WEB-5, what is it and why should we care

Web5 is the next step in the evolution of the Internet, it is a decentralised version of the internet where users store their own personal information and can revoke access at will. Well, "web3 is also a decentralised internet, so how is this any different"?. The main idea behind web5's architecture is to provide users the ability to gain control over their data and "digital properties" independent of a third party.

The future of the world wide web

Before we continue, let's understand why web5 came about, was it to fix an important problem? or is it just another new toy for us to play with. Usually, when a user signs up to an application be it web2 or web3, their data is usually stored in some data center far away from the users. In web2, this data is overseen by the company and they can do whatever they want with it (I believe the terms and conditions we agree to actually means something), and in web3, well they claim it's decentralised but there are some rumors that it's not truly decentralized and apart from that, users do not have a single clue were their data is. So we have a few issues with these models of the web;

• Users have no clue where their data is being stored (This problem is more subjective, depends who you ask).

• Secondly, these data can be sold out to other major companies (hence, loss of privacy), now that is a really major problem.

This is where the idea of web5 comes in. It aims to take the best of both worlds and create the future of the internet. It is an identity based system*, with an **extra layer of decentralisation*. Giving users the ability to hold their data and web applications then get these data from the users (think of it as human apis) instead of storing it exclusively.

So, do we need it? My opinion on this is, I believe we really need it. It's a true innovation and could really change the way the internet works. No more having 100+ accounts scattered across the web pointing to only a single user.

How does web5 work

In the Web5 model, users would be able to use decentralised web apps and protocols, providing users to manage "self-owned" identities. When logging in to a web app, the user would verify their identity on a decentralised basis.

It builds off its predecessor, using web3 as a blueprint for its model design. There are three pillars at Web5’s core:

1. Self-owned decentralised identifiers.

2. Verifiable credentials.

3. Decentralised web nodes for storing data and relaying messages.

Decentralised Identifiers (DID)

Think of it like an id card on the decentralized network, it enables others to easily find us on the decentralized web. This is the first step in achieving true decentralisation as it detaches us from using third party credentials, (think of not having to sign up using Google, email, Facebook e.t.c anymore).

Its main strengths is to give individuals the ability to selectively share as much information as they wish to. They are also designed to be used for authentication and authorisation (just like our normal id card). Learn more

Verifiable Credentials (VCs)

Kind of ironic that one of the things that Jack dismissed about web3 is that it was a "VCs' [venture capitalists] plaything", and now VCs are one of the pillars of web5 (haha).

Okay, What are Verifiable Credentials? As the name states, these are credentials that can be verified, so as to make sure that it wasn't just made up, this adds some layer of security to the model, fighting against false stories.

It consists of three parties;

1. The issuer

2. The subject

3. The verifier

To explain these parties let's give it some context.

"Jack Dorsey has a driving license from X-drivers".

The statement above is a credential.

The issuer is the party who makes the claim. In this case that's "X-drivers", They are the entity that creates and signs the VC. The subject is who the claim is about and that's "Jack Dorsey" and The verifier can be anyone who can vouch that the claim is authentic. Learn more

Note: A claim is a specific assertion(s) the issuer makes about the subject.

Decentralised Web Nodes (DWN)

Think of it as your personal database. You choose who sees it and who cannot. You're in control of where to host it, to could host multiple copies at different places and they all get synced providing you with a resilient data network.

If you've ever used a Linux server it has a similar working to it, where you're the admin, and you give permission to your data, depending on the permissions assigned to a user, they can read, write or even go as far as deleting data from your node, pretty cool, right? They are the key in helping decentralised applications function. Learn more

Web5 in a nutshell

A decentralised web platform can be used to create a decentralised web application this application is dependent on blockchain and does not store user data.

To authenticate and authorise users, the application makes use of decentralised identifiers as an alternative to web2's email addresses and account information, thereby giving users the power to choose if their identity can be discovered or not.

The verifiable credentials remove the hassle of traditional verification where an organisation will have to do some digging to verify that a person's claim about their credential is authentic, What happens instead is that the organisation could request a verifiable credential from the user's identity and that will be all.

And All this is made possible through the decentralised web nodes, which decentralised applications use to collect data. These nodes have addresses which decentralised applications can use to communicate with it.

Conclusion ( A Private Centric Internet )

Although web5 is not completely established, it will be the first of its kind to offer great ownership of data to its users, so they can control who can access their data. It's ultimate goal is to prevent providers from accessing informations without permission and I honestly believe this is a revolutionary technology.