Web3 Summit

You might be surprised by how much your home knows about you. Your TV. Your car. Your smartwatch. Even your kids' devices. Everyday technology can reveal more about your life than you realise. Take our interactive Your Day in Data experience to see what this could look like in a household like yours. 🔒 No answers collected. No data stored. Discover your day in data 👇 web3.foundation//your-day-in…

Web3 belongs in the mainstream. @BillLaboon joined Good Morning Britain @GMB yesterday to discuss our latest research on privacy, data, and the everyday internet. This is the work we love! We take the ideas behind Web3 beyond our industry and into the conversations shaping how people think about the future of the web.

Recent developments in the UK around VPNs are a stark warning that while intentions might look good, underlying problems can still persist if platforms hold the power. The UK is right not to ban VPNs because privacy and security tools should not become collateral damage in the effort to protect children online. However, putting the responsibility back onto social platforms does not resolve the underlying problem. It asks the same companies that built systems around behavioral profiling, persuasive design, and centralized control to: 👀identify users, 🔞infer their age, 🔏detect attempts to preserve privacy, 🤼and decide who may participate. This might seem a bit obvious, but: You do not reduce platform power by giving platforms more power. Safety measures should be built into open infrastructure: ◼️Proof of eligibility without revealing identity ◼️User-held credentials rather than platform-owned profiles ◼️Selective disclosure rather than repeated document or biometric checks ◼️Rules that can be inspected and independently verified ◼️Privacy tools that do not automatically make users suspicious Protecting children matters, and so does ensuring that protection does not become the foundation for a more surveilled and permissioned web.

Over the coming weeks, we'll explore the hidden economics behind today's internet, beginning with one simple question: If online services are free... ...where does the money come from? Read The Hidden Price of Free 👇 web3.foundation/insights/

Every time we click "Accept", we make a trade. Not with money, but with our data, our attention, and, increasingly, our autonomy. The internet's most successful business model isn't really free, and it's fair to say we all pay for it in ways that are difficult to see. This clip explores one of the ideas behind the Web3 Foundation whitepaper, The Hidden Price of Free, and why it's time to rethink what "free" really costs.

Privacy isn't just about keeping secrets. It's about preserving the freedom to communicate, organize, and think without every conversation being subject to mass surveillance. Yesterday, the EU reinstated the temporary "Chat Control" regulation, allowing providers to continue to voluntarily scan private communications until 2028. Meanwhile, negotiations continue on a permanent framework that still leaves fundamental questions around encrypted communications unresolved. Whatever your position on the legislation itself, one principle should remain clear: Private communication should be the default. Encryption protects journalists, activists, businesses, families, and ordinary citizens every day. Weakening it doesn't only affect criminals. It changes the security model for everyone. This is why open, decentralized infrastructure matters. Technology should give people agency over their own communications, not require them to trust that privacy will always be preserved by policy alone. Privacy is not an obstacle to a safer internet. It's one of the foundations of a free one.