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Beyond Big Data: Getting Ready For The Decentralized Web Posted on : Dec 11 - 2019

The influence of the world’s biggest internet companies grows exponentially with the amount of data they gather from users, just as the criticism they receive grows. Due to the organization of the web, their hegemony remains almost untouchable. For consumers to regain control of their data, an alternative system is required.

Enter the decentralized web. But what is the decentralized web, and how will it affect -- or disrupt -- business?

How the Web Failed Its Own Inventor

When Tim Berners-Lee invented the World Wide Web in 1989, he envisioned an open space. Since then, the web has become a system of centralized power, governed by a handful of internet giants. What makes them so powerful is the incredible amount of data they have amassed. Data collection is central to their business model. The more data they collect, the more profitable they become.

In the last decade, big data has become a driving force in the economy. This reaches beyond internet companies -- ones that you'd expect to collect and use data as part of their core business -- to less likely places. Your local supermarket tracks and analyzes what you buy, either to provide personalized advertising or to optimize its offerings.

While big data can yield valuable insights, companies’ data greed comes at a price. In the aftermath of a series of data breaches, consumers have started to wonder and worry about what happens with their data. In Europe, this concern has already been translated into the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR), making it more difficult and expensive for companies to collect data from European citizens.

From a business perspective as well, the focus on big data as a sleeping gold mine is beginning to crumble. Not only does this data-centric business model come with legal risk, but it also stifles innovation. The companies that are winning the big data race have little incentive to innovate. For new entrants or competitors with potentially more appealing offerings, it is hard to grow simply because everyone’s data is locked in existing platforms.

Let’s Decentralize!

As Berners-Lee says, “The web has evolved into an engine of inequity and division; swayed by powerful forces who use it for their own agendas.” This is not the open web that he originally had in mind. For this reason, Berners-Lee and a group of leading international researchers are working behind the scenes to develop an alternative, decentralized web. The open-source projects, Solid and Inrupt, are examples of decentralized web initiatives.

In the decentralized web, our data could be saved in "data pods" that people could control themselves, on a server of their choice. Each user could have several data pods that could be used for personal data, work-related information, official documents, etc. From there, people could choose -- for each individual application -- which data pod they wanted to make available. What is important is that applications would have access to the data, but no copies would be made. This way, people could always remain in charge of their own data and how it was used. View More