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The Beaker "New Web" Project

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Paul Frazee edited this page Nov 10, 2018 · 2 revisions

The Beaker "New Web" project is a wholesale replacement of each mechanic that drives the Web, from publishing to connection to search.

Goals

  • Disintermediation
    • P2P Identity. User identities should exist outside of services.
    • P2P Publishing. Users should be able to publish content without depending on a third-party service.
    • P2P Search. Discovering and sharing content should not require a service, as discovery can easily become a point of centralized control on the Web.
    • Open Network. Developers should be able to build on the user's network. There should never be a "walled garden" keeping developers out.
    • Getting Away from DNS. Censorship concerns plus bad UX make DNS unattractive. Can we reliably find information without it?
  • Trust
    • Source Management. The Browser should help the user manage their sources of information and avoid bad inputs.
    • Consumer Autonomy. Policies around moderation and algorithm-design should be set by users. We should control which information we receive.
    • Ending Harrassment and Misinformation. Reputation and trust should be integral to the Web. The days when trolls are handled by a "thick skin" are over.
  • Security
    • Privacy from Corporations. We must be able to search, browse, and communicate without being tracked by third parties.
    • Encryption Tooling. We should have the tools to create private P2P connections and to publish private data (at-rest encryption).
  • Economics
    • Virtual Goods Economy. Creators should have tools to sell content and to innovate on post-SaaS business models.
    • Free App Deployment. Developers should not need to pay for a server. Applications should run on the users' devices.
    • Alternatives to Ads. Ad-driven platforms are incentivized to invade users' privacy and steal users' attentions. The new Web should be built on alternatives.

Overview

The "New Web" project will build identity, publishing, data, search, and user-to-user connection into the Web platform. The browser will provide a common core for Web applications to build upon.

Identity

Every Beaker user will have a "dat profile site" created automatically. The profile-site will act as their identity in applications and in the network. Data and content will be published on the profile-site as files. Users will also be able to publish HTML/CSS/JS at their profile site to create a personalized presence.

See Beaker user identities for more information.

Builtin Search

Beaker will include a builtin search-engine which runs queries against the user's personal Web. This search engine will be 100% private and run the query locally.

If a result is not found, the search page will link to other common search engines (such as DuckDuckGo or Google). Over time, the search engine can be expanded to "ask" contacts to run the search on their devices, creating a fully-distributed search engine.

Personal Network

Users add trusted sources to their "Contacts" to create a personal network. This network will act as the backbone of their Web: it will power search, site certificates, communications, and applications.

When visiting a site, a certificate will be generated based on signals from the personal network. This certificate will include a name, trust signals, and warnings. Over time the browser's toolset can expand to include annotations, comments, suggested plugins, and more.

Applications Development

Applications will hook into the user's identity and personal network to create new tools and experiences. APIs will provide access to the user's data, P2P connectivity with contacts, and end-to-end encryption.

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