What is Web 3.0 and what should you know about it?

Many experts consider the current Internet model already morally outdated: censorship, widespread collection of users' personal data and many other “features” of today's Internet seem to lead it far away from the ideals it was originally intended to serve.

Web 3.0 is, in fact, a new concept of Internet technology development that can make the web safer and better.

Artyom Harutyunyan, one of the founders of Web3 Foundation, told TECH NEWS.am that the development of the Internet could be divided into several stages. 

Web 1.0: in the beginning was the Internet

It is interesting that the concept of Web 1.0 emerged later than Web 2.0. The first version of the Internet was just called “the Internet”: It was unique in its kind, and therefore the numerator to add to it made no sense. When the concept of Web 2.0 appeared, all that was before it, began to be called Web 1.0.

Therefore, what we usually mean by Web 1.0 was the Internet between 1991 and 2004: it was a collection of static pages, which could only be read. Of course, it was also possible to listen to or download music or movies, but the user had no involvement in the creation of content on the Internet, and could only use the available data.

Web 2.0: the rise of advertising and the fall of privacy

Since 2004, we have moved into the era of Web 2.0. For this concept, we have to thank the American publisher and activist for free software Tim O'Reilly, who on September 30, 2005, released an article entitled "What is Web 2.0", where he talked about the principles that unite a large number of new sites, as well as the global trends of the Internet.

One of the distinctive features of Web 2.0 was the emergence of social networks, where content could be posted not only by the owners but also by ordinary users. Therefore, we started writing posts on social networks, uploading photos and videos, registering accounts, and making purchases at online stores. In all of this activity, we shared personal information with a lot of resources who started collecting this information and using it to show us content or ads we were more likely to be interested in. All of this led to the development of targeted advertising and, as a result, privacy issues.

We weren't the masters of our content

The architecture of the Web 1.0 and Web 2.0 versions of the Internet has not changed: in both cases, as a user, we access a server that either produces a response or records the data we wanted to record. But these servers are owned by specific companies or people, and they can simply delete all the content we've created, and all our data if it does not comply with their policies – or for any other reason, for example.

This means that we are not full owners of the content we have created. 

Moreover, even if the owners of the servers do not delete our content and our data, we can't be sure they're safe. They can be hacked, they can be transferred or sold to third parties, and so on.

Web 3.0: a new level of decentralization

As Artyom Harutyunyan noted, Web 3.0 is the next stage in the development of the Internet, assuming that people will begin to own and manage their information. When the Internet was created, the idea was that all information should be distributed between different places – there should be exactly a network. But over time, big corporations took over and centralized everything.

Web 3.0, according to the specialist, solves exactly this problem and returns the Internet to users.

“Imagine that your data is no longer stored on the server of some site, which can be turned off at any time – and everything will be lost. Imagine that your money is not stored in an ordinary bank, but in bitcoin, which is independent of everyone and maximally decentralized. Web 3.0 is an ideally free, liberal, and very useful Internet, this is the Internet of the future,” he added.

So, Web 3.0 is a decentralized Internet: data will not be stored on single servers but will be distributed among users. The software is expected to be predominantly open source; there will be less censorship on the network, and everyone will be able to post any content (and corporations will not be able to moderate this content, only the community itself will be able to take on this role). Besides, the Internet of the future is expected to be ubiquitous and distributed by IoT devices and smart gadgets.

Most likely, the Internet version of Web 3.0 will be based on blockchain technology or other similar decentralization tools.

According to Harutyunyan, at first glance, it may seem that the transition to Web 3.0 is only a small change, like the transition from Web 1.0 to Web 2.0. But no, in fact, the growth of Web 3.0, he says, can be compared to the growth of the Internet since its inception.

Web 3.0 is at an early stage of development, but it is already on everyone’s lips, and all large companies already understand: it doesn’t matter if they like it or not, it doesn’t matter if they are for or against it, the future is for the Web. 3.0, Harutyunyan said.

Is Web 4.0 coming?

It is difficult to answer this question so far, as it is not easy to imagine anything after Web 3.0 – this is already the most decentralized, honest, and fast Internet. So what else could be needed?

As Harutyunyan noted, today one can hear about Web 5.0 – a kind of hybrid of Web 3.0 and Web 2.0.

“Theoretically, Web 4.0, Web 5.0 can come, but Web 3.0 by itself solves and covers all the social problems of the Internet, communication problems, and other problems of mankind,” the specialist added.