Internet Inventor Tim Berners-lee Believes It’s Time For Users To Take Control Of Their Personal Information From Corporations: Since the world wide web was created in 1989 by Tim Berners-Lee, the internet has advanced significantly. He thinks it’s time for us to reclaim our personal data in this day and age of escalating privacy concerns.
The “Solid Pod,” or Personal Online Data Store, was developed by Berners-Lee and CEO John Bruce through their firm Inrupt. Instead of having their data kept by websites or apps all over the internet, it enables users to maintain their data in one central location and decide who and what applications can access it.
If they have the technical know-how, users can install their own server or purchase a pod from one of the few suppliers hosted by web services like Amazon (AMZN). Control and privacy are the key draws of self-hosting, according to Berners-Lee.
In addition to being safe from companies and governments, user data is also less likely to be taken by hackers, according to Bruce.
I believe we’ve all come to understand that the value of the web is contained in the data it makes available, he continues. “In this new environment where you are responsible for caring after your own data, it doesn’t live in large silos that are attractive targets for attackers.”
Both the government of the Belgian province of Flanders and the National Health Service of the UK are testing Inrupt’s platform. The latter intends to employ pods to provide its citizen’s control over how to share their private information.
A trial service for “viewing parties,” when several people stream a show simultaneously, was made available by the BBC in October. The user can view the created data after the watch party is over, including which episodes they watched and who else joined, and can then decide whether to keep it or let the BBC use it.
An executive product manager at BBC Research and Development named Eleni Sharp referred to it as “a totally different approach to data management” in a blog post.
Data Ownership
Berners-Lee claims that Inrupt, which was established in 2017 and reportedly raised $30 million in December 2021, will aid in the development of “Web 3,” the upcoming version of the web.
Web 3 could alter how we use the internet, according to blockchain specialist Paul Brody of analysts Ernst & Young. Decentralization and Web 3 are often compared as having similar concepts and aims, he explains.
“Web 3 will make it possible to own your own data and fully control your own commerce infrastructure. For users, it will ultimately be truly transformative.
Berners-Lee aspires for his platform to return power to internet users.
The fact that these platforms have a vast quantity of data and misuse has raised concerns about privacy, according to him. “But I believe that they occasionally fail to see the lack of empowerment. You need to return to a place where you are autonomous and in complete control of your data.
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