Exploring the Decentralized Web: Episodes 5–8
Exploring the Decentralized Web is a 12-part documentary series produced by Filecoin Foundation for the Decentralized Web (FFDW). These videos, featuring leaders and visionaries from top projects across the space, explore the emergence and impact of decentralized technology.
Episodes 5–8 dive into some of the most impactful topics in the Web3 space –from privacy, identity, and user control, to blockchain economics, dApps, and open-source development. You can find a recap of the first four episodes here. Check out a sneak peak of the next four episodes below:
Episode 5: “Privacy and Rights”
“I talk about privacy as a set of tradeoffs. Everything around privacy is really, ‘What am I willing to give, for what am I willing to get?’” — Mike Masnick, Techdirt
Privacy is a critical function and benefit of Web3. Episode 5 explores the tradeoffs around privacy and how Web3 tools can help us establish clear boundaries for public and private data. In Web2, “we’ve been taught that access means letting go of your data,” says Simona Pop, Head of Community of Status. But decentralized technology opens up opportunities to incorporate privacy into the design of the web.
Learn more with guests Mike Masnick of Techdirt, Simona Pop of Status, Zooko Wilcox-O’Hearn of Zcash, Jonathan Dotan of Starling, Carson Farmer of Textile, Danny O’Brien of the Filecoin Foundation for the Decentralized Web, and Rainey Reitman, digital rights activist.
Episode 6: “Open Source and Inclusivity”
Open-source software development is at the heart of decentralized technology. While there are open Web2 projects, they’re frequently controlled by large corporations, which are typically less liley to share proprietary code with third-parties. However, Web3 enables a “whole new platform that lets developers embed economic incentives into open-source software,” as Doug Petkanics of Livepeer explains in Episode 6.
Hear more from experts about the distinction of open-source projects, incentive mechanisms for governance, and the benefits of inclusivity. Guests include Matt Condon of Digitally Rare, James Young of Abridged, Nathan Schneider of CU MED Lab, Sandra Ro of the Global Blockchain Business Council, Doug Petkanics of Livepeer, Tara Tan of IDEO Colab Ventures, Matt Lockyer of Satori, Simona Pop of Status, and Jonathan Dotan of Starling.
Episode 7: “Economies of Trust”
In Episode 7, experts explore applications and use cases for blockchain technology. Beyond cryptocurrency, they dive into the mechanics of trustless transactions, network participants within a blockchain ecosystem, and how data ownership and control work within these systems. Guests include Jonathan Dotan of Starling, Zooko Wilcox-O’Hearn of Zcash, Marta Belcher of Filecoin Foundation for the Decentralized Web, Patrick Collins of Chainlink, Mariano Conti of MakerDAO, Urban Osvald of the Web3 Foundation, Brad Kam of Unstoppable Domains, Sarah Friend — artist and software engineer, Kristin Smith of the Blockchain Association, and Matt Stephenson of Planck.
Episode 8: “Browsers and dApps”
In Episode 8, Exploring the Decentrlaized Web explores the history and benefits of Web3 browsers, like Brave and Opera, which leverage peer-to-peer protocols and cryptocurrency wallets. This episode dives into how the next version of web browsers will return lost agency to users and re-establish web browsers as a tool that serves users rather than the developer or parent company. It also explores the benefits of IPFS, including content addressing and how it gives users greater control over their own data. Guests include Danny O’Brien of the Filecoin Foundation for the Decentralized Web, Marcia Hofmann — electronic privacy attorney, Carson Farmer of Textile, Brad Kam of Unstoppable Domains and Dietrich Ayala of IPFS.
Exploring the Decentralized Web will be a 12-part documentary series hosted on the FFDW YouTube channel, with new episodes coming out every week. Make sure to subscribe and don’t miss any episodes!
If you enjoyed the documentary and/or have any questions, reach out to FFDW on Twitter @FFDWeb.
