THE NEXT GENERATION OF THE INTERNET: A BRIEF DISCUSSION ABOUT WHAT WEB3 IS

Source: NetEase Blockchain Chain

In the second half of 2021, the metaverse became a hot topic and began to appear frequently in people’s field of vision. In October, Zuckerberg’s Facebook officially changed its name to Meta, ambitious to enter the meta-universe industry, after that, the famous game company Epic, software giant Microsoft, etc. have laid out the company’s future meta-universe development, the meta-universe has given us unlimited imagination of the future digital lifestyle and application scenarios.

In order to realize the metaverse vision, in addition to the continuous improvement of front-end interactive devices, what is more important is the construction of back-end infrastructure. The emergence of Web 3.0 provides strong technical support for the realization of the meta-universe, and it is precisely because the human Internet era is moving towards the Web 3.0 era that the concept of the meta-universe is possible.

What is Web3? **

Web 3.0 is a next-generation distributed Internet form with blockchain and other technologies as the core, which reconstructs the original production relationship through digital identity, smart contracts and other technical means, and returns data ownership and control to producers and users.

1, three iterations of the Web

The full name of the Web in English is World Wide Web, Chinese is called the World Wide Web, usually refers to web pages and websites, and is now synonymous with the Internet and an important core part of the Internet.

Web 1.0 is the first generation of the Internet, born for more than 30 years, its main feature is that it can only read, can not write, no interactive function.

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The Web 2.0 era has increased interactivity, the Internet has become not only readable, but also writable, Web 2.0 content is no longer produced by professional websites or specific groups, but by all netizens with equal power to participate and co-create. Anyone can express their opinions or create original content on the web.

However, in the era of Web 2.0, the platform dominates, the user’s data is in the server of the Internet company, the ownership of user data belongs to the Internet company, it is difficult to share between platforms, and the privacy and security of user data are difficult to be effectively guaranteed, which will form a phenomenon of data monopoly and “data island” in the long run.

! [image] (https://img-cdn.gateio.im/webp-social/moments-40baef27dd-04fd84bd50-dd1a6f-69ad2a.webp)

The foundation of Web 3.0 is blockchain technology, which is based on the trust mechanism and connects the virtual world and the real world to develop the new Internet era of digital economy. In the era of Web 3.0, the spirit of “equality, openness and innovation” of the Internet has been truly reflected, effectively protecting user privacy data, breaking “data islands”, thus forming a new economic ownership model - user ownership, dominance and creation, truly realizing open collaboration and data right confirmation.

! [image] (https://img-cdn.gateio.im/webp-social/moments-40baef27dd-8b256b4a6d-dd1a6f-69ad2a.webp)

2, the spirit of Web 3.0

The difference between Web 3.0 and the previous two generations of the Internet is not only reflected in emerging technologies, such as blockchain, cryptocurrency, virtual and augmented reality, artificial intelligence, etc. More importantly, the spirit of Web 3.0 brings about the transformation of the Internet spirit, driven by new technologies, the spirit of Web 3.0 is an important economic system cornerstone for the future development of the metaverse.

**The core of the spirit of Web 3.0 lies in the following two points: data right confirmation and open collaboration. **Data right confirmation refers to the transformation of user data sovereignty from platform ownership to individual ownership in the Web 3.0 era; open collaboration effectively solves the problem of “data islands”, making the Internet truly realize cross-platform interconnection.

Wikipedia actually has the spirit of Web 3.0. Before Wikipedia, traditional encyclopedias were run by an organization or group. Wikipedia created the first search tool in human history where anyone could edit and put their thoughts on a website platform.

Comparing Wikipedia, created in 2001, with Britannica, published in 1771, Wikipedia has been edited more than 1 billion times and 55 million entries in just over two decades, while the number of Britannica articles compiled over hundreds of years is less than one percent. Therefore, Wikipedia has made the open collaboration of data reach a peak, which is also a huge progress for human knowledge, and Wikipedia has also been evaluated as “the most ideal and emotional way of content operation since the birth of the Internet”.

**What does Web3 bring? **

1. Transformation of production relations

The model of Web 3.0 is “user creation, ownership, control, and protocol distribution”, which realizes automatic distribution of benefits on the chain through blockchain smart contracts, distributed ledgers and other technologies and records cannot be tampered with, ensuring efficiency, fairness and security, fully stimulating the creator economy, and realizing the transformation of real production relations.

2、Achieve unified identity authentication

In different information scenarios of Web 2.0, users in different systems need to authenticate differently.

In Web 3.0, Decentralized Identity (DID) separates the right to use data from ownership by combining blockchain technology, and is created, maintained and freely used by the identity owner.

This technology can achieve unified identity authentication in Web 3.0, as a digital identity owner, you can use your own identity data whenever you need it, without relying on other third-party platforms or service providers.

As a leading blockchain enterprise in China, the Moutai DID created by NetEase Blockchain for the “i Moutai” APP is the first application of digital identity in the business platform of tens of millions of users. Users use Moutai digital identity to make an appointment online, and offline pick-up is verified through digital vouchers to ensure that private information is available and not visible.

NetEase’s distributed digital identity will promote the secure circulation, openness and confirmation of data in various scenarios, realize the integration and integration of real and virtual assets, eliminate the restrictions caused by other factors such as geography and user qualifications, and promote the free circulation of digital assets.

3、 Protection of user privacy and security

Web 2.0 tends to use legislation and fines to encourage platforms to protect user privacy data, but the effect is limited, and there are still many platforms illegally using customer information.

The Web 3.0 communication protocol ensures user data privacy and anonymity as the premise, based on the basic properties of blockchain, the future user’s data is not concentrated in the platform’s own database, but is stored in a secure and decentralized data storage protocol.

In addition, through homomorphic encryption, multi-party secure computing, trusted execution environment and other technologies in privacy computing, it can be ensured that the data is available and invisible during use.

4、Solve the problem of data sovereignty and confirmation of ownership of digital assets

In the Web 2.0 era, users’ data sovereignty, created works and digital assets all rely on centralized Internet platforms, and it is difficult to confirm data sovereignty and digital asset rights.

The operation vision of Web 3.0 is to give more power to users, user data ownership is no longer monopolized by the platform, the acquisition of website or platform user data must obtain the user’s permission, everything is no longer platform-centric, but user-centric; the digital assets under the user name are completely owned by the user, effectively solving the problem of confirming rights.

Non-fungible tokens (NFTs) fit perfectly with the vision of Web 3.0. NFT is mainly used to prove the unique ownership of identity information and digital assets, and is currently mainly used in games, artworks, collectibles, virtual assets, identity characteristics, digital music, digital certificates and other fields. At this stage, NFT in China is more commonly known as “digital collections” and “digital rights and interests”, weakening its transaction attributes and highlighting the function of confirming rights collection.

NFT is a technological means that can give value to digital assets. Based on secure, decentralized, open and transparent blockchain technology, each NFT is anchored to a unique scarce value, through which creators and buyers can obtain rights that are difficult to obtain in Web 2.0. Confirmation of digital ownership will be a key step in the transition of Web 2.0 users to Web 3.0.