Information Technology

<p>You simply cannot fully understand a movie sequel without watching the prequel. Web 3 is the third phase of web technology, and essentially, to best understand Web 3, we have to quickly reflect on the evolution of web technology starting from Web 1.&nbsp;</p><h2><span style="font-size: 14pt;">History of Web Technology</span></h2><p><strong>Web 1</strong></p><p>Web1 is literally a static, read-only web where people can visit a website to read information. The primary purpose of Web1 was to find information primarily by leveraging technologies like HTML, HTTP and URL.&nbsp;</p><p><strong>Web 2</strong></p><p>In 1999, Web2, the new generation of the Web, was born. This is the stage of the evolution we are all familiar with because, for the first time, people could engage on the internet via social media and blogs even before smartphones and mobile computing existed.</p><p>The core innovation drivers of Web 2 are mobile technology (smartphones), social networking, and cloud computing, and these three layers of innovation revolutionalized our daily lives with companies such as Google, Facebook, Microsoft, and Amazon spearheading Web 2 adoption, becoming the infamous "big-tech."</p><p>"Big tech's" prominence led to many issues related to the mismanagement of user data, unfair treatment of smaller businesses, and threat to free speech.</p><p><strong>Web 3 </strong></p><p>Web 3 is the latest web technology that leverages machine learning, artificial intelligence, and blockchain to achieve real-world human communication. The most critical value is that Web3 allows people to own their data and will be compensated for the time spent on the web.</p><p>Web 3 is a whole other animal in the sense that, Web 3's core defining attributes are openness, incredible user utility, and decentralization, which is critical because big-tech companies are currently making enormous profits from user data. But Web 3 enables us all to be compensated for our time and data spent online.</p><p>In summary, Web 3 is an Internet where we will enjoy more personalized automated interactions online, like when we communicate with any other human.</p><h2><span style="font-size: 14pt;">How Web 3.0 affects Data Gathering and Intelligence ?</span></h2><p>With Web 3, users are compensated for their time and data spent on the internet, as earlier illustrated. With GDPR compliance, brands and businesses must uphold and respect user data sovereignty which in turn means that users have complete control of their data, and thus, the choice, volume, type, and nature of data that a user can provide lies solely on the user and the brand/business has full liability for said data usage.</p><p>However, with accurate demographic, psychographic, and behavioral data gathered, brands can now be more user experience-focused, which means improving customer experience, perceived value, and derived utility from their services.</p><p>A case in point is recommendations on eCommerce and content streaming platforms. Most websites now mandate visitors to accept, reject or customize the cookies they want to accept to best manage user experience while using their services. Also, important to note is an upward trend of brands/businesses employing reward-based strategies like gamification to compensate for data gathering.</p><p>&nbsp;</p><p><span style="font-size: 10pt;"><em>This article was contributed by our expert <a href="linkedin.com/in/babajideagbana">Jide Agbana</a></em></span></p><p>&nbsp;</p><h3><span style="font-size: 18pt;">Frequently Asked Questions Answered by Jide Agbana</span></h3><h2><span style="font-size: 12pt;">1. How will Web 3.0 change the internet?</span></h2><p>Web 3.0 has already changed how we use the internet, particularly in the developed world. In developing nations like Africa, South America, and South-East Asia, Web 3.0 adoption is relatively low, but its growth is recognized and acknowledgeable.&nbsp;</p><p>With Web 3.0's key impacts, namely transparency, data control and privacy, services continuity, and single profile creation, the framework of the latest web technology are built on privacy, freedom, data sovereignty, meaningful user experience through development, exchange, and integration of content, human-like level information processing by unifying natural language processing and using semantic metadata to make information more interconnected.&nbsp;</p><p>The experience of using the internet, as a result, changed immensely, and users can achieve increased levels of interconnectedness by utilizing all accessible data.&nbsp;</p><p>Web 3.0 delivers a better and more relevant internet experience by continuously analyzing user's digital footprints and resolving the most ubiquitous issues of the Web 2.0 internet era: privacy, ownership, and data protection.</p><h2><span style="font-size: 12pt;">2. What are the most important characteristics of Web 3.0 from your point of view?</span></h2><p>Web 3.0's five key features are Artificial Intelligence (AI), Semantic Web, Connectivity, 3D Graphics, and Decentralization. From my point of view, the most important would be the Semantic Web, Decentralization, and Artificial Intelligence (AI).</p><h2><span style="font-size: 12pt;">3. What's a real-world example of how Web 3.0 can provide greater user utility?</span></h2><p>The perfect example in the real world where Web 3.0 provides greater user utility is Machine Learning and Artificial Intelligence. Web 3.0 is essentially an internet where users will enjoy more personalized automated interactions online in the same manner as when they communicate with each other in real life.&nbsp;</p><p>In recent times, there has been a remarkable rise in machine learning technology and other significant areas of artificial intelligence. In mobile technology, specifically smartphones, our mobile devices are packed with these technologies, which is basically how applications like Apple's Siri operate. With Natural Language Processing (NLP), users can speak directly to artificial intelligence, which will comfortably parse the users' requests.&nbsp;</p><p>Machine Learning and Artificial Intelligence also employ a real-time approach to data which is about capturing and acting on data as it happens &ndash; or as close as possible to get and is increasingly essential in many industries.&nbsp;</p><p>Fintechs employ real-time data analysis of transactions to spot fraud and halt transactions before they take place. This saves so much time and money that would have been wasted on tracking, canceling, and rectifying damage that could only be detected after the fact.&nbsp;</p><p>Content streaming platforms such as Netflix use real-time data to make on-the-fly decisions about what customers want to watch next, based on interests and what's popular at the moment. Social Media platforms such as Instagram and Facebook use real-time data to identify and remove dangerous content like fake news and abusive posts, the billions of posts made daily.</p><h2><span style="font-size: 12pt;">4. What are the risks of web 3 in terms of regulation?</span></h2><p>It is important to note that transitioning to Web 3.0, similar to Web 1.0 transitioning to Web 2.0, includes the inheritance of several security vulnerabilities.&nbsp;</p><p>The answer to the pertinent question "How safe is Web 3.0?" generally points to the explanations for the incremental evolution of security risks at the different stages in the evolution of the internet. Pre-existing vulnerabilities are basically a set of mandatory challenges every stakeholder has to encounter with Web 3.0; however, the pre-existing vulnerabilities could further evolve with Web 3.0 transformation, thereby creating critical setbacks.&nbsp;</p><p>The progressive evolution towards individually managed and exchanged data and information has sparked interest across Web 3.0-based industries and organizations yet still yields uncertainty about regulatory compliance. Specifically, certain federal regulations and state statutes for data sovereignty and protection were written with the expectation that primary data collection and storage would occur in a covered entity.&nbsp;</p><p>Other risks of Web 3.0 in terms of regulation include:</p><ul><li style="list-style-type: none;"><ul><li>Social engineering</li><li>Unauthorized information access</li><li>Malicious script injections</li><li>Standardization of trust and proof</li><li>Data Availability and Confidentiality</li><li>The regulatory risks associated with Web 3.0 offer a credible overview of what regulatory experts envisage with Web 3.0. Regulatory risks are a pressing concern for Web 3.0 adoption, as new users would not want to risk their data and information.&nbsp;</li></ul></li></ul><p>Web 3.0 regulations are critical for ensuring the successful adoption of Web 3.0 in the long run. Furthermore, the transition to Web 3.0 would have many formidable implications for the digital transformation of everyday activities and many conventional processes.&nbsp;</p><p>Regulatory issues such as unauthorized access to information and data confidentiality could affect the adoption of Web 3.0 technologies. On the other hand, a proactive approach to risk identification can help you achieve significant value improvements in using Web 3.0.</p><p>&nbsp;</p>