Dear Elon, This Is How to Decentralize Twitter and Give the Internet Back to Everyone

1 year ago

Congrats connected buying Twitter! We’ve been watching the process unfold with enthusiasm due to the fact that of each the times you’ve mentioned the value of decentralization. You and your squad look to person the imaginativeness to usage this fantastic level arsenic the lever to kickstart a much mature and self-sovereign web.

With the close design, a decentralized Twitter would catalyze a caller benignant of net – fundamentally changing the narration betwixt users and platforms. People could ain the information they make crossed applications crossed the web.

David Sneider is simply a co-founder of Lit Protocol, a decentralized cryptography network.

A look astatine Twitter’s (TWTR) merchandise lines similar profiles, posts, messaging strategy and advertizing could supply penetration into what the self-sovereign web would look similar and however to spell astir onboarding people.

As we tin archer from your texts with erstwhile Twitter CEO Jack Dorsey, it seems you judge Twitter contiguous is lingering astatine the limits of the inferior it tin provide. To go much utile to users and make further arsenic a “protocol” alternatively than arsenic a company, we tin larn a batch from email.

Email is simply a protocol. You mightiness beryllium utilizing Microsoft Office, Dorsey mightiness beryllium utilizing Proton, and I’m connected Gmail. We tin each easy connection 1 different and beryllium connected the aforesaid thread, but spot and constitute our emails via antithetic exertion interfaces (e.g. Outlook, Gmail).

This exemplary tin beryllium expanded to societal media utilizing systems similar Filecoin, Arweave, Ceramic and Polybase. Users' connections and posts wouldn’t beryllium confined to a azygous “walled garden” similar Twitter oregon Facebook, but unrecorded connected the unfastened web. This information tin inactive beryllium backstage and permissioned (and truthful monetized) via threshold cryptography-powered entree power (like what Lit is building).

On decentralized, idiosyncratic sovereign and privacy-focused social-media protocols, users volition person the quality to consent to which applications and connections tin spot their contented crossed interface platforms conscionable similar email.

One of the biggest hurdles successful Web3 is wallet idiosyncratic experience. For immoderate people, self-custody of keys is simply a privilege, but for galore more, it’s a burden. As a result, successful the past year, there’s been an detonation of involvement successful multiparty computation (MPC).

MPC wallets alteration users to motion into apps with a accepted login, pin codification and biometric with their wallets without the load of self-custody oregon having to trust connected a centralized cardinal holder custodian.

For the parts of the societal graphs that are public, similar Twitter today, determination are already a fig of progressive projects that person created open-source infrastructure to assistance radical ain their data. Lens Protocol and Orbis, for instance, are unrecorded now.

Of course, not each societal information is public. Often the basal components successful societal networking and media, similar a person’s connections, illustration info, posts and messages are private, meaning that they are viewable lone to authorized people. Or, astatine least, it would beryllium preferable to person that option.

Today, connected Twitter, this information is mostly locked wrong Twitter's and Facebook’s servers. The alternate is to store this information encrypted connected the unfastened web and springiness the idiosyncratic fine-grained entree power implicit who tin decrypt it.

This isn’t a caller thought successful online societal networking, and this strategy is sync with the aboriginal days of the web and the Pretty Good Privacy (PGP) encryption programme inactive utilized by many. (PGP allows radical to station their nationalist cardinal anywhere, to person messages that lone the backstage cardinal holder tin read.)

Threshold cryptography advances these privateness standards by allowing users to make rules astir who tin presumption their posts. And if decentralized societal protocols are wide adopted, this encrypted information could past beryllium utilized crossed “the unfastened web.”

For example, Alice mightiness marque a station with a mounting that says “anyone connected my friends database tin spot this post." Bob, Alice’s friend, could decrypt that station connected immoderate level by proving his individuality via a signature from his wallet.

Ads are often considered a soiled taxable successful definite Web3 circles, but the information is lone astir 10% of net users wage for premium apps and software. That means astir radical usage bundle services with ads.

Tracking a “conversion” for a acquisition is mostly done via last-click attribution wherever the steadfast (e.g. Twitter) has immoderate bundle moving connected its leafage that indicates to the advertisers (e.g. an e-commerce store) that a idiosyncratic has clicked connected an ad. When that idiosyncratic makes a purchase, the steadfast is compensated.

This excessively tin beryllium decentralized. The strategy mentioned supra for idiosyncratic information tin besides beryllium applied to advertisement attribution. The ”last click” is written to a person’s information hub (encrypted and stored connected the unfastened web) arsenic a verifiable credential and past the advertiser tin get support to decrypt this data.

As the world’s regulators continue to ace down connected tracking cookies, bringing the idiosyncratic and his oregon her consent into the strategy for tracking advertisement clicks and conversions presents a semipermanent way guardant for ad-supported publishers.

The decentralized networks to enactment planetary standard are inactive maturing, but there’s ne'er been a amended clip to commencement laying the foundation. If you’re Elon Musk oregon different ambitious builder who’s got their oculus connected the aboriginal of societal networking and media, delight get successful touch!

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