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Solid Protocol is becoming a key step towards decentralization.
After fifteen years of working to ensure the security and accessibility of the Internet, the World Wide Web Foundation has announced its closure. In an official letter published on the organization's website, the co-founders – the inventor of the World Wide Web, Sir Tim Berners-Lee and Rosemary Leith – explain that their mission is partially accomplished, and it is time to focus on new challenges.
Founded in 2009, the organization began its activities in an environment where only about 20% of the world's population had access to the Internet. A decade and a half later, this figure has risen to almost 70%. Thanks to the efforts of the World Wide Web Foundation and other similar organizations, access to the Internet has become more accessible and widespread. However, as Berners-Lee and Leith note, today's problems require other solutions, and the organization now believes that other groups working on digital rights and Internet accessibility can pick up the baton.
One of the most serious modern problems of the founders is the business model of social networks, which is built on the commercialization of user data and the concentration of power in the hands of platforms. This, in their view, contradicts Berners-Lee's original vision, in which the internet was supposed to be a decentralized space.
To combat this threat, Sir Tim plans to focus his efforts on the development of decentralized technologies. In particular, its interest is directed towards the Solid Protocol project, which provides users with the ability to store their data in personal online storage called Pods. These stores allow users to control who can use their data and how, giving apps access in a permissions scheme similar to mobile platforms.
Solid Protocol has been in development since 2015, when Berners-Lee received $1 million in funding to develop the project. In his opinion, this technology can be a solution to the problem of corporate control over the Internet and the trade of personal data, allowing people to take back control of their data and personal information.
In his open letter published in March on the occasion of the 35th anniversary of the World Wide Web, Sir Tim stressed that centralized power on the Internet and the personal data market pose threats to users' freedom, especially in the context of political instability and elections. Solid Protocol, he believes, can help solve these problems by restoring people's control over their data.
The closure of the World Wide Web Foundation has been accompanied by financial difficulties. In 2022, the organization reported revenues of $4.08 million with expenses exceeding $4.97 million.
Tim Berners-Lee will continue to work on the development of decentralized technologies, striving to return the Internet to its original free and open structure, focused on the interests of users, not corporations.
Source
After fifteen years of working to ensure the security and accessibility of the Internet, the World Wide Web Foundation has announced its closure. In an official letter published on the organization's website, the co-founders – the inventor of the World Wide Web, Sir Tim Berners-Lee and Rosemary Leith – explain that their mission is partially accomplished, and it is time to focus on new challenges.
Founded in 2009, the organization began its activities in an environment where only about 20% of the world's population had access to the Internet. A decade and a half later, this figure has risen to almost 70%. Thanks to the efforts of the World Wide Web Foundation and other similar organizations, access to the Internet has become more accessible and widespread. However, as Berners-Lee and Leith note, today's problems require other solutions, and the organization now believes that other groups working on digital rights and Internet accessibility can pick up the baton.
One of the most serious modern problems of the founders is the business model of social networks, which is built on the commercialization of user data and the concentration of power in the hands of platforms. This, in their view, contradicts Berners-Lee's original vision, in which the internet was supposed to be a decentralized space.
To combat this threat, Sir Tim plans to focus his efforts on the development of decentralized technologies. In particular, its interest is directed towards the Solid Protocol project, which provides users with the ability to store their data in personal online storage called Pods. These stores allow users to control who can use their data and how, giving apps access in a permissions scheme similar to mobile platforms.
Solid Protocol has been in development since 2015, when Berners-Lee received $1 million in funding to develop the project. In his opinion, this technology can be a solution to the problem of corporate control over the Internet and the trade of personal data, allowing people to take back control of their data and personal information.
In his open letter published in March on the occasion of the 35th anniversary of the World Wide Web, Sir Tim stressed that centralized power on the Internet and the personal data market pose threats to users' freedom, especially in the context of political instability and elections. Solid Protocol, he believes, can help solve these problems by restoring people's control over their data.
The closure of the World Wide Web Foundation has been accompanied by financial difficulties. In 2022, the organization reported revenues of $4.08 million with expenses exceeding $4.97 million.
Tim Berners-Lee will continue to work on the development of decentralized technologies, striving to return the Internet to its original free and open structure, focused on the interests of users, not corporations.
Source
