s autonomy in content production, the age of social networks was ushered in, and with it came the proliferation of blogs, online forums and online markets.

However, rent-seeking centralized corporations have taken advantage of this free flow of information to monetize user data and habits, despite the undeniable fact that Web2 has offered users significant advantages. The demand for a web that developers and users control has increased, primarily due to a breakdown of trust, user exploitation and data control.

The goal of Web3 is to encourage open services driven by decentralized applications (DApps) rather than centralized apps controlled by tech behemoths. Users of Web3 can connect to applications and protocols directly, removing the need for third-party intermediaries in the process. Web3 has been described as the “read/write/own” version of the internet. Open services built on Web3 encourage permissionless entrance, maximize value and ensure verifiability. These services are much more dependable, equitable and ethical.

Users are not required to pay recurring fees or provide personal information to use technological platforms; instead, they are invited to participate in the governance and operation of the protocols. Participants are stakeholders in the network, rather than just consumers or goods abused to satisfy economic demands.

Tokens or coins are used in this setting to symbolize accessibility, governance and ownership of decentralized networks. In Web2, the user plays the role of the product; in Web3, they take on the role of the owner.

Úrsula O’Kuinghttons, director of communications and partnerships at the Web3 Foundation, an organization that supports blockchain and Web3, told Cointelegraph:

“There are two primary considerations when we think of ownership in Web3. The first concerns how organizations are managed. The existing, flawed status quo puts ownership in the hands of the various powerful individuals fronting up organizations, institutions, and corporate entities.”

O’Kuinghttons continued, “A properly decentralized web ensures ownership of these monolithic structures is stripped of such hierarchy. It means networks and communities have much more power in governance and decision-making. It also means rewards are shared more fairly. The engineers are building Web3 to embrace the power of a peer-to-peer network to create lasting and effective solutions with blockchain.”

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“The other key issue surrounds sovereign ownership of data. Web3 seeks to safeguard the legitimate claims of individuals to have full control of their data and put privacy at the forefront of their online lives. This goal can be reached through zero-knowledge proof protocols, encryption, and private keys.”

How Web3 will bring ownership to users

Web3 will bring ownership to users in many ways, one of them being the ability to host websites that cannot be censored or taken down. The current web hosting system relies mainly on servers controlled by centralized organizations. These organizations can take websites down if they feel they have a good enough reason to do so.

Decentralized…