Tim Berners-Lee suggests storing personal data in pods
The inventor of the World Wide Web, Tim Berners-Lee, wants people to be in control of their personal data. He is worried about the fact that the Internet is no longer a safe place where people can get useful information and share their own. Cloud4Y shares details.
Berners-Lee, 65, believes the online world has gone astray. Too much authority and too much personal data belongs to tech giants like Google and Facebook. According to him, thanks to the huge amounts of collected data, they have become observation platforms and a kind of “guardians” of innovation.
These IT corporations (bunkers, as he calls them) are generous in giving people new opportunities. But they also take a lot in return. They collect our contacts, analyze our searches and purchases, study interests and places we visit, collect data on bank cards. And then they decide what news to watch, what to wear and whom to vote for. By the way, many regulators agree with this. It is not without reason that many popular technology companies face restrictions in Europe, the USA, and Russia.
The Internet has turned into a huge trash can, where fake news and state propaganda reign, and users’ rights are regularly violated. People seem to be under a hood, there is no talk about privacy and confidentiality, especially given the constant leaks of personal data.
Tim Berners-Lee decided to remake his brainchild, and created a plan to save the Internet. With the help of a startup he founded Inrupt he is developing the Solid platform, where there will be a single login for any services, and personal data is stored in special modules (pods), which are free for users and controlled exclusively by them.
What Tim Berners-Lee suggests
Pods, the online repository of personal data, are a key technical component to achieving this goal. The idea is that each person can control their own data: sites visited, purchases with bank cards, training, use of streaming services. All data is stored in a kind of safe, which is located in cloud server…
Companies may access personal information with permission through a secure link to accomplish a specific task, such as processing a loan application or sending a personalized promotional offer. They can link to personal information and selectively use it, but not store it.
Inrupt relies on the fact that initially some trusted organizations will be the custodians of the pod modules. Modules are free for users. If this concept becomes widespread, low-cost or free personal data processing services may emerge that work in much the same way as current email services.
Already, the UK National Health Service is working with Inrupt to pilot a dementia patient care project. In January-February 2021, it moves from the development stage to combat conditions.
The main goal of the project is to provide medical staff with access to more complete data on the health, needs and individual characteristics of patients. The pod may indicate that the patient needs help with daily tasks. For example, getting out of bed, tying your shoelaces, or going to the bathroom. It may also contain information that calms the patient when he is in an agitated state. For example, favorite music or old classics. Later, you can add activity data from Apple Watch or Fitbit. Software is created with the aim of improving health and improving the quality of medical services. Plus, this app solves a long-standing problem with medical records.
Data management as a business
Berners-Lee’s view of personal data sovereignty is in stark contrast to the collection and accumulation model of large tech companies. However, several large organizations and government agencies were interested in his idea.
In November 2020, the startup Inrupt presented its server software for enterprises and government agencies. This year, the startup is seriously implementing several pilot projects. In addition to the UK, the government of Flanders, the Dutch-speaking region of Belgium, is also involved.
Inrupt’s business model is to charge licensing fees for its commercial software that uses open source Solid technology but has improved security, management, and development tools.
It is worth saying that technology companies have created their own project data transmissionby committing to make the stored personal data portable. This project now includes Google, Facebook, Apple, Microsoft and Twitter. The US Federal Trade Commission recently even held seminar “Data for the future” …
However, in this changed situation, the firm of Tim Berners-Lee and others has a good opportunity to offer people more efficient and secure ways to manage their data.
Project as redemption
Tim Berners-Lee’s colleagues believe this project means a lot to him. It can be said that this is how he corrects his mistakes, which he made when he advocated more extensive information exchange, data openness and increased opportunities on the Internet. Now Tim is worried that the dominant companies on the Internet are confronting the individual, far from always acting within the rules and in the interests of that very individual.
It is unclear if his team will be able to implement this project. Some data protection experts say that Solid-Inrupt technology is too complex and specific, and therefore will not be adopted by developers. They also question whether the technology will be able to achieve the speed and power to become a real usable and well-functioning platform.
Anyway, good attempt. What do you think?
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