Behind Web3: Freedom, Privacy, Security, and Anti-Monopoly

With the development of Blockchain technology, “Web3” has become an increasingly mentioned concept. However, what exactly does Web3 mean? What impact will it have on people's digital lives? This article will explore the main characteristics of Web3, starting from the current state of Web2.

Why do we need WEB3?

Since the early 21st century, as the internet continues to advance, accessing the internet anytime and anywhere is no longer a challenge. The rise of social media platforms such as Twitter and Facebook signifies that people can escape the “read-only” model of Web1 and enter the “read-write” model of Web2. Simply put, in the Web2 era we are currently in, users are no longer limited to browsing news on portal websites; they can also produce their own content, such as posting images and text on social media. Today, users are not just visitors to information on the internet, but also creators of that information.

However, despite the fact that Web2 has greatly enriched people's digital life experiences, its defects have increasingly become apparent over time. The constantly tightening content censorship on social media platforms, the endless incidents of user data leaks, the monopoly of platform discourse power by giants like Meta and Google, and various pain points under Web2 have made people eager to have a free and safe internet environment, which has created opportunities for the birth of Web3.

Characteristics of WEB3

Compared to Web2, Web3 signifies decentralization, and its arrival will address the hidden dangers and pain points of Web2. Its greatest features can be summarized in three keywords: freedom, privacy and security, anti-monopoly.

Freedom

In the Web2 era, users often face restrictions from platform censorship or community governance during the content creation process. Almost all centralized social media platforms, including Twitter, Instagram, and YouTube, review the content posted by users. The platform has the power to delete posts, ban accounts, or even permanently close user accounts, causing the content that users have invested their efforts in to potentially vanish in an instant.

As mentioned earlier, Web3 is a decentralized world that relies heavily on the Blockchain network. The Blockchain network is a secure, tamper-proof distributed ledger. All user information can be stored on the chain, and the data cannot be deleted or arbitrarily tampered with. This also means that all content created by users under Web3 is owned and controlled by the users themselves. In other words, Web3 will provide internet users with a true environment of freedom of speech and freedom of creation, where users no longer have to worry about the review of centralized platforms or institutions.

Privacy and Security

In Web2, user information and data are stored on centralized servers operated by the platform. In other words, the holder of the data is not the individual, but the platform that owns the servers, which possess and control the users' data. The centralized data storage method makes personal information easily accessible, and various reasons such as companies selling user data and servers being attacked can lead to user data breaches. Moreover, the situation where platforms profit by accessing user data is rampant; for instance, so-called personalized advertisements are actually results calculated by the platform accessing users' browsing history, leaving users with almost no privacy.

If Web2 is the era of the internet of “read + write,” then Web3 is the era of “read + write + own.” Privacy protection has always been an important direction for the development of Web3, and its core concept is data ownership, which means allowing users to become the masters of their own data.

Under blockchain technology and cryptographic algorithms, users need to provide an encrypted verification digital identity to prove themselves when accessing data, thus ensuring the security of information; in addition, Web3 uses distributed storage to disperse user data across multiple network nodes rather than a centralized server. This distributed architecture not only prevents security issues such as data leakage caused by attacks on centralized servers but also protects user data from being arbitrarily accessed or stolen by centralized platforms.

Antitrust

Currently, despite every user being able to create content and become a producer of content, the platform still monopolizes the discourse and holds absolute control. For example, thousands of video bloggers are earning revenue through video creation on YouTube, but the logic of traffic and the amount of revenue is entirely determined by YouTube. The platform can publish new rules at any time, can arbitrarily adjust or restrict traffic, and everything is under the platform's control.

Unlike Web2, Web3 uses DAO (Decentralized Autonomous Organization) as a governance mechanism, advocating for user and community autonomy. Every member who contributes to the community has voting rights and can participate in decision-making for community affairs. DAOs use smart contracts to execute decisions, achieving automation of management while ensuring fairness and transparency, thereby preventing the monopolization of power.

Summary

Let's imagine the digital life after the arrival of Web3—it's a truly free internet world where users hold data ownership and operate in a decentralized manner, fundamentally changing the way people interact with the internet. Although Web3 is still in the exploratory stage, we can see an increasing number of Web3-based applications continuously emerging. It is believed that in the coming decades, Web3 will be the protagonist of the next generation of the internet. **$WEMIX **$SWEAT