The creator of the World Wide Web, Tim Berners-Lee, returned as a visitor to his alma mater, the University of Oxford, for a special lecture where he discussed the progress of his latest project, Solid. When he first developed the technology that reshaped the world, the physicist strongly believed the internet should remain free and open—an ideal that contrasts sharply with today’s digital landscape.
Berners-Lee developed the global hypertext infrastructure in 1989 while working at CERN, the European Organization for Nuclear Research, in Geneva, Switzerland. His vision was to create a tool that allowed people to collaborate within a shared virtual space, pooling knowledge and improving efficiency. However, the decentralized system he imagined has since evolved into an ecosystem dominated by a handful of tech giants that offer users little control over their privacy or data ownership.
Oxford
Now approaching 70, Berners-Lee shows no signs of slowing down. At his startup, Inrupt, and with support from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT), he is leading the development of Solid—an open-source project designed to return data control to users. The platform allows individuals to decide who can access their information and under what conditions. The initiative aims to reverse the web’s centralization by corporations, promoting a more ethical and secure digital infrastructure while fostering a more balanced ecosystem.
A Solid Project
In this new system, user data is stored in independently managed online repositories called Pods (Personal Online Data Stores), with access protected by multi-factor authentication. This ensures that users—not corporations—decide who can view or use their personal information and for what purpose.
Although Solid primarily seeks to restore power to individual users, it also benefits smaller businesses and public institutions. A corporate version of Solid has already been launched, offering enhanced security and scalability for enterprises. Organizations like the UK’s National Health Service (NHS) are developing applications using Solid, allowing patients to maintain control over their health records. Through this system, users can grant permission to doctors, family members, or caregivers.
But the adoption of decentralized data frameworks like Solid still faces major challenges, particularly in user adoption and integration with existing infraestructures. At the same time, regulatory pressure on big tech companies is increasing. The European Union’s Digital Markets Act (DMA), which came into effect in 2023, seeks to limit anti-competitive practices by requiring major platforms to ensure data portability and interconection. In this context, the idea behind Solid align with policymakers’ efforts to give users more control. We will see how it unfolds on the next months and years.
