WWW Creator Reenvisions How Personal Data is Stored

World Wide Web creator Tim Berners-Lee wants to rethink the way people control online data. He says his "pods" proposal would bring the online world closer to his original vision of the web.

Berners-Lee has launched an open-source project and associated business to try to counter what he sees as the web's biggest problem: major companies collecting user data and exploiting it as a core part of their business.

His new idea is "pods", or personal online data store. This would involve users having a space on a server that acted like a digital safe and contained a range of data. This could be anything from the sites they had visited to their favorite workout routines.

Sites Couldn't Store Data

The user could then give permission for an online company to securely access a specific piece of this data to provide a service. Reuters suggests this could range from personalized ads to processing a loan application. The key is that although the company could access and use the data, it wouldn't be allowed to store it. (Source: reuters.com)

Berners-Lee has now started Inrupt, a company that licenses the software to operate such pods. It's already signed up a regional government and a national health service in Europe to trial the concept. According to Berners-Lee, promoting the concept through a company can be a more effective way of establishing the idea than relying on open-source software or government regulation. (Source: forbesindia.com)

Security Must Be Paramount

While the technology appears straightforward enough, it would have to overcome some significant challenges to succeed. One is that users would have to be extremely confident and trusting that their "pods" would be completely secure and under their control given the large amount of sensitive data they might store.

Another is the chicken-and-egg situation of building a user base. Many people might feel there's little point using the technology if it's not supported by web giants such as Google, Facebook and Apple. However, those companies will feel little pressure to completely rethink their businesses and give up control of data while "pods" are still a niche concept.

What's Your Opinion?

Would you be interested in controlling your personal data in this way? Would you trust the concept? Would you ever stop using a major web company's services because it wanted too much control of your data?