Tim Berners-Lee - Radical new plan to upend the World Wide Web

originally posted by: LookingAtMars
Are you sure? Do you not think Berners-Lee would of thought of this.

No, I'm not sure. How can I be if there's so little information?

But what I do know is that what Berners-Lee thought when he created the World Wide Web (not the Internet) was not how it was used by other people. He may be good at what he does, but it looks like he underestimates how bad people can be.

Who, that experienced it, can forget the pay for cable TV because there are no commercials. How long before greed killed that idea.

a reply to: LookingAtMars

Doesn't matter, it's still hardware.

Again, if you encrypt the data only persons with the key will have access. Give millions the un-encryption key and people will just start mining the data again.

Doesn't matter how the data is stored. And, a "pod" means nothing to me. It's either hardware or it doesn't exist.

a reply to: ArMaP

No doubt if you build it, someone will misuse it

I can create data right now that no one on Earth can decrypt (not even the 3 letter agencies), but no one will have access to the data other than me. I can give one other person the target IP and the access key...and my data just became less secure. Give those same things to hundreds of people and my data just became hundreds of times less secure. Give it to millions and my data is no longer secure at all.

It's like an economy of scale.

a reply to: Flyingclaydisk

I am sure Berners-Lee knows this also. I hope he really has come up with a new revolutionary way.

This is why I have, over recent years, been working with a few people at MIT and elsewhere to develop Solid, an open-source project to restore the power and agency of individuals on the web. Solid changes the current model where users have to hand over personal data to digital giants in exchange for perceived value. As we’ve all discovered, this hasn’t been in our best interests. Solid is how we evolve the web in order to restore balance - by giving every one of us complete control over data, personal or not, in a revolutionary way.

It's not the design of the internet as much as it is how those controlling it, control it and how those using it, use it. As for as wire fraud for instance over the net, those controlling it really don't care. They get their money.

a reply to: LookingAtMars

I think you're missing the point. In order for the concept to become successful, people have to use it. In order for people to use it, people have to have access to it, and in order for people to have access to it, they need to be connected to it.

Here's the problem (well, "one" problem...but a GIANT one), people don't "own" the infrastructure which connects them to the web now. It's owned by publicly regulated utilities. I'm speaking of the "wires" you use to connect to the web. These 'wires' have to start someplace and terminate someplace. The only way you can take control AWAY from that environment is by placing the wires yourself. AND, then you're only connected to others who are connected to the same wires.

Now, when you scale this problem up to internet sized proportions suddenly another problem starts cropping up. Bill's internet is better than John's internet, but then Sally comes along and she's got the best internet. Which one do I start digging up my yard to connect to? Bill, John or Sally? I don't personally know any of them. Ah, a solution! Just have Bill, John and Sally all connect to each other and then I'll connect to the closest one, right? And so it goes for a while. Hey, it's working, right?

Well, it works right up until the point where we find out that Sally is really a well disguised alias for Alphabet Inc. (i.e. Google)...and now I just dug up my whole freaking yard for nothing.

DBL

Been reading about this , this morning and thought about posting this. S&F.

a reply to: Flyingclaydisk

The plan is not to take control of the internet as far as I can tell. It would use the same wires Facebook and Google use now. The plan is to make new Facebooks and Googles with this new platform where your data will be safe. The problem I see is why spend money making a new Facebook if it does not make you rich. I guess ads on the new Facebook could be an incentive.

a reply to: CharlesT

Please tell us what you have learned.

I think Wikipedia explains it better.

Design
There are a number of technical challenges to be surmounted to accomplish decentralizing the web.[8] Applications and data must be kept separate, allowing people to store personal data where they want. Authentication must correctly identify the data owner while ensuring the privacy of identities. Rather than using centralized spoke–hub distribution paradigm, decentralized peer-to-peer networking should be implemented in a manner that adds more control and performance features than traditional peer-to-peer networks such as BitTorrent. Finally, the system must be easy to use, fast, and allow for simple creation of applications by developers.[8]

Solid's central focus is to enable the discovery and sharing of information in a way that preserves privacy. A user stores personal data in "pods" (personal online data stores) hosted wherever the user desires. Applications that are authenticated by Solid are allowed to request data if the user has given the application permission. A user may distribute personal information among several pods; for example, different pods might contain personal profile data, contact information, financial information, health, travel plans, or other information. The user could then join an authenticated social-networking application by giving it permission to access appropriate information in a specific pod. The user retains complete ownership and control of data in the user's pods: what data each pod contains, where each pod is stored, and which applications have permission to use the data.[1]

It looks like the user side of things works by people giving permission for applications and sites to use their data, but only that specific data, in the same way phone apps do. In the same way, what I think will happen is that people will give access to too much information just because the app/site asks for it and they want to use them, so they will give access to the data without thinking, like happens today.

Sounds as though they are build an authentication system to use between apps. That would seem to make it a subset of the net, more likely for personal type applications.

originally posted by: LookingAtMars
a reply to: CharlesT

Please tell us what you have learned.

Reading one of the founders blog post, I think, where they talked about the current situation potential for a hacker intrusion at Facebook and steeling user information that could also be used to gain access to other sites where a Facebook pass is used.
Read a post today and received an e-mail from Norton where it has happened. Millions of Facebook user accounts affected. Prophetic!

a reply to: CharlesT

Wow, glad I don't use Facebook

a reply to: LookingAtMars

Can you explain something?

If everyone is issued a solid identity and a solid pod...........would that end annonymity on the net?

I am kinda surprised they haven't already forced identity authentication on the net.

a reply to: ArMaP

Thanks for the info, can't keep people from being stupid and lazy

a reply to: TonyS

Not really sure if this would end anonymity on the net or not, but have to agree It is only a matter of time till we have to have an ID to get online.

a reply to: LookingAtMars

I use Facebook, but I don't have any important data on it.