Users’ data is spread across the Internet. What if it wasn’t the companies, but users themselves that are in control of it? That is one of the promises of Web5, which, after a few years of theory and proposals on webpages, is now aiming to deliver.
For those wondering where Web4 went: you’re not the only one. Web5 was announced in mid-2022 as the successor to Web3 by TBD, the company of co-founder and ex-CEO of Twitter Jack Dorsey. The name comes from a summation of Web 2.0 and Web3 (2+3=5) and is also an ode to HTML5, “the last great attempt to evolve the Web,” according to TBD. In other words: Web5 combines the nature of Web3 (decentralized, using blockchain) with classic Web 2.0, which is still effectively the Internet as we know it.
The promise of Web5 is that it enables a decentralized Internet. This is in contrast to the current setup, where users cede data to everyone from Google to local travel agencies. While personal data is accessible through accounts on various platforms, securing said data is mostly impossible. No one has a mechanism to deny access in a consistent, reliable way. Anyone who cancels their own account on any platform is at the mercy of a third party’s good faith or compliance to data retention laws. That’s the problem Web5 is trying to solve. Everyone is going to host his or her own data in a personal data store from now on, or well, that’s the idea.
Web 1.0, Web 2.0, Web3, Web5
The phasing of the World Wide Web can be interpreted in different ways. Generally speaking, everyone agrees on what Web 1.0 and Web 2.0 mean, respectively. Whereas the initial World Wide Web had static pages, Web 2.0 is characterized by its interactivity. Since the early 00s, the vast majority of the Internet has remained in this second phase, everything from social media to Wikipedia. As of Web 3.0/Web3, interpretations and criteria vary. Common concepts with Web3 are an emphasis on open-source adoption and a decentralized structure built on the blockchain. That’s the jumping-off point for Web5’s creators. This is different from what is generally called Web 3.0, the “semantic web” or “data web,” where “machines talk to machines,” as creator Tim Berners-Lee defined it in 1999. Specifically, it involves keeping data in a standardized HTML format so that it is machine-readable.
Web5 building blocks
With a tracker on its “Are We Web5 Yet?” website, TBD indicates how far along Web5 construction is according to its . This is not a measurement of the integration of Web5 ideas out in the field, but instead shows the progress of the necessary components. These include decentralized web apps, nodes and identifiers, in addition to verifiable credentials and Web5-powered eWallets and browsers. These are the building blocks of Web5.
Central to Web5 is identity and how to secure it. A “true” Web5 scenario takes account management away from third parties, so that users are in complete control of their data. This requires common credential standards. Such initiatives have been around for some time, such as OpenID since it was launched in 2007. Now, too, there is a foundation working on a new ecosystem for digital identities: DIF, or the Decentralized Identity Foundation. Microsoft is a member of it, alongside well-known parties such as Workday and Auth0 and many, many blockchain companies.
DIF last week unveiled a free community web node instance on Google Cloud. This Decentralized Web Node (DWN) puts the Web5 words into actions: users can post and manage their data in this new instance. It is an example of what data storage should look like in a Web5 world: each user has their own place to store data, over which they have complete control. The idea behind it is for developers to build test apps using this node. Per Decentralized Identifier (DID, or Web5 identity), 1GB of storage is available for free.
Known problems, known solutions?
The launch of this instance shows how young Web5 still is. However, DIF is preparing the industry for wider adoption, which will inevitably be gradual. However, one may wonder if Web5 is necessary. Why not use “just” the familiar Internet with its ordinary accounts and clear data privacy rules?
An important argument, paradoxically, is the centralization of Web5. Instead of hundreds of hotels, airlines and travel apps owning data about your preferences, supporters of Web5 want to aggregate it. All information relevant to the user is retrievable through DWNs.
This idea is not new. Identities across individual apps, for example, have been provided by the Ethereum Name Service since 2017. Given its obscure nature, it appears it has yet to take off and may never do so. Currently, people are instead often using password managers that work on top of the conventional web, but in no way connect the data hidden inside the web.
As early as the same year Web5 was announced, critics pointed to alternatives that had already been long and widely developed. For example, VentureBeat cited Internet Identity (II), which combines the WebAuthn 2FA standard with a form of blockchain cryptography that also already exists: Chain Key Cryptography. This has already been in use for smart contracts. In other words: Web5 repeats some steps already taken elsewhere, which raises questions on whether or not it was necessary to do so and if its developers will do anything different to make it a success.
85 percent complete?
TBD answers the question “Are we Web5 yet?” with a percentage: 85 percent. That sounds like we are on the eve of a new Internet in which we are in control of our own data. Yet even then it is only about the progress made on the building blocks mentioned earlier. The problem so far for any evolution of the web since Web 2.0 has been adoption. Since the turn of the century, this standard has remained largely intact. Even Web5 is, for now, a lot of good intentions without concrete adoption. Test tools, however, are a much-needed step for eventual success, no matter how far-fetched that currently may seem to some.
Disconnecting personal data from applications is certainly an excellent concept for promoting privacy. Its actual implementation, however, faces a reality check, with all kinds of previous attempts failing to gain meaningful adoption. The question now is whether Web5, founded at a time when blockchain was still a hot topic, will not also prove to be an obscure footnote.
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