Yet ultimately, the full-scale introduction of the Web 3.0 Data Space will have a wider impact on most aspects of our lives. A completely new level of transparency and trust it offers will transform the relations between people, businesses, public actors, and even objects.
The mankind has never experienced an Impact of this scale.
Historically, most projects used to launch their activities first, and then deal with the results. Just for a change, this time we prefer to analyse the consequences before opening any Pandora’s boxes.
As we get deeper and deeper into the realm of the Web 3.0 Data Space, we discover many fascinating outcomes presented below. This might be too much to deal with for just one project like ours. That is why we call for partners to explore these impacts
Our initiative transforms the relations between the data owner and the data itself. Even the very architecture of the Data Space (separate PODs for each user, entity, or object) implies that data portability won't be an issue anymore, as there’s nothing to “port”: data stays in one place, as the original.
From a user perspective, we make the deplatformization problem totally obsolete: individuals become the true point of integration of their own data, and platforms remain but a tool for better creative UX.
For the very first time:
- we actually keep our data in a “place” we own
- we (and not the platforms) decide who can access it
- we can even sell our data ourselves
- no one can “ban” us from any service, since we can use many services simultaneously
- we are not a product anymore!
Does it mean that “the war is over”? Not yet.
In most cases by “my data” people mean the data we have created explicitly: our docs, our photos, our videos, etc. But there is also “social graph data”, the relational data other people create about us: “I like you”, “I met you at a conference” etc, including text feedback about us or our work. Linked Data technology we use allows us to keep it on our PODs so that any platform can depict the whole value of our relations. The same is true for companies (e.g. hotels, restaurants, etc.) and their ratings and reviews. The Web 3.0 Data Space architecture implies that all platforms return such data to our PODs. It automatically requires that we cannot change this specific data ourselves (e.g. get rid of “dislikes”) and that all auxiliary data shall be cryptographically signed by its creators.
The Web 3.0 Data Space will totally restructure the internet. No digital monopolies will be possible anymore, since their market power has been mainly based on their control over users' data. Lower entry barriers for startups will provoke a new boost of technical innovation in multiple domains, including AI (since it will become rather easy to get access to Big Data required for AI to learn). The whole range of data PODs (we expect up to 100 trillion of them at some point, thanks to the IoT) together with all the post-platforms connected to them will form a perfect metaverse (which won’t be owned by any corporations).
This new internet will offer total interoperability of corporate solutions, cross-platform publishing, and cross-app messaging. The Internet will finally back itself up on a constant basis: no information will ever disappear unless its owner really wishes so. We will forget about logins/passwords and use just one key and e-passport. The Data Space will be based on the principles of transparency and accountability, thus creating a new world of trust and of equal chances for everyone.
The changes we introduce make it possible to collect an unprecedented amount of auxiliary data on any person or legal entity. All the reviews, feedbacks, and assessments, after being carefully verified (as they are all signed) and weighted, can be transformed into a system of independent ratings we call e-Reputation. At last, it will be possible to quickly evaluate the trustworthiness of any internet user or any economic agent (from a plumber or a baker to a bank or an airline). e-Reputation will help build a true network of trust amongst people and companies and will completely transform the phenomenon of reputation in modern society.
Most probably, an e-Reputation will be not just one figure, but a vector (according to some specific criteria relevant in a given context).
We do believe there shall be many ways to calculate the e-Reputation, since otherwise, it would create another dangerous monopoly.
Clearly, e-Reputation might raise concerns regarding its ethical aspect. The only answer we have is:
- All platforms already collect various auxiliary data, we cannot stop this process.
- There are only three possible owners of such data: governments, platforms, and ourselves (on our PODs). Obviously, the third option seems preferable.
In its turn, the social and economic impact of e-Reputation is immense. e-Reputation will also drastically change all KYC and due-diligence procedures, making them as seamless as possible: in most of the cases, they will become instant and fully automated. At the same time, not only it makes statistical data ready to collect at any moment, but it also guarantees its quality, providing the best data analyses to decision-makers on any level.
e-Reputation establishes a material representation of our reputation, globally.
It definitely requires discussions and further studies. We are always open to discuss it with our partners and various stakeholders. Currently, we co-develop think-tank projects on this topic with Erasmus and SciencesPo Universities.
One of the effects of the full-scale introduction of the Web 3.0 Data Space will be the highest data availability in human history. In its turn, it will drastically decrease customer acquisition costs, and introduce truly fair competition in this almost ideal market.
On a personal level, the Post-Platforms Foundation promotes maximum economic inclusion, helping people to evolve from consumers to prosumers. Starting with the control of personal data by its owners, the Web 3.0 Data Space enables further self-determination and helps people fully realize their creative and economic potential. One of the individual business tools Post-Platforms will make available are virtual companies: a fully automated collaboration of different platforms and public services, making micro-business activities 100% seamless and hassle free.
For SMEs, the empowerment effects are quite similar: on one hand, the Web 3.0 Data Space lowers or even completely removes entry barriers in some niches currently monopolized by platforms and corporations, and on the other, it grants startups virtually free access to the widest user-base, with few or no marketing activities required. This global data crowdsourcing phenomenon will also give birth to numerous next-generation services and will make the entrepreneurial space incomparably more diverse and inclusive.
First of all, the Web 3.0 Data Space is blockchain-free, and that alone heavily reduces both energy consumption and carbon dioxide emissions. On the other hand, we get rid of hundreds and thousands of copies of the same or similar databases (so called data silos): whatever will be the total number of PODs, they will use less data centres capacity than multiple copies of the very same data in different combinations. Finally, the Post-Platforms solutions optimize various aspects of both business interactions and everyday life in general, promoting better logistics, smarter homes and vehicles, and tighter links with local communities.
There is a consensus that legal rights on digital assets exist: copyrights, authors rights, patents.
Then why do we observe such a hype related to NFTs, even if this tool is quite imperfect?
With NFTs, we still cannot prove the ownership of a particular photo or provide a bullet-proof provenance if we buy the rights (and not the copy) on a particular work of digital art (not necessarily graphic). Indeed, the phenomenon of NFTs clearly indicates the problem, rather than provides a solution.
However, Web 3.0 Data Space can perfectly address this issue:
- It provides proof of the “authors right”
- It provides a reliable provenance
- It provides extra effects like persistent IDs, digital attractors and “material feeling” of digital assets
Instead of hundreds of credentials, one per service used, or relatively insecure Single Sign-On systems, in the Web 3.0 Data Space users will have one key and one e-passport for all. This e-key, based on physical support of some form, will offer state-of-the-art security and cryptographic protection and provide access not only to any digital service, public or private, via any platform, but also to physical spaces, such as houses, offices, and cars. Unlike e-IDs currently existing in some European countries, this new e-passport and e-key system will be international by definition.
It won’t be based on the single-sign-on principle, yet it will provide the required level of anonymity and independence from the issuer. There will be no more need for logins and passwords.
Also, unlike blockchain, losing a key won’t ban the user from the system: it will be possible to get a new pair of e-key/e-passport from a bank or a notary.
The Post-Platforms Foundation offers a unique viable alternative to both current bank-centric fiat currency system and to blockchain-based cryptocurrencies. In the Web 3.0 Data Space, we place the ledgers to every POD of an individual or of an organization, thus creating a truly distributed network of ledgers. Every monetary transaction will be recorded on two respective ledgers (stored on PODs) of the two parties involved, and it will be signed by trusted authorities (digital notaries). Unlike the bank-based system, e-Money require no “bank account”, as the money is transferred directly between parties, just like we transfer cash. This scheme will allow fully P2P direct payments between individuals and companies, with total security, transparency, and traceability, yet with no commissions or fees and with no banks involved.
Unlike blockchain, it is a truly distributed network of ledgers (cryptocurrencies have a centralized ledger), which does not burn energy, and has an unlimited scalability potential.