Sir Tim Berners-Lee, the man who invented the World Wide Web in 1989 and who placed the first website online on Aug. 6, 1991, believes the internet as we know it has become a force for evil and is developing another version that will restore decency to it.
Berners-Lee has been working with researchers at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) for the past few years to develop "SOLID," which stands for Social Linked Data. Berners-Lee calls SOLID the next era of the web, one in which the user is truly king.
SOLID aims to drastically change the way Web applications work. In the end, it will result in true data ownership and vastly improved privacy. It's basically a web decentralization project led by Berners-Lee and run from MIT.
SOLID will make these noble aims come about by developing a platform for linked data applications that are completely decentralized and fully under users' control, rather than controlled by other sources such as tech or internet corporations.
On a technical level, SOLID is a proposed set of conventions and tools for building decentralized social applications based on Linked Data principles. SOLID is modular and extensible and relies as much as possible on existing W3C standards and protocols.
In Berners-Lee's own words, SOLID will give every person complete control over data, personal or not, in a revolutionary way. It's an open-source project that aims to restore power and agency on the web to individuals while removing it from corporations.
SOLID is guided by the principle of "personal empowerment through data." Berners-Lee believes personal empowerment through data is critical to the success of the next era of the web, which SOLID will bring about.
This new way of browsing being developed by Berners-Lee et al stands in contrast to the current model where users submit their personal data to giant companies in exchange for a perceived value, he said. Berners-Lee first revealed he was working on SOLID in July.
SOLID is being built using the existing web. It gives users a choice over where data is stored. It also enables a user to choose the people or groups that can access certain elements of his data. SOLID allows users to link and share data with anyone they select. It permits users to look at the same data in different apps at the same time.
Berners-Lee has always believed the web is for everyone. That's why he and others fight fiercely to protect it. The changes they've managed to bring have created a better and more connected world. But he rues that for all the good we've achieved, the web has evolved into an "engine of inequity and division" swayed by powerful forces that use it for their own agendas.
Berners-Lee said SOLID unleashes incredible opportunities for creativity, problem-solving and commerce. SOLID will empower individuals, developers and businesses with entirely new ways to conceive, build and find innovative, trusted and beneficial applications and services.
I see multiple market possibilities, including SOLID apps and SOLID data storage, he said.
