Fair Data Protocol (FDP) aims to provide the pieces needed for data sovereignty and personal (data) freedom, while opening the possibilities also for a fair data economy. Are the aims achievable? Is the technology that could be used mature enough?
I am a big supporter of decentralization, personal data freedom, fair data economy with Web 3.0 but in 2022, can we really only use decentralized 3.0 sites and dApps, is this technology mature enough for mass adoption? my answer is no and I will explain why. Let's take as a first example, the site of the audio broadcasting platform, Audius, which aims to be the decentralized equivalent of Spotify on the blockchain. The problem with this platform is that there isn't enough content, and that's the number one problem with these decentralized platforms, which is the low number of users. It's hard to attract talent to publish content, so it's hard to attract visitors to view that content, so it's a vicious circle. The main problem with Audius is that its catalogue of proposed music is not rich enough, and this will be exactly the same thing on other decentralized content distribution platforms. What should be done to remedy this? We should make the effort to use these platforms by creating an account, by liking and sharing the music, by participating in the community, by trying to talk about it around us, etc. So, if everyone makes this effort then, little by little, there will be more visitors, so more artists will put music and more visitors will visit the site, it's a virtuous circle. So, currently, the number one problem of sites like Audius is the lack of content... Read more.
-> Essay on FairDrive (pdf) : 6d597e78125fdf61532e2434fa0717350f0dea14dbf21c1be64de8fbc121fb511647708370 https://gateway.fairdatasociety.org/bzz/0548aa437628f1b79a34d2e8e0373f6ea191c3faf766904bbd98e722034062a5 https://gateway.ethswarm.org/access/2b15cdbbfbcebc22fc05d641fd6aea9baad5e28d0eaeeb17080e2f8a7f2af47b
Open Source Licence : MIT License.
=={ What's the problem with Web 3.0? }==
I am a big supporter of decentralization, personal data freedom, fair data economy with Web 3.0 but in 2022, can we really only use decentralized 3.0 sites and apps, is this technology mature enough for mass adoption? my answer is no and I will explain why.
Let's take as a first example, the site of the audio broadcasting platform, Audius, which aims to be the decentralized equivalent of Spotify on the blockchain. The problem with this platform is that there isn't enough content, and that's the number one problem with these decentralized platforms, which is the low number of users. It's hard to attract talent to publish content, so it's hard to attract visitors to view that content, so it's a vicious circle. The main problem with Audius is that its catalogue of proposed music is not rich enough, and this will be exactly the same thing on other decentralized content distribution platforms. To remedy to this, we should make the effort to use these platforms by creating an account, by liking and sharing the music, by participating in the community, by trying to talk about it around us, etc. So, if everyone makes this effort then, little by little, there will be more visitors, so more artists will put music and more visitors will visit the site, it's a virtuous circle. So, currently, the number one problem of sites like Audius is the lack of content.
The second problem of decentralized Web 3.0 is the lack of users. For example, of D.tube, it's the equivalent of Youtube but decentralized, with a native token the DTC. This dApp is well done because since there is no advertising, it is the users of the platform who decide to whom they will give their money, this is the basis of everything, you consume content and if you like it then you allocate a certain amount of DTC to that content. Today, everything has become free with web 2.0, the user does not see the business models behind it. On Youtube, content creators are paid by advertising; either by ads that run in the middle of videos, or by sponsoring. With D.tube it's different, you don't have ads because it's decentralized but it's the users who pay the content creators via DTC. Same worries as Audius, D.tube has a rather poor catalogue of videos, we are a little bit in a circle on the different subjects that are treated on this platform, we go in circles, it's going to be subjects essentially related to free software, to Open Source, we are not going to find here the richness and the eclecticism that we can have on Youtube. I'm pro-decentralization, I'm pro-Web 3.0, I'm pro-privacy, but that's not why I want to have only videos that go in my direction, we only have content like that and then we don't accept the fact that there are people who continue to go on traditional centralized App, it's a mistake. There has to be openness and diversity of content on these dApps, so for that you have to make the effort to register on D.tube, to watch or upload videos on this dApp and to talk about it around you. And when these platforms are mature enough and have reached a critical mass of users, then we can say goodbye to the old Web 2.0 platforms like Youtube.
Third problem with Web 3.0. The Internxt dApp is a decentralized file storage solution that is the decentralized equivalent of Google drive, Google photos etc. It is a decentralized cloud. - The problem with Internxt is the technology, we're behind on the technology because decentralized Web 3.0 is quite new, so we have to rebuild everything. If you want to use Internxt, then you have to be aware that you will lose functionality compared to Google Drive. But you have to make the effort to use these dApps for Web 3.0 adoption. If you believe in the future and the relevance of Web 3.0, then make the effort to go to this kind of decentralized storage platform and use them despite the few technological shortcomings. We are going backwards a bit in terms of user experience, user interface and also in terms of functionality. For example, it is currently impossible to open a pdf file on your smartphone using Internxt. So, the third problem with Web 3.0 is the technology, which is not yet at the level of Web 2.0 in terms of user experience. But there is hope on the horizon because there are decentralized platforms that work well and have managed to attract users to them, even if it remains a very small number of users who come mainly from the blockchain and cryptocurrency world. But the technology is up to date, users are going on it and you don't need a particular browser. We can mention Fairdrop which is a simple, safe, and decentralized way to send your files or Fair Data Protocol, it is a data interoperability protocol for dApps that use personal data.
There are still problems with the decentralized web, the lack of distribution of media on dApps dedicated to sharing content, the lack of richness of the catalogues, so the lack of users and therefore the lack of content, it's a vicious circle. It's difficult to get your family and friends to come to these decentralized communication tools, like Status, which is a decentralized chat. And the technology on Web 3.0 is not yet at the level to offer an optimal user experience. If we manage to make the effort to use these dApps, they can continue to exist, they can continue to develop, they will attract more people, your friends, and the technology will improve and be even more powerful and we will gradually manage to make this business model of centralization and advertising disappear in favor of a decentralized model that can offer data sovereignty and personal data freedom to its users.