Opinion: Chris Jenkins, Advisor for Pocket Network
Tim Berners-Lee’s vision for World Wide Web is dead. Instead of open and accessible global information systems, the web is controlled by a centralized global data conglomerate. This not only limits freedom of speech, but also monetizes the data as entry price. Web2 companies are building walled gardens with large information asymmetry between companies and users.
Blockchain-based decentralized technology challenges the status quo and provides an alternative to Web2’s closed-source infrastructure.
Developers and engineers can build open data webs that are accessible to withstand censorship and defend the causes of free speech. Open source technology creates a paradigm shift to a fair and inclusive internet where centralized web companies do not determine terms.
Postponed vision
In 1989, Berners-Lee’s invention created a virtual space for collaboration, sharing and learning with one another. The first iteration of the web was based on openness that anyone could contribute, access information, collaborate and enjoy the same opportunities.
The internet is no longer free in 2025. Capital’s Brute Force encouraged central companies to exercise authoritarian control over data and information flow.
Unfortunately, these companies acquire power and resources from unaware users who have unconsciously contributed to their capital accumulation strategies. Web2 companies secretly collect data from users without fair compensation and use it as a weapon to control the behavior of users.
Companies use user data to train opaque algorithms and develop information “discoverability” to shape the user’s beliefs and feelings. The practice is primarily displayed on centralized social media platforms such as Facebook, Instagram and X, with multiple scandals and lawsuits eroding user trust.
For example, in June 2024, Meta, the parent company of Facebook and Instagram, received 11 complaints from European Union members. It involves complaints that use personal data such as posts and images to train META’s AI models without consent, and violate EU privacy laws.
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The Cambridge Analytica Scandal showed how businesses mine data to shape political perspectives and election outcomes. These companies can also shape pre-determined narratives and market behaviors by promoting or overturning curated reports and sometimes forming a public perspective on health and economic data.
Under the Digital Markets Act, the European Commission has launched a non-violation investigation into the practices of Apple, Meta, Amazon and Alphabet. Meta also fined $1.3 billion for not complying with privacy regulations.
In this environment, “free speech” remains a very inconspicuous dream, as the entire high-tech stack is hostile to accessibility and openness. To realize Berners-Lee’s vision, apps must use a distributed technology stack and build from scratch with an open architecture.
Make the internet free (again)
The app’s tech stack consists of its front and rear edges, data storage, and a content delivery network (CDN). The Web2 platform relies on a centralized technology stack that puts free speech at risk, but most blockchain-powered apps take advantage of a decentralized technology stack with high uptime and durable uptime.
Some distributed applications (DAPPS) build front-ends on distributed interfaces. However, most of the backends are still stuck in a centralized data infrastructure.
For example, despite censorship vulnerabilities and a single point of failure, distributed applications (DAPPs) often use centralized cloud providers and data hosting platforms. These types of attack vectors create projects like tornado cash as the mood changes for national actors.
The migration of distributed data storage such as interplanetary file systems (IPFS) and filecoin to open source protocols supports DAPP’s philosophy of free speech. These protocols provide a censor-resistant, tamper-proof storage facility that is easy to access without any outages.
DAPPS also uses centralized remote procedure call (RPC) providers to provide data from the backend to the frontend interface, especially across multiple networks. However, stops or attacks like X can lead to downtime, inaccuracies, data gaps, and disconnected information flows. If it doesn’t seem that big, remember the downtime and inaccuracies of decentralized finance.
Distributed protocols avoid these situations by using independent node operators to translate data accessibility and transfer channels. Data queries are distributed throughout the network, eliminating a single point of failure and providing uninterrupted data availability. More importantly, because a single node cannot block or interfere with data flow, it protects the right to free speech, and the network remains accessible even when several nodes go offline.
Another important component of providing user requests, CDNS may become inaccessible due to market pressure and political influence. Opaque decisions from closed door meetings determine the data flow of the CDN without certainty in the information flow.
Let’s start with the basics
Decentralized protocols remove the need for centralized decision-making by allowing apps to access data directly without intermediaries. These unauthorized protocols connect open source data and service providers with users and applications, removing human interactions and related manufactured problems.
Blockchain-driven platforms promote freedom of speech and lay the foundation for a decentralized technology stack that is not managed by centralized Web2 companies. These unauthorized protocols create an open source world and bring the internet back to Bernersley’s vision of globally accessible networks.
Opinion: Chris Jenkins, Advisor of Pocket Network.
This article is for general informational purposes and is not intended to be considered legal or investment advice, and should not be done. The views, thoughts and opinions expressed here are the authors alone and do not necessarily reflect or express Cointregraph’s views and opinions.
