The Internet is not what it was.
In the beginning, the web was structured as a collection of open, decentralized protocols. This era, roughly spanning from early 1990s to the early 2000s, was a time of rapid, permissionless innovation. Tech observers call it Web1.
Open protocols proved hard to commercialize, so Internet firms centralized in search of profits. The result is our current era, Web2. This iteration of the Internet has been dominated by a handful of very large platforms, giving users less independence. Most major platforms operate with “take it or leave it” terms of service that prevent meaningful consumer choice and leave disgruntled users to opt out and lose access to the digital economy.
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