Control over data as key to permissionless innovation

The Web strives to be universal
through independence of many factors.

• anyone can use the Web, regardless of

  hardware

  desktop

  phone

  tablet

  watch

  …

  software

  operating system

  browser

  app

  …

• developers are free to innovate
  • build for the Web
  • standards provide interoperability

The Web brings freedom of expression
to everyone across the world.

• Anyone can say anything about anything.
• We all have our own spaces,
  so we don’t have to agree.
• We can link to opinions of others
  to discuss about them.

The Web brings permissionless innovation
at a global scale.

• Anyone can build anything for any reason.
• You don’t need anyone’s permission
  to join the Web and launch a new idea.
  • not the case in app stores

Permissionless innovation has brought
unprecedented creativity to the world.

The current massive centralization
hurts diversity, innovation, and choice.

• if you can build 1 integration
  • will it be facebook.com or private-identity-provider.org?
• developers depend on centralized platforms
  for data and identity
  • …or they have to become such a platform themselves
• people lose control of their data
  and cannot easily switch to other apps
  • innovation cannot attract locked-in customers

People choose where they store
every single piece of data they produce.

They can grant apps and people access
to very specific parts of their data.

Separating app and storage competition
drives permissionless innovation.

Solid is not a company or organisation.
Solid is not (just) software.

• Solid is an ecosystem
  • standards enable interoperability
• Solid is a movement
  • shifting the app builder mindset
• Solid is a community
  • different people, companies, and organisations

Solid is transitioning from research project
into an ecosystem backed by a start-up.

• MIT has been our home
  • initial development of server and apps
• Inrupt is accelerating development
  • open up the ecosystem for all
  • maintain common building blocks as open source
  • create tooling for developers
  • offer services and apps

We aim to bring the Solid experience
to people all over the world.

2014

start of Solid at MIT

Oct 2018

launch of Inrupt

Jan 2019

developer toolkit & common UX

early 2019

MVP of the ecosystem

today

you become involved? 😉

The road ahead is promising but uncertain,
yet there are 3 important drivers.

• legal
  • GDPR
• societal
  • increasing awareness
• entrepreneurial
  • leveling the playing field

Will we lose access to customers’ data
we need for analytics?

• no: their version becomes the source of truth
• companies can still keep a copy,
  but don’t have to.
  • we can argue that it is our data too.
  • storage might be expensive under GDPR.

What should we do if
we are not collecting data anymore?

• relax
• focus on what you really want to do
  • …which is most likely not data harvesting

There will not be less data.
There will be more.

• not only the data you generate
• data from many other sources

Consider an example of retailers
and customer loyalty cards.

• Albert Hein knows everything I am buying there
  
  • and likely what I want to buy, too
• wouldn’t they like to know what I buy at Lidl?
  • their orange juice is more expensive, but better
• how would they like to cut me a better deal?
  • under GDPR, I can already do this!

Several companies don’t want
to store customer data anymore.

• storing data has become expensive,
  and a liability, because of GDPR
• storing data puts you in competition
  with the largest player in your field
  • you’ve already lost
• companies want to innovate

My team at Ghent University–imec is
always looking for industry collaborations.

• bilateral projects
• European projects

Please talk to me if you want to collaborate,
or if you can connect me to someone in your network.