The Man Who Built The World Wide Web Is Building A 'New Internet', Where You Control Your Data

Unless you've been living under a rock, you know Tim Berners-Lee is a pretty important dude in the technology world. 

He's the father of the Internet, responsible for the birth of the World Wide Web as we know it.

And he hates what it has become. So he's taking some action to fix it.

You see, for years now Berners-Lee has expressed his distaste at how major corporations have taken what was supposed to be a free environment and placed restrictions on it. 

He doesn’t like how groups like Facebook, Google, and Amazon have effectively centralized the Internet, nor how they control people’s data. 

So he’s instead working on a new platform and startup that’s declaring war on Big Tech.

Inrupt is a startup that Berners-Lee has been working on in stealth for about nine months. 

He’s even taken a sabbatical from his prestigious position teaching at MIT’s CSAIL labs in order to work full time. And Inrupt will finally launch to the world this week, Berners-Lee told Fast Company in an exclusive interview.

“The intent is world domination,” he says.

Inrupt is built on the ‘Solid’ platform, something he and others at MIT have been working on for years. Solid is basically designed to be like the early days of the Internet, wild and free, and Inrupt will be the way to access it, at least to start. 

In a demonstration for the piece, he pulled up what looked like a very basic browser page, completely barebones. 

Part of an app built for his personal use, displays his calendar, address book, chats, his music etc. It’s like if you combined Google Drive with WhatsApp, Spotify, and pretty much every piece of cloud storage and online connectivity you use today, all in one place. 

The difference here is that all the information is under his own control. 

Taking back the Internet

The basic idea is that each user is assigned a Solid ID and Solid pod when they first come online on the platform, that can be hosted wherever you want. 

Pod here stands for personal data store, which is what it does. Instead of apps like Google Drive, where your data is stored on the company’s server and therefore subject to their data harvesting. 

On Solid however, all your data exists in your Solid pod. When an app requests access, Solid will authenticate and then you can choose to give it access to your pod.

Source: Reuters. 

TAXI LEAKS EXTRA BIT : 

Absolutely Brilliant ...

Ordering a Pizza in 2022

CALLER:

Is this Pizza Hut?

 

GOOGLE:    

No sir, it's Google Pizza.

 

CALLER:  

I must have dialed a wrong number, sorry.

 

GOOGLE:  

No sir, Google bought Pizza Hut last month.

 

CALLER:  

OK. I would like to order a pizza.

 

GOOGLE:  

Do you want your usual, sir?

 

CALLER:

My usual? You know me?

 

GOOGLE:

According to our caller ID data sheet, the last 12 times you called you ordered an extra-large pizza with three cheeses, sausage, pepperoni, mushrooms and meatballs on a thick crust.

 

CALLER:  

Super! That’s what I’ll have.

 

GOOGLE:

May I suggest that this time you order a pizza with ricotta, arugula, sun-dried tomatoes and olives on a whole wheat gluten-free thin crust?

 

CALLER:  

What? I don’t want a vegetarian pizza!

 

GOOGLE:  

Your cholesterol is not good, sir.

 

CALLER:  

How the hell do you know that?

 

GOOGLE:

Well, we cross-referenced your home phone number with your medical records. We have the result of your blood tests for the last 7 years.

 

CALLER:

Okay, but I do not want your rotten vegetarian pizza!  I already take medication for my cholesterol.

 

GOOGLE:

Excuse me sir, but you have not taken your medication regularly.  According to our database, you purchased only a box of 30 cholesterol tablets once at Lloyds Pharmacy, 4 months ago.

 

CALLER:  

I bought more from another Pharmacy.

 

GOOGLE:  

That doesn’t show on your credit card statement.

 

CALLER: 

I paid in cash.

 

GOOGLE:  

But you did not withdraw enough cash according to your bank statement.

 

CALLER:  

I have other sources of cash.

 

GOOGLE:

That doesn’t show on your latest tax returns, unless you bought them using an undeclared income source, which is against the law!

 

CALLER:    

WHAT THE HELL!

 

GOOGLE:  

I'm sorry sir, we use such information only with the sole intention of helping you.

 

CALLER:  

Enough already!  I'm sick to death of Google, Facebook, Twitter, WhatsApp and all the others.  I'm going to an island without the internet, TV, where there is no phone service and no one to watch me or spy on me.

 

GOOGLE:      

I understand sir, but you need to renew your passport first. It expired 6 weeks ago...

Welcome to the future 🤖