Tim Berners-Lee created the WWW standard in 1989, including the HTTP protocol we still use. It is, literally, the inventor of web pages. His idea was to design a free and free universal communication tool, but we all know what web pages have become. Tim Berners-Lee feels devastated and hurt, and that’s why he has been working for several years with MIT (the prestigious Massachusetts Institute of Technology) on the Solid platform, a new Internet where the user is the sole owner and holder of all his data and therefore nobody can use them without their consent. How does Solid from Tim Berners-Lee work? The data of the users is stored in USB keys, in our own computer, or in online servers. But we do not only talk about key information, such as our name, emails or address but absolutely all of our data: photos, videos, messages, everything we share on the Internet. Let’s explain it more clearly. As we have said, all the private information of Solid users are stored in sealed (encrypted) containers called Solid POD. It is important to be clear that we are talking about ALL the data. Any personal information that you create, from a message to your browsing history, a photo that you share, everything, will be stored in a POD. A POD can be in a server on the Internet, but also in a USB key, or a computer that you configure as a POD server. It is, therefore, a physical container, which you will have to connect to the Internet since the apps or webs you use will access it to use the data that you decide to share. The advantage of this is that your data is physically with you, either on a USB pen drive, or on your computer, and the best thing about this is that nobody else can access them. It seems a limited solution because there are people who generate hundreds of gigs of private data uploading photos, videos, etc. But you have to keep in mind that there is data that does not matter to you that are public, so those will not go to the POD. On the other hand, today you can buy a 4 TB hard drive for $100. So, your privacy is worth a small outlay, in any case, you can also use online servers to store your Solid PODs, so you do not have to worry about space. When you install an app or a browser, you decide what part of your data (or what POD) you can access, so you have total control over what others know about you.
Solid by Tim Berners-Lee is an extraordinary idea, but it will not be easy to implement. And we will see what platforms are willing to operate without charging in private information. But it is the first step towards a new Internet in which users are not constantly manipulated, stolen and violated with impunity by large Internet companies, as it happens now. Now you can create your own POD in Solid, and soon the SDK will be available so that developers can create compatible apps with Solid. We wish all the luck of the world to this new Solid initiative by Tim Berners-Lee. Humanity needs it more than ever and who better than the inventor of web pages to turn it into reality? So, what do you think about this? Simply share all your views and thoughts in the comment section below.
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