In 1991, we commenced the use of Internet called Web 1.0 which was static read-only internet. There were static web pages with a passive one-way engagement. It continued till the end of 2004. Its next version was Web 2.0 which we use currently. It is interactive read-and-write internet. Web 1.0 was for passive content delivery. Web 2.0 is interactive, and has led to the emergence of the social media. Here the users engage flexibly with the servers and other users, leading to the social web. It has been a user-friendly net, and with increasing speed, it has allowed the sharing of complex information. Web 3.0 is still in the making. It is being built on blockchain technology, and follows the dictum of read-write-execute. It aims to remove the intermediaries such as ISPs, Big Tech and governments. The data will be distributed across networks and no one entity will own the data. Users thus will own and control their online data.
Jack Dorsey, the founder of Twitter has misgivings about Web 3.0. He prefers a leap forward to Web 5.0 through his cryptocurrency based company The Block Head (TBH). Dorsey calls Web 5.0 a combination of Web 2.0 and Web 3.0. Web 5.0 will be built on Bitcoin. It will be a democratised web giving users direct control over their identity and data. In Web 3.0, the data being controlled currently by Big Tech, will pass on to venture capitalists who finance it. In other words, Web 3.0 could turn out to be a centralised entity. Still Web.5 remains just a favourite project of Dorsey, and has little chance to translate into reality anytime soon.