Session: Breaking the Internet: How open source, Web3 technologies can help level the playing field (and smash the tech patriarchy)
Mark Zuckerberg, Larry Page, Jeff Bezos and, now, Elon Musk. These are the men at the center of the current Internet. Ironic given the network was very intentionally developed to survive and thrive as a distributed communications system. But, thanks to the evolution of web technologies, the data, and therefore the power, is largely centralized on a few key platforms. At first glance, that might seem okay. You can log in with a Facebook or Google account to sites around the world and go about your business without added effort. However, where the data goes, the money goes. And the influence goes. The power players, both in tech and finance, are fully in the driver’s seat while you have lost control over your information, opinions, transactions and more.
But there is a better way. The shift to Web3 is about breaking the centralized power structure of the Internet and returning to the vision of a decentralized network and, by extension, power structure. The blockchain and related technologies we host at Hyperledger Foundation have a central role in the technical infrastructure of Web3. And so we have a big responsibility to make sure that technology is built in ways that, finally, level the playing field. In this talk, I will discuss the roles that a diverse community and open development process play in ensuring the promise of Web3. This includes:
- How Web3 technologies flip the script on the current, centralized Web 2.0 model
- How decentralization boosts overall efficiency, equity and privacy and enables a new generation of applications and services for finance, communications, entertainment, and more
- Why it is critical to bring new and diverse voices into the development of these technologies and the applications they power
- How open source and open development foster this diversity and can help smash the tech patriarchy
Bio
Daniela Barbosa serves as General Manager Blockchain and Identity at the Linux Foundation and as Executive Director of Hyperledger Foundation with overall strategic and operational responsibility for staff, programs, expansion and execution of Hyperledger Foundation’s mission. Daniela has more than 20 years of enterprise technology experience, including serving for four years as Hyperledger Foundation’s Vice President of Worldwide Alliances with responsibility for the member community as well as broader industry and business community outreach and overall network growth. She started her career at Dow Jones where she worked with the top global brands across various sectors, including finance, consumer and energy, to architect and deliver enterprise systems, ontologies and semantic web solutions. In the early 2000s, Daniela became involved in the early Web 2.0 community helping to advance the concept of digital identity and data portability as the pathway for people to reuse their data across interoperable applications.